An international team of researchers proposes to examine the development of face processing from infancy through adolescence. We will investigate how infants' and children's face processing expertise is tuned by their experience with different classes of faces early in development. Children from infancy through adolescence and from different countries will be tested to determine how their experience with faces of different race, gender, age, and species affect their ability to classify faces into different categories and to recognize the identity of individual faces. We will test the hypothesis that while the human visual system may be biased at birth to favor face-like stimuli, much of our face processing ability is acquired through experience with thousands of faces over the course of development. Differential degrees of exposure to different categories of faces (race, gender, age, and species) will impact on how humans classify faces into different face categories and how they recognize individual faces within these general categories. Analogous to phonetic development, at early stages of face expertise acquisition, infants and children may process a broad range of faces from different races, genders, ages, and species with equal facility. As children mature and are selectively exposed to a limited number of face categories (one's own species, race, gender, and age group), their face expertise becomes more specialized. As they become increasingly more skilled at processing faces with which they have extensive experience (expertise), they lose their natural ability to process faces from face categories with which they have limited experience. This research program will provide much needed information to form a comprehensive picture of the development of face processing abilities and to delineate the role of experience in the formation of face expertise. Our research should facilitate the development of a general theory of face processing in children and adults. The methods we refine for this project should be of use for clinical studies and assessments that involve children with atypical trajectories in the development of face processing including cases of autism and developmental prosopagnosia.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD046526-04
Application #
7212252
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BRLE (03))
Program Officer
Freund, Lisa S
Project Start
2004-06-01
Project End
2009-03-31
Budget Start
2007-04-01
Budget End
2008-03-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$243,126
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
804355790
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
Heron-Delaney, Michelle; Quinn, Paul C; Damon, Fabrice et al. (2018) Development of Preferences for Differently Aged Faces of Different Races. Soc Dev 27:172-186
Xiao, Naiqi G; Wu, Rachel; Quinn, Paul C et al. (2018) Infants Rely More on Gaze Cues From Own-Race Than Other-Race Adults for Learning Under Uncertainty. Child Dev 89:e229-e244
Stiles, Joan (2017) Principles of brain development. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci 8:
Damon, Fabrice; Méary, David; Quinn, Paul C et al. (2017) Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants. Sci Rep 7:46303
Qian, Miao K; Quinn, Paul C; Heyman, Gail D et al. (2017) Perceptual individuation training (but not mere exposure) reduces implicit racial bias in preschool children. Dev Psychol 53:845-859
Heron-Delaney, Michelle; Damon, Fabrice; Quinn, Paul C et al. (2017) An adult face bias in infants that is modulated by face race. Int J Behav Dev 41:581-587
Lee, Kang; Quinn, Paul C; Pascalis, Olivier (2017) Face race processing and racial bias in early development: A perceptual-social linkage. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 26:256-262
Qian, Miao K; Quinn, Paul C; Heyman, Gail D et al. (2017) A Long-Term Effect of Perceptual Individuation Training on Reducing Implicit Racial Bias in Preschool Children. Child Dev :
Richoz, Anne-Raphaëlle; Quinn, Paul C; Hillairet de Boisferon, Anne et al. (2017) Audio-Visual Perception of Gender by Infants Emerges Earlier for Adult-Directed Speech. PLoS One 12:e0169325
Yi, Li; Quinn, Paul C; Fan, Yuebo et al. (2016) Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder scan own-race faces differently from other-race faces. J Exp Child Psychol 141:177-86

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