Similarity and difference in the processing of same- and other-race faces as revealed by eye tracking in 4- to 9-month-olds

Abstract

Fixation duration for same-race (i.e., Asian) and other-race (i.e., Caucasian) female faces by Asian infant participants between 4 and 9 months of age was investigated with an eye-tracking procedure. The age range tested corresponded with prior reports of processing differences between same- and other-race faces observed in behavioral looking time studies, with preference for same-race faces apparent at 3 months of age and recognition memory differences in favor of same-race faces emerging between 3 and 9 months of age. The eye-tracking results revealed both similarity and difference in infants’ processing of own- and other-race faces. There was no overall fixation time difference between same race and other race for the whole face stimuli. In addition, although fixation time was greater for the upper half of the face than for the lower half of the face and trended higher on the right side of the face than on the left side of the face, face race did not impact these effects. However, over the age range tested, there was a gradual decrement in fixation time on the internal features of other-race faces and a maintenance of fixation time on the internal features of same-race faces. Moreover, the decrement in fixation time for the internal features of other-race faces was most prominent on the nose. The findings suggest that (a) same-race preferences may be more readily evidenced in paired comparison testing formats, (b) the behavioral decline in recognition memory for other-race faces corresponds in timing with a decline in fixation on the internal features of other-race faces, and (c) the center of the face (i.e., the nose) is a differential region for processing same-versus other-race faces by Asian infants.

An Appropriate Use of IMap Produces Correct Statistical Results: A Reply to McManus (2013) “IMap and IMap2 Produce Erroneous Statistical Maps of Eye-Movement Differences”

“…It is then unlikely that the same false positive was systematically found on identical locations in these studies. More importantly and objectively, the same bias has also been observed in several independent studies carried out by other labs using different methods (eg figure 3 in Kita et al, 2010 or figure 3 in Watanabe, Matsuda, Nishioka, & Namatame, 2011), as well as in infants (Fu, Hu, Wang, Quinn, & Lee, 2012;Liu et al, 2011).…”

Face-scanning behavior to silently-talking faces in 12-month-old infants: The impact of pre-exposed auditory speech

“…The AOI of the whole face was defined by outlining the face with the hair excluded. A small buffer zone of approximately 1 cm allowed for head movements during the recording (see Liu et al, Running head: 12 month-olds' face-scanning behavior 8 2011; Wheeler et al, 2011). The mouth AOI and the eyes AOI were created in the same way as in the study of Lewkowicz and Hansen-Tift (2012) by defining rectangular AOIs that covered both eyes and the mouth, respectively, for each stimulus face (see Figure 2).…”

“…The decline in the ability to visually discriminate their native language from an unfamiliar language observed in 8-month-olds is concordant with the perceptual narrowing view (Scott, Pascalis,& Nelson, 2007), that is, a tendency for infants to still develop perceptual abilities for native attributes, while declining for non-native attributes that infants have little experience with. This view has been described, for example, in studies of infants' phonetic development (Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu, 2003;Werker & Tees, 1984), face discrimination (Kelly et al, 2007;Pascalis, de Haan, & Nelson, 2002), and scanning of own-and other-race faces (Liu et al, 2011;Wheeler et al, 2011).…”

Prevalence of Face Recognition Deficits in Middle Childhood

“…Given that eye-tracking tests can be much shorter and require less input from the participants than traditional behavioural experiments, they can be used to examine face recognition in much younger populations (e.g., Liu et al, 2011;Turati, Di Giorgio, Bardi, & Simion, 2010), and consequently these tests may be a more appropriate and reliable method of identifying face processing difficulties in very young children.…”