Do surprised faces affect infants' attention toward novel objects?
- Author(s)
- Stefanie Hoehl, Sabina Pauen
- Abstract
Previous research has shown that expressions of fear have an effect on infants' object processing. This event-related potential study addresses the question whether surprised faces affect infants' brain responses to objects in a similar way, as both expressions share a crucial perceptual feature, wide-opened eyes. Three-month and 9-month-old infants were presented with surprised and neutral faces gazing toward objects. Following each face looking toward an object, the object was presented again without the face. Three-month-olds directed an increased attention to objects that were previously gaze cued by a surprised compared with neutral face as indicated by an enhanced negative central component. This replicates earlier findings using fearful compared with neutral faces as stimuli. Nine-month-olds did not show different responses to objects in both conditions. This suggests that surprised faces have the same effect as fearful faces on 3-month-olds', but not on 9-month-olds' object processing. The findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive and visuoperceptual development.
- Organisation(s)
- External organisation(s)
- Scientific Software Center
- Journal
- NEUROREPORT
- Volume
- 22
- Pages
- 906-910
- No. of pages
- 5
- ISSN
- 0959-4965
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0b013e32834cd751
- Publication date
- 2011
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 501005 Developmental psychology
- Keywords
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/fc232822-42e9-40e9-917c-c5ffac9db4a7