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Three-month-olds' visual preference for faces and its underlying visual processing mechanisms.

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating the face preference phenomenon and its underlying mechanisms at 3 months of age. Using an eye-tracker apparatus, Experiment 1 demonstrated that 3-month-olds prefer natural face images to unnatural ones, replicating and extending previous evidence obtained with schematic facelike stimuli. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the general mechanisms that induce face preference in newborns could not explain the same phenomenon at 3 months of age, when infants are attracted by perceptual cues more specific to faces. This suggests that signs of a process of cognitive specialization are already present in 3-month-olds' visual behavior toward faces.

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BibTeXRIS

Chiara Turati, Eloisa Valenza, Irene Leo, Francesca Simion. 2004-12-15. Three-month-olds' visual preference for faces and its underlying visual processing mechanisms.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2004.11.001

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