Six-month-old infants match other-race faces with a non-native language

Abstract

Early in life, infants possess an effective face-processing system which becomes specialized according to the faces present in the environment. Infants are also exposed to the voices and sounds of caregivers. Previous studies have found that face-voice associations become progressively more tuned to the types of association most prevalent in the environment. The present study investigated whether 6-month-old infants associate own-race faces with their native language and faces from a different race with a non-native language. Infants were presented with pictures of own- and other-race faces simultaneously, with a native or non-native language in a habituation paradigm. Results indicate that 6-month-olds are able to match other-race faces to a non-native language. © 2013 The Author(s).