Preferential orienting to faces in 4‐month‐olds: analysis of temporal–nasal visual field differences

Johnson, Mark H.; Farroni, Teresa; Brockbank, Margaret; Simion, Francesca

doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00097

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In the temporal hemifield, schematic faces were also found to be preferentially selected by 6 week-old newborns relative to non-faces, while no such difference was found in the nasal hemifield (Simion et al, 1998 ). Similar results were obtained with 4-month old babies (paradoxically the reverse effect was found in the nasal hemifield in this study, with inverted faces being preferred over upright faces; Johnson et al, 2000 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Interestingly, several lines of evidence have also reported naso-temporal differences using stimuli of higher biological significance, such as faces. For instance, newborns have been shown to orient their gaze preferentially to faces in the temporal compared to the nasal hemifield (Simion et al, 1998 ; Johnson et al, 2000 ). In the temporal hemifield, schematic faces were also found to be preferentially selected by 6 week-old newborns relative to non-faces, while no such difference was found in the nasal hemifield (Simion et al, 1998 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield

et al. 2017

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An ongoing debate exists regarding the possible existence of a retino-tectal visual pathway projecting to the amygdala, which would rapidly process information involving threatening or behaviorally-relevant stimuli. It has been suggested that this route might be responsible for the involuntary capture of attention by potentially dangerous stimuli. In separate studies, anatomical evidence has suggested that the retino-tectal pathway relies essentially on projections from the nasal hemiretina (temporal visual field). In this study, we chose to take advantage of this anatomical difference to further investigate whether emotional facial expressions are indeed processed through a subcortical pathway. Using EEG, participants performed a monocular spatial attention paradigm in which lateralized, task-irrelevant distractors were presented, followed by a target. The distractors were fearful faces that appeared either in nasal or temporal visual hemifield (by virtue of their monocular presentations), while the neutral face was presented simultaneously on the opposite side. Participants were asked to identify a target letter that appeared subsequently in the nasal or temporal visual hemifield. Event-related potentials (ERPs) results revealed that fearful faces appearing in the temporal visual hemifield produced a strong inhibitory response, while a negative deflection reflecting attentional capture followed presentations of fear in the nasal hemifield. These effects can be explained by a greater sensitivity of the subcortical pathway for emotional stimuli. Fearful faces conveyed through this route are processed more effectively, consequently necessitating more vigorous suppression in order for targets to be dealt with adequately.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield

et al. 2017

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“…The ability of adults to infer the mental state of others by interpreting fleeting contractions of facial muscles is an amazing feat of our species. Developmental studies show that infants are intuitively drawn to faces (Johnson et al, 1991, 2000) and engage in reciprocal communication with their caregivers through facial expressions from just a few months of age (Leppänen and Nelson, 2008). Non-verbal signals, like facial expression, eye gaze, and posture, are a rich source of interpersonal communication signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Event-related potential response to auditory social stimuli, parent-reported social communicative deficits and autism risk in school-aged children with congenital visual impairment

Bathelt

Dale

Haan

2017

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

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Communication with visual signals, like facial expression, is important in early social development, but the question if these signals are necessary for typical social development remains to be addressed. The potential impact on social development of being born with no or very low levels of vision is therefore of high theoretical and clinical interest. The current study investigated event-related potential responses to basic social stimuli in a rare group of school-aged children with congenital visual disorders of the anterior visual system (globe of the eye, retina, anterior optic nerve). Early-latency event-related potential responses showed no difference between the VI and control group, suggesting similar initial auditory processing. However, the mean amplitude over central and right frontal channels between 280 and 320ms was reduced in response to own-name stimuli, but not control stimuli, in children with VI suggesting differences in social processing. Children with VI also showed an increased rate of autistic-related behaviours, pragmatic language deficits, as well as peer relationship and emotional problems on standard parent questionnaires. These findings suggest that vision may be necessary for the typical development of social processing across modalities.

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“…Johnson, Farroni, Brockbank, and Simion (2000) repeated this experiment with 4‐ to 5‐month‐old infants using upright and inverted schematic faces. They too found no difference between infants viewing the stimuli with their left or right eye, but they also found no preference for the face over the inverted face in either visual field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual input to the left versus right eye yields differences in face preferences in 3‐month‐old infants

Dalrymple

Khan

Duchaine

et al. 2020

Developmental Science

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From birth, infants prefer looking at faces over scrambled faces. This face input is important for the development of face processing: individuals who experienced early visual deprivation due to congenital cataracts have long‐lasting face processing deficits. Interestingly, the deficits are eye‐specific such that left eye cataracts disrupt the development of face processing, whereas right eye cataracts do not. This raises the question of whether infant face preferences are driven primarily by faces observed through the left eye. To investigate this, we presented 3‐month‐old infants with intact faces paired with scrambled faces. Infants viewed the moving stimuli binocularly, only with their left eye, or only with their right eye. Infants viewing stimuli binocularly or with only the left eye spent significantly more time looking at intact faces than scrambled faces, but this effect was equivocal in infants viewing stimuli through only their right eye. Infants in the binocular group had the greatest preference for faces, and this preference was greater than the right eye group's preference for faces. The left eye group's preference for faces was not statistically different from the other two groups’ preference for faces, but additional analyses revealed a correlation between preference for faces and age for the right eye group only, indicating that preference for faces seen with the right eye increase from 3 to 4 months of age. These results indicate that the left eye plays a special role in face processing at, or before 3 months of age, but a preference for faces through the right eye emerges soon after.

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Preferential orienting to faces in 4‐month‐olds: analysis of temporal–nasal visual field differences

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield

Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield

Event-related potential response to auditory social stimuli, parent-reported social communicative deficits and autism risk in school-aged children with congenital visual impairment

Visual input to the left versus right eye yields differences in face preferences in 3‐month‐old infants

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