Race and early face-sensitive event-related potentials in children and adults.

Studies examining children's face perception have revealed developmental changes in early and face-sensitive event-related potential (ERP) components. Children also tend to show racial biases in their face perception and evaluation of others. The current study examined how early face-sensitive ERPs are influenced by face race in children and adults. A second objective examined face recognition proficiency and implicit racial bias in relation to ERP responses to own- and other-race faces. Electroencephalographic responses were recorded while Caucasian children and adults viewed Caucasian and East Asian faces. Participants also completed recognition tasks and an IAT with Caucasian and East Asian faces. Other-race faces elicited larger P100 amplitudes than own-race faces. Furthermore, adults with better other-race recognition proficiency showed larger P100 amplitude responses to other-race faces compared with adults with worse other-race recognition proficiency. In addition, larger implicit biases favoring own-race individuals were associated with larger P100 to N170 peak-to-peak amplitudes for other-race faces in adults. In contrast, larger implicit biases favoring own-race individuals were associated with smaller P100 to N170 peak-to-peak amplitudes for both own- and other-race faces in 8- to 10-year-olds. There was also an age-related decrease in P100 to N170 peak-to-peak amplitudes for own-race faces among 5- to 10-year-olds with better own-race recognition proficiency. The age-related decrease in N170 latency for other-race faces was also more pronounced in 5- to 10-year-olds with better other-race recognition proficiency. Thus, recognition proficiency and implicit racial bias are associated with early ERP responses in adults and children, but in different ways.

Do perceptual expertise and implicit racial bias predict early face-sensitive ERP responses?

Studies examining the visual perception of face race have revealed mixed findings regarding the presence or direction of effects on early face-sensitive event-related potential (ERP) components. Few studies have examined how early ERP components are influenced by individual differences in bottom-up and top-down processes involved in face perception, and how such factors might interact to influence early face-sensitive ERP components has yet to be investigated. Thus, the current study examined whether P100, N170, and P200 responses can be predicted by individual differences in own- and other-race face recognition, implicit racial bias, and their interaction. Race effects were observed in the P100, N170, and P200 responses. Other-race face recognition, implicit racial biases, and their interaction explained a significant amount of unique variability in N170 responses when viewing other-race faces. Responses to own-race faces were minimally influenced with only implicit racial bias predicting a significant amount of unique variability in N170 latency when viewing own-race faces. Face recognition, implicit racial bias, or their interaction did not predict P100 responses. The current findings suggest that face recognition abilities and its interaction with implicit racial bias modulate the early stages of other-race face processing.

Emotion Recognition Performance in Children with Callous Unemotional Traits is Modulated by Co-occurring Autistic Traits.

OBJECTIVE: Atypical emotion recognition (ER) is characteristic of children with high callous unemotional (CU) traits. The current study aims to 1) replicate studies showing ER difficulties for static faces in relation to high CU-traits; 2) test whether ER difficulties remain when more naturalistic dynamic stimuli are used; 3) test whether ER performance for dynamic stimuli is moderated by eye-gaze direction and 4) assess the impact of co-occurring autistic traits on the association between CU and ER. METHODS: Participants were 292 (152 male) 7-year-olds from the Wirral Child Health and Development Study (WCHADS). Children completed a static and dynamic ER eye-tracking task, and accuracy, reaction time and attention to the eyes were recorded. RESULTS: Higher parent-reported CU-traits were significantly associated with reduced ER for static expressions, with lower accuracy for angry and happy faces. No association was found for dynamic expressions. However, parent-reported autistic traits were associated with ER difficulties for both static and dynamic expressions, and after controlling for autistic traits, the association between CU-traits and ER for static expressions became non-significant. CU-traits and looking to the eyes were not associated in either paradigm. CONCLUSION: The finding that CU-traits and ER are associated for static but not naturalistic dynamic expressions may be because motion cues in the dynamic stimuli draw attention to emotion-relevant features such as eyes and mouth. Further, results suggest that ER difficulties in CU-traits may be due, in part, to co-occurring autistic traits. Future developmental studies are required to tease apart pathways toward the apparently overlapping cognitive phenotype.

Functional development of the brain's face-processing system.

In the first 20 years of life, the human brain undergoes tremendous growth in size, weight, and synaptic connectedness. Over the same time period, a person achieves remarkable transformations in perception, thought, and behavior. One important area of development is face processing ability, or the ability to quickly and accurately extract extensive information about a person's identity, emotional state, attractiveness, intention, and numerous other types of information that are crucial to everyday social interaction and communication. Associating particular brain changes with specific behavioral and intellectual developments has historically been a serious challenge for researchers. Fortunately, modern neuroimaging is dramatically advancing our ability to make associations between morphological and behavioral developments. In this article, we demonstrate how neuroimaging has revolutionized our understanding of the development of face processing ability to show that this essential perceptual and cognitive skill matures consistently yet slowly over the first two decades of life. In this manner, face processing is a model system of many areas of complex cognitive development. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1423. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1423 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Enhanced ERPs to visual stimuli in unaffected male siblings of ASD children.

Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by deficits in social and communication abilities. While unaffected relatives lack severe deficits, milder impairments have been reported in some first-degree relatives. The present study sought to verify whether mild deficits in face perception are evident among the unaffected younger siblings of children with ASD. Children between 6-9 years of age completed a face-recognition task and a passive viewing ERP task with face and house stimuli. Sixteen children were typically developing with no family history of ASD, and 17 were unaffected children with an older sibling with ASD. Findings indicate that, while unaffected siblings are comparable to controls in their face-recognition abilities, unaffected male siblings in particular show relatively enhanced P100 and P100-N170 peak-to-peak amplitude responses to faces and houses. Enhanced ERPs among unaffected male siblings is discussed in relation to potential differences in neural network recruitment during visual and face processing.

Own- and other-race face identity recognition in children: the effects of pose and feature composition.

We used a matching-to-sample task and manipulated facial pose and feature composition to examine the other-race effect (ORE) in face identity recognition between 5 and 10 years of age. Overall, the present findings provide a genuine measure of own- and other-race face identity recognition in children that is independent of photographic and image processing. The current study also confirms the presence of an ORE in children as young as 5 years of age using a recognition paradigm that is sensitive to their developing cognitive abilities. In addition, the present findings show that with age, increasing experience with familiar classes of own-race faces and further lack of experience with unfamiliar classes of other-race faces serves to maintain the ORE between 5 and 10 years of age rather than exacerbate the effect. All age groups also showed a differential effect of stimulus facial pose in their recognition of the internal regions of own- and other-race faces. Own-race inner faces were remembered best when three-quarter poses were used during familiarization and frontal poses were used during the recognition test. In contrast, other-race inner faces were remembered best when frontal poses were used during familiarization and three-quarter poses were used during the recognition test. Thus, children encode and/or retrieve own- and other-race faces from memory in qualitatively different ways.

Developmental Origins of the Other-Race Effect.

The other-race effect (ORE) in face recognition refers to better recognition memory for faces of one's own race than faces of another race-a common phenomenon among individuals living in primarily mono-racial societies. In this article, we review findings suggesting that early visual and sociocultural experiences shape one's processing of familiar and unfamiliar race classes and give rise to the ORE within the 1st year of life. However, despite its early development, the ORE can be prevented, attenuated, and even reversed given experience with a novel race class. Social implications of the ORE are discussed in relation to development of race-based preferences for social partners and racial prejudices.

Development of Recognition of Face Parts from Unfamiliar Faces.

The present study examined developmental changes in the ability to recognize face parts. In Experiment 1, participants were familiarized with whole faces and given a recognition test with old and new eyes, noses, mouths, inner faces, outer faces, or whole faces. Adults were above chance in their recognition of the eye and mouth regions. However, children did not naturally encode and recognize face parts independently of the entire face. In addition, all age groups showed comparable inner and outer face recognition, except for 8- to 9-year-olds who showed a recognition advantage for outer faces. In Experiment 2, when participants were familiarized with eyes, noses, or mouths and tested with eyes, noses, or mouths, respectively, all ages showed above-chance recognition of eyes and mouths. Thirteen- to 14-year-olds were adult-like in their recognition of the eye region, but mouth recognition continued to develop beyond 14 years of age. Nose recognition was above chance among 13- to 14-year-olds, but recognition scores remained low even in adulthood. The present findings reveal unique developmental trajectories in the use of isolated facial regions in face recognition and suggest that featural cues (as a class) have a different ontogenetic course relative to holistic and configural cues.

Development of face scanning for own- and other-race faces in infancy.

The present study investigated whether infants visually scan own- and other-race faces differently as well as how these differences in face scanning develop with age. A multi-method approach was used to analyze the eye-tracking data of 6- and 9-month-old Caucasian infants scanning dynamically displayed own- and other-race faces. We found that 6-month-olds showed differential fixation, fixating significantly more on the left eye and mouth of own-race faces, but more on the nose of other-race faces. Infants at 9 months of age fixated more on the eyes of own-race faces, but more on the mouth of other-race faces. A scan path analysis revealed that infants shifted their attention between the eyes of the own-race faces significantly more frequently than for other-race faces. Overall, younger and older infants responded differentially to own- versus other-race faces not only in the absolute amount of time spent fixating specific features, but also on their fixation shifts between features.

