ERIC Number: EJ746768
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jan
Pages: 14
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0965
EISSN: N/A
Holistic Face Processing Is Mature at 4 Years of Age: Evidence from the Composite Face Effect
de Heering, Adelaide; Houthuys, Sarah; Rossion, Bruno
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, v96 n1 p57-70 Jan 2007
Although it is acknowledged that adults integrate features into a representation of the whole face, there is still some disagreement about the onset and developmental course of holistic face processing. We tested adults and children from 4 to 6 years of age with the same paradigm measuring holistic face processing through an adaptation of the composite face effect [Young, A. W., Hellawell, D., & Hay, D. C. (1987). Configurational information in face perception. "Perception," 16, 747-759]. In Experiment 1, only 6-year-old children and adults tended to perceive the two identical top parts as different, suggesting that holistic face processing emerged at 6 years of age. However, Experiment 2 suggested that these results could be due to a response bias in children that was cancelled out by always presenting two faces in the same format on each trial. In this condition, all age groups present strong composite face effects, suggesting that holistic face processing is mature as early as after 4 years of experience with faces.
Descriptors: Young Children, Adults, Response Style (Tests), Visual Discrimination, Visual Stimuli, Perceptual Development, Recognition (Psychology), Visual Perception, Cognitive Processes, Age Differences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A