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    Newborns' preference for face-relevant stimuli: effects of contrast polarity

    Farroni, Teresa and Johnson, Mark H. and Menon, E. and Zulian, L. and Faraguna, D. and Csibra, Gergely (2005) Newborns' preference for face-relevant stimuli: effects of contrast polarity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102 (47), pp. 17245-17250. ISSN 0027-8424.

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    Abstract

    There is currently no agreement as to how specific or general are the mechanisms underlying newborns' face preferences. We address this issue by manipulating the contrast polarity of schematic and naturalistic face-related images and assessing the preferences of newborns. We find that for both schematic and naturalistic face images, the contrast polarity is important. Newborns did not show a preference for an upright face-related image unless it was composed of darker areas around the eyes and mouth. This result is consistent with either sensitivity to the shadowed areas of a face with overhead (natural) illumination and/or to the detection of eye contact.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): eye contact, face processing
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Brain and Cognitive Development, Centre for (CBCD)
    Depositing User: Sandra Plummer
    Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2006
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 16:46
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/293

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