Development of Specialized Face Perception in Infants: An Information-Processing Perspective

Abstract

This chapter outlines recent advances in the understanding of infants' developing expertise for certain classes of faces, with an emphasis on the mechanisms that may underlie its development. First, it provides some background on what is known, generally, about adults' expertise for certain faces. It then presents recent research that focuses on the development of that expertise during infancy. It reviews findings that illustrate a "broad-tonarrow" developmental pattern across studies related to infants' preferences, recognition/discrimination, and event-related potentials. Finally, the chapter reviews some work that shows a pattern of specialization with respect to infants' processing of upright and own-race faces. As part of this discussion, it highlights Cohen's information-processing approach to infant cognitive development, how it has influenced some of the work in this area, and how it may help to shed light on our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in the development of infants' specialization.