Can a nonspecific bias toward top-heavy patterns explain newborns’ face preference?
Abstract
This study examined newborns' face preference using images of natural and scrambled faces in which the location of the inner features was distorted. The results demonstrate that newborns' face preference is not confined to schematic configurations, but can be obtained also with veridical faces. Moreover, this phenomenon is not produced by a specific bias toward the face geometry, but derives from a domain-general bias toward configurations with more elements in the upper than in the lower half (i.e., top-heavy patterns). These results suggest that it may be unnecessary to assume the existence of a prewired tendency to orient toward the face geometry, and support the idea that faces do not possess a special status in newborns' visual world.
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Increases in white matter volume are accompanied by progressive changes in MRI measures of white matter integrity, such as MTR and FA.
“Increases in white matter volume are accompanied by progressive changes in MRI measures of white matter integrity, such as the magnetisation-transfer ratio (MTR) in MRI, and fractional anisotropy (FA) in diffusion-tensor MRI (Macchi et al., 2004; Giorgio et al., 2010; Paus et al., 2008a,b; Fornari et al., 2007).”
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- Authors
- Viola Macchi, C., Turati, C., & Simion, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
- University of Padua (IT)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 379-383
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2097413287
- Cited by
- 363
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 5.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Keywords
- face perception, face geometry
- MeSH terms
- Choice Behavior, Cognition, Face, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Visual Perception
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