The Recognition of Facial Expressions in the First Two Years of Life: Mechanisms of Development
Abstract
In recent years the infant's ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion has attracted considerable attention from developmental psychologists. The rationale guiding much of this research has been that this ability plays an important role in later socioemotional development. In the present article, the research relating to this topic is reviewed and synthesized. It is concluded that the recognition of facial expressions develops slowly over the first 2 years of life, and that even at the end of the second year the infant's understanding of facial expressions is still quite rudimentary. Following this review is a discussion of 2 unresolved issues regarding the development of this ability. 1 issue relates to the biological/experimental basis on which the ability to recognize facial expressions develops. Research with primates is brought to bear on this point, and useful analogues with human infants are sought. From this research it is suggested that a component of the ability to recognize facial expressions is unlearned, although experience of some as yet undetermined nature affects this biological readiness. The second issue relates to the possible neurological mechanisms that mediate this ability. Research with primates, normal adults, and brain damaged adults is used to support the speculation that a posterior region of the right hemisphere is responsible for mediating the recognition of facial expressions.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Much of the literature has focused on early development of facial recognition.
“Much of the literature has focused on early development of facial recognition (Nelson, 1987).”
From Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition (2006) · cites this paper as Nelson, 1987
People are very skilled at understanding each other's facial expressions and appear to develop this expertise at an early age.
“Not surprisingly, people are very skilled at understanding each other's facial expressions and appear to develop this expertise at an early age (14, 15).”
From Early experience is associated with the development of categorical representations for facial expressions of emotion (2002) · cites this paper as [15]
Cites
(1969) · Cited by 18,340 · see citing works
(1972) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2013-0-02458-9 · Cited by 1,455 · see citing works
Visual neurones responsive to faces in the monkey temporal cortex
Perrett, D. I., Rolls, E. T., & Caan, W. (1982) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/bf00239352 · Cited by 1,386 · see citing works
Field, T. M., & Fox, N. A. (1985) · Cited by 1,181 · see citing works
Damásio, A. R., Damásio, H., & Hoesen, G. W. V. (1982) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.32.4.331 · Cited by 1,017 · see citing works
Maternal emotional signaling: Its effect on the visual cliff behavior of 1-year-olds.
Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., Campos, J. J., & Klinnert, M. D. (1985) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.1.195 · Cited by 885 · see citing works
Discrimination and imitation of facial expression by