Plasticity of face processing in infancy

Experience plays a crucial role for the normal development of many

perceptual and cognitive functions, such as speech perception. For

example, between 6 and 10 months of age, the infant’s ability to

discriminate among native speech sounds improves, whereas the

ability to discriminate among foreign speech sounds declines.

However, a recent investigation suggests that some experience

with nonnative languages from 9 months of age facilitates the

maintenance of this ability at 12 months. Nelson has suggested

that the systems underlying face processing may be similarly

sculpted by experience with different kinds of faces. In the current

investigation, we demonstrate that, in human infants between 6

and 9 months of age, exposure to nonnative faces, in this case,

faces of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus), facilitates the discrimination

of monkey faces, an ability that is otherwise lost

around 9 months of age. These data support, and further elucidate,

the role of early experience in the development of face processing.