Testing face processing skills in children

Abstract

We describe a set of face processing tests suitable for use with children aged from 4 to 10 years, which include tests of expression, lipreading and gaze processing as well as identification. The tests can be administered on paper or using a computer, and comparisons between the performance on computer- and paper-based versions suggest that format of administration makes little difference. We present results obtained from small samples of children at four different age groups (Study 1, computer-based tests), and larger samples at three age groups (Study 2, paper-based tests) from preschool to 10 years of age. The tests were found to be developmentally sensitive. There were quite strong correlations between performance on different tests of the same face processing ability (e.g. gaze processing), and generally rather weaker correlations between tests of different abilities

Developmental changes in face processing skills

“…The slowest development occurred for matching identity despite changes in head orientation: 6-year-olds were only slightly above chance on this task and 10-year-olds made more errors than adults only on this task. These results are consistent with previous studies that have shown poor performance by children on tasks that require recognizing facesÕ identity despite changes in head orientation, lighting, or facial expression (Benton & Van Allen, 1973, as cited in Carey et al, 1980Bruce et al, 2000). Differences in developmental patterns across tasks do not appear to be due to speed/accuracy trade-offs, but may-in part-be attributable to differences in task difficulty.…”

“…Although 6-year-olds made more errors than adults on all five tasks, inspection of Fig. 2 indicates that their performance was already nearing adult levels for the tasks involving matching facial expression and lip reading, and 8-year-olds were as accurate as adults on those two tasks, and only those two tasks-a pattern that is consistent with that reported by Bruce et al (2000). In the present study, improvements with age were slower for direction of eye gaze: there was a large increase in accuracy between 8 and 10 years of age, at which point children reached the adult level of expertise.…”

“…The test battery was adapted from one that showed differential deficits across tasks both in children with congenital brain damage and in autistic children (Gepner, de Gelder, & de Schonen, 1996;Mancini, de Schonen, Deruelle, & Massouller, 1994). The study was similar to Bruce et al (2000), except that we administered the same tasks to all age groups and compared childrenÕs performance to that of adults rather than to that of 10-year-olds because several studies have shown that even 10-year-olds have immature face-processing skills (Carey & Diamond, 1994;Carey et al, 1980;Mondloch et al, 2002). We presented adults with both upright and inverted faces in order to determine which tasks tap sensitivity to second-order relations.…”

Receiver operating characteristic analysis of age-related changes in lineup performance

“…Evidence from the basic face processing literature suggests that children's sensitivity may be poorer because they tend to engage in more feature-based rather than configural-based processing (Mondloch, Geldart, Maurer, & Le Grand, 2003: Mondloch, et al, 2002Schwarzer, 2000). The recognition of faces using configural information may not reach adult levels until adolescence (Bruce et al, 2000;Carey, Diamond, & Woods, 1980;Mondloch, et al, 2003: Mondloch, et al, 2002.…”

The development of facial emotion recognition: The role of configural information

“…Few studies have investigated the developmental course of facial emotion recognition, contrary to face recognition abilities, and the results are often inconsistent, mainly because of the great variety of methods used. A study by Bruce et al (2000) suggested that development of facial emotion recognition depends on task demands. When children needed to point to which of two faces was happy, sad, angry, or surprised, they achieved nearly perfect accuracy by 6 years of age.…”