Cues for Early Social Skills: Direct Gaze Modulates Newborns' Recognition of Talking Faces

Abstract

Previous studies showed that, from birth, speech and eye gaze are two important cues in guiding early face processing and social cognition. These studies tested the role of each cue independently; however, infants normally perceive speech and eye gaze together. Using a familiarization-test procedure, we first familiarized newborn infants (n = 24) with videos of unfamiliar talking faces with either direct gaze or averted gaze. Newborns were then tested with photographs of the previously seen face and of a new one. The newborns looked longer at the face that previously talked to them, but only in the direct gaze condition. These results highlight the importance of both speech and eye gaze as socio-communicative cues by which infants identify others. They suggest that gaze and infant-directed speech, experienced together, are powerful cues for the development of early social skills.

Intersubjective action-effect binding: Eye contact modulates acquisition of bidirectional association between our and others’ actions

“…These results were consistent with previous studies that showed that bidirectional associations can be automatically acquired and further demonstrated that presenting effect stimuli can automatically activate associated responses (Elsner & Hommel, 2001 aspects of the cognitive processing and/or behavioral response which take place concurrent to or immediately following it (e.g., Csibra & Gergely, 2009;Farroni, et al, 2003;Macrae, et al, 2002;Mason, et al, 2004;Senju & Csibra, 2008;Senju & Johnson, automatic mimicry of observed hand movements (Farroni, et al, 2003;Wang, Newport, & Hamilton, 2011). In addition, direct gaze captures visuospatial attention and facilitates face recognition (Guellai & Streri, 2011;Macrae, et al, 2002;Mason, et al, 2004;von Grünau, & Anston, 1995). Given these results, if the results of Experiment 1 are truly social in nature, eye contact should modulate the observed effect.…”

“…In humans, even newborns prefer to look at faces with direct gazes over faces with averted gazes (Farroni, Csibra, Simion, & Johnson, 2002). In addition, even in newborns, eye contact facilitates face recognition (Guellai & Streri, 2011). Senju and Johnson (2009) propose the neural basis of such an effect of eye contact: they postulate that the subcortical pathway including the superior colliculus, pulvinar, and amygdale-which is relatively mature even in infants-rapidly detects eye contact (or socially significant stimuli), and then it regulates subsequent cortical processing in the areas to which it projects in a top-down fashion.…”

The Work of the Eye in Infant Pedagogy: A Dialogic Encounter of ‘Seeing’ in an Education and Care Setting

“…These findings support the suggestion of Guellai and Streri (2011) that there are diverse social functions for the act of looking. In our analysis, glance generated the least response and did not appear to serve as a form of initiation; watch appeared to be much more than a means of passively observing others and, in fact, generated response when used in tandem with other forms of language, and gaze served as a means of active and mutual engagement, often interpreted as emotional by the teachers.…”

“…As Bettes (1988) asserts, timing of response is central to infant well-being. Guellai and Streri (2011) suggest that the gaze alters in different interactive settings, according to the sustained nature of the 'look' and with, or without, the accompaniment of speech. This assertion is upheld by Kidwell (2010) who, in one of the only studies of the 'look' in an early childhood education context, distinguished between 'mere looks' (glance) and 'the look' (gaze) for 12-30-monthold infants in communication with their teachers.…”

Intermanual and Intermodal Transfer in Human Newborns: Neonatal Behavioral Evidence and Neurocognitive Approach

“…Nevertheless, numerous studies have revealed that babies can perceive speaking faces, photographs, objects, pictures, discriminate between large numbers, etc. (Coulon, Guellai and Streri, 2011;Féron, Gentaz, and Streri 2006;Guellai and Streri, 2011;Izard, Sann, Spelke and Streri, 2009;Meary, Kitromilides, Mazens, Graff and Gentaz, 2007;cf. Kellman and Arteberry, 1988, for a review).…”