Brief daily exposures to Asian females reverses perceptual narrowing for Asian faces in Caucasian infants.

Perceptual narrowing in the visual, auditory, and multisensory domains has its developmental origins during infancy. The current study shows that experimentally induced experience can reverse the effects of perceptual narrowing on infants' visual recognition memory of other-race faces. Caucasian 8- to 10-month-olds who could not discriminate between novel and familiarized Asian faces at the beginning of testing were given brief daily experience with Asian female faces in the experimental condition and Caucasian female faces in the control condition. At the end of 3 weeks, only infants who received daily experience with Asian females showed above-chance recognition of novel Asian female and male faces. Furthermore, infants in the experimental condition showed greater efficiency in learning novel Asian females compared with infants in the control condition. Thus, visual experience with a novel stimulus category can reverse the effects of perceptual narrowing during infancy via improved stimulus recognition and encoding.

Effects of normal and abnormal visual experience on the development of opposing aftereffects for upright and inverted faces.

We used opposing figural aftereffects to investigate whether there are at least partially separable representations of upright and inverted faces in patients who missed early visual experience because of bilateral congenital cataracts (mean age at test 19.5 years). Visually normal adults and 10-year-olds were tested for comparison. Adults showed the expected opposing aftereffects for upright and inverted faces. Ten-year-olds showed an adultlike aftereffect for upright faces but, unlike the adult group, no aftereffect for inverted faces. Patients failed to show an aftereffect for either upright or inverted faces. Overall, the results suggest that early visual input is necessary for the later development of (at least partially) separable representations of upright and inverted faces, a developmental process that takes many years to reach an adult-like refinement.

Minimizing Skin Color Differences Does Not Eliminate the Own-Race Recognition Advantage in Infants.

An abundance of experience with own-race faces and limited to no experience with other-race faces has been associated with better recognition memory for own-race faces in infants, children, and adults. This study investigated the developmental origins of this other-race effect (ORE) by examining the role of a salient perceptual property of faces-that of skin color. Six- and 9-month-olds' recognition memory for own- and other-race faces was examined using infant-controlled habituation and visual-paired comparison at test. Infants were shown own- or other-race faces in color or with skin color cues minimized in grayscale images. Results for the color stimuli replicated previous findings that infants show an ORE in face recognition memory. Results for the grayscale stimuli showed that even when a salient perceptual cue to race, such as skin color information, is minimized, 6- to 9-month-olds, nonetheless, show an ORE in their face recognition memory. Infants' use of shape-based and configural cues for face recognition is discussed.

Development of face processing.

This article reviews the development of the face-processing system from birth, during infancy and through childhood, until it becomes the sophisticated system observed in adults. We begin by discussing the following major theoretical issues concerning the development of face expertise: (1) nature versus nurture or the role of experience in face processing, (2) level of processing (i.e., global, basic, subordinate, individual) and expertise, and (3) type of processing (i.e., holistic, configural, featural). This general overview will be followed by a closer examination of individual studies that investigate the development of face processing. These studies will include a review of (1) development of differential processing of faces and objects, (2) development of differential processing of faces of different species, (3) developmental changes in processing facial identity, and (4) developmental changes in the categorization of faces. Our review of the developmental literature reveals early competence in face-processing abilities with infants presenting a preference for face stimuli and facial discrimination using featural, configural, and holistic cues. This early competence is then later refined as evidenced by age-related changes throughout childhood. Some of the refinements are likely due to the development of general cognitive abilities, whereas some others may be face-specific. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 666-675 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.146 This article is categorized under: Psychology > Development and Aging.

Perceptual training prevents the emergence of the other race effect during infancy.

Experience plays a crucial role in the development of the face processing system. At 6 months of age infants can discriminate individual faces from their own and other races. By 9 months of age this ability to process other-race faces is typically lost, due to minimal experience with other-race faces, and vast exposure to own-race faces, for which infants come to manifest expertise [1]. This is known as the Other Race Effect. In the current study, we demonstrate that exposing Caucasian infants to Chinese faces through perceptual training via picture books for a total of one hour between 6 and 9 months allows Caucasian infants to maintain the ability to discriminate Chinese faces at 9 months of age. The development of the processing of face race can be modified by training, highlighting the importance of early experience in shaping the face representation.

Caucasian infants scan own- and other-race faces differently.

Young infants are known to prefer own-race faces to other race faces and recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces. However, it is entirely unclear as to whether infants also attend to different parts of own- and other-race faces differently, which may provide an important clue as to how and why the own-race face recognition advantage emerges so early. The present study used eye tracking methodology to investigate whether 6- to 10-month-old Caucasian infants (N = 37) have differential scanning patterns for dynamically displayed own- and other-race faces. We found that even though infants spent a similar amount of time looking at own- and other-race faces, with increased age, infants increasingly looked longer at the eyes of own-race faces and less at the mouths of own-race faces. These findings suggest experience-based tuning of the infant's face processing system to optimally process own-race faces that are different in physiognomy from other-race faces. In addition, the present results, taken together with recent own- and other-race eye tracking findings with infants and adults, provide strong support for an enculturation hypothesis that East Asians and Westerners may be socialized to scan faces differently due to each culture's conventions regarding mutual gaze during interpersonal communication.

Looking Across Domains to Understand Infant Representation of Emotion.

A comparison of the literatures on how infants represent generic object classes, gender and race information in faces, and emotional expressions reveals both common and distinctive developments in the three domains. In addition, the review indicates that some very basic questions remain to be answered regarding how infants represent facial displays of emotion, including (a) whether infants form category representations for discrete classes of emotion, when and how such representations come(b) to incorporate affective meaning, (c) the developmental trajectory for representation of emotional expression at different levels of inclusiveness (i.e., from broad to narrow or narrow to broad?), and (d) whether there is superior discrimination ability operating within more frequently experienced emotion categories.

Culture shapes efficiency of facial age judgments.

BACKGROUND: Cultural differences in socialization can lead to characteristic differences in how we perceive the world. Consistent with this influence of differential experience, our perception of faces (e.g., preference, recognition ability) is shaped by our previous experience with different groups of individuals. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we examined whether cultural differences in social practices influence our perception of faces. Japanese, Chinese, and Asian-Canadian young adults made relative age judgments (i.e., which of these two faces is older?) for East Asian faces. Cross-cultural differences in the emphasis on respect for older individuals was reflected in participants' latency in facial age judgments for middle-age adult faces--with the Japanese young adults performing the fastest, followed by the Chinese, then the Asian-Canadians. In addition, consistent with the differential behavioural and linguistic markers used in the Japanese culture when interacting with individuals younger than oneself, only the Japanese young adults showed an advantage in judging the relative age of children's faces. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that different sociocultural practices shape our efficiency in processing facial age information. The impact of culture may potentially calibrate other aspects of face processing.

Categorization, categorical perception, and asymmetry in infants' representation of face race.

The present study examined whether 6- and 9-month-old Caucasian infants could categorize faces according to race. In Experiment 1, infants were familiarized with different female faces from a common ethnic background (i.e. either Caucasian or Asian) and then tested with female faces from a novel race category. Nine-month-olds were able to form discrete categories of Caucasian and Asian faces. However, 6-month-olds did not form discrete categories of faces based on race. In Experiment 2, a second group of 6- and 9-month-olds was tested to determine whether they could discriminate between different faces from the same race category. Results showed that both age groups could only discriminate between different faces from the own-race category of Caucasian faces. The findings of the two experiments taken together suggest that 9-month-olds formed a category of Caucasian faces that are further differentiated at the individual level. In contrast, although they could form a category of Asian faces, they could not discriminate between such other-race faces. This asymmetry in category formation at 9 months (i.e. categorization of own-race faces vs. categorical perception of other-race faces) suggests that differential experience with own- and other-race faces plays an important role in infants' acquisition of face processing abilities.

Face adaptation and attractiveness aftereffects in 8-year-olds and adults.

A novel method was used to investigate developmental changes in face processing: attractiveness aftereffects. Consistent with the norm-based coding model, viewing consistently distorted faces shifts adults' attractiveness preferences toward the adapting stimuli. Thus, adults' attractiveness judgments are influenced by a continuously updated face prototype. To investigate the development of this process, a novel method was developed for 8-year-olds. After reading a storybook composed of faces with either compressed or expanded features, 8-year-olds' ratings of faces distorted in the direction of the adapting stimuli increased. Nonetheless, they required larger distortions than adults to rate undistorted faces as most attractive preadaptation. Thus, although 8-year-olds' attractiveness preferences are influenced by a continuously updated prototype, their face space is less refined than that of adults.

An inner face advantage in children's recognition of familiar peers.

Children's recognition of familiar own-age peers was investigated. Chinese children (4-, 8-, and 14-year-olds) were asked to identify their classmates from photographs showing the entire face, the internal facial features only, the external facial features only, or the eyes, nose, or mouth only. Participants from all age groups were familiar with the faces used as stimuli for 1 academic year. The results showed that children from all age groups demonstrated an advantage for recognition of the internal facial features relative to their recognition of the external facial features. Thus, previous observations of a shift in reliance from external to internal facial features can be attributed to experience with faces rather than to age-related changes in face processing.