In Defense of Perceptual Content

Learning in the social being system

“…However, perceptual training (i.e., exposure to faces of other races) can diminish or even eliminate the Other Race Effect in 6- to 9-month-old infants (Heron-Delaney et al ., 2011). Similar patterns appear in infants’ differentiation of non-human primate faces (the “Other Species Effect,” Pascalis et al ., 2005) and non-native speech sounds (Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu, 2003; Werker, 1989): Between birth and 12 months, wide initial sensitivity to a type of perceptual social cue (faces or speech sounds) either narrows or remains wide, depending on the breadth and diversity of the infants’ experiences (see Jenkin 2023a, 2023b for further discussion of infant perceptual learning).…”