Feedback on faces

Wed Nov 6 13:13:34 UTC 2002

Here are the responses I received to the question below, since some
of you have asked me to post them.  If I get any more I will send
them on separately.

>>Annette
>>I know there is research showing that infants prefer "beautiful"
>>(symmetrical) faces over others, but is there research showing that
>>they prefer children's faces over adult ones, or female over male
>>etc.? Or other such preferences?  Idem with voices.  I know they
>>can discriminate, and believe that they prefer motherese over
>>adult-directed speech, but do they show preference for child voices
>>over adult, female over male, etc.?
>>All info most appreciated.
>>thanks
>>Annette

>>Hi Annette,
>I don't know about research, but I remember that when I had babies,
>there were lots of books for infants containing pictures of babies
>and young children - so someone in publishing knows/thinks there is
>a preference; and my kids loved looking at the pictures of children
>(also at checkerboards and bulls-eyes, of course).
>Lucia
>Dr. Lucia French
>1-312 Dewey
>Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development
>University of Rochester
>Rochester NY 14627
>(716) 275-3235
>(716) 473-7598 [fax]
>email:  lufr at troi.cc.rochester.edu
>many thanks, Lucia.  I agree, but I need some research to back the
>statement if poss.

>Paul Quinn talked to me about a study showing that, although infants
>generally prefer female faces, infants raised by their father prefer male
>faces. Unfortunately, I do not have an exact reference.
>Gergo
>Gergely Csibra         Centre of Brain and Cognitive Development
>Research Scientist     School of Psychology
>Senior Lecturer        Birkbeck College
>g.csibra at bbk.ac.uk     Malet Street
>Tel: +44 20 7631 6323  London WC1E 7HX
>Fax: +44 20 7631 6587  United Kingdom

Paul Quinn <pquinn at washjeff.edu>
>Quinn, P. C., Yahr, J., Kuhn, A., Slater, A. M., & Pascalis, O. (2002).
>Representation of the gender of human faces by infants: A preference for
female. Perception, 31, 1109-1121.

>hi annette
>maybe slightly off-beam, but did you know that newborn males look
>for longer at a mobile, whilst newborn females look for longer at a
>face? Connellan et al, 2001, Inf Behav and Dev.
>hope all's well
>simon
>Simon Baron-Cohen
>Professor of Developmental Psychopathology
>Co-Director
>Autism Research Centre
>Cambridge University
>Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry
>Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
>tel 01223 333557 fax 01223 333561
>www.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/arc
>and
>www.human-emotions.com

>Dear Annette,
>  On voices, I have nothing about female over male, etc. as you ask.
>On faces, I found this:
>
>Ã—      Langlois, J.H. & L.A.Roggman (1990), Attractive faces are
>only average, Psychological Science 1: 115-121. (On infants'
>preference for attractive faces)
>
>Ã—      Slater, A., C. von der Schulenburg, E. Brown, M. Badenoch,
>G. Butterworth, S. Parsons & C. Samuels (1998) Newborn infants
>prefer attractive faces, Infant Behavior and Development 21: 345-354.
>
>Ã—      Samuels, C.A., G. Butterworth, T. Roberts & L. Graupner
>(1994), Babies prefer attractiveness to symmetry, Perception 23:
>823-831.
>Best
>  Madalena
>  Madalena Cruz-Ferreira
>ellmcf at nus.edu.sg

Dear Annette,
1. I once attended a class taught by Barry Brazelton,
who had a newborn brought in and had two talkers:
a male and a female talking at the same time in the
baby's two ears. The newborn immediately turned his head
towards the female and continued paying
attention to the female's direction. Dr. Brazelton
used this behavior to support the notion of the infant's
"readiness" for speech. According to him, it is common
knowledge among nurses that there is a preference
for higher-pitched voices in newborns. This is, however,
not a preference for female voices but, rather, for
higher-pitched voices.

2. The voice preference issue is a reserach area
explored in detail by Melanie Spence. Her dissertation should
be useful:

Spence, Melanie Jean. Newborns' Preference for Female Voices as a
Function of Spectral Composition. Dissertation Abstracts
International. 46(2):680B. 1985 Aug.. Ann Arbor, MI

Best,
Krisztina
Krisztina Zajds, M.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Linguist, Speech scientist
Postdoctoral Research Associate &
Senior lecturer
University of Texas at Austin
Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders
CMA 7.214
Drawer A 1100
Austin, TX 78712
USA
P: 512-475-7046
F: 512-471-2957
zajdo at hotmail.com

From: "M.A.Vanduuren" <M.A.Vanduuren at wkac.ac.uk>
To: 'Annette Karmiloff-Smith' <a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: faces
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 20:59:29 -0000
X-UCL-MailScanner: Found to be clean
Hi Annette,
I have an article in press with International journal of behavioural
development (I you are interested a pdf version is at
http://www.wkac.ac.uk/psychology under my name (along with infant faces used
in the study) in the list which shows infants prefer to look at pre-sexually
mature infant faces (ie faces rated as miniature versions of attractive
adult faces) over infant faces rated as cute (ie having morphological
features thought to trigger care instinct responses (eg protective caring
non threatening behaviour). As far as pitting infant against adult faces
sorry cant help.
Best,
Mike van duuren.

From: Kathy Hirsh-Pasek <khirshpa at nimbus.temple.edu>
Subject: Re: faces
To: Annette Karmiloff-Smith <a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk>
X-UCL-MailScanner: Found to be clean
Annette -- I don't know the answer to your first question but think it is
probably mentioned in an article that just came out in Developmental Psych that
I received yesterday.  The paper is called "Newborns' preference for
faces: What
is crucial?"  The first author is Chiara Turati.  Hope that helps. Kathy
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