
Cog Lunch: Heather L. Kosakowski "Infants’ Face-Selective Responses Emerge in Parallel"
Description
Abstract: Faces are a rich source of social information. How does the infant brain develop the ability to recognize faces and identify potential social partners? We collected functional magnetic neuroimaging (fMRI) data from 49 awake human infants (aged 2.5-9.7 months) while they watched movies of faces, bodies, objects, and scenes. Face-selective responses were observed in ventral temporal cortex (VTC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Face responses were also observed (but not fully selective) in the amygdala and thalamus. We find no evidence that face-selective responses develop in visual perception regions (VTC) prior to higher order social perception (STS) or social evaluation (MPFC) regions. Together, these results suggest that face-selective responses develop in parallel across multiple cortical regions. We hypothesize that infants’ brains simultaneously process faces both as a privileged category of visual images, and as potential social partners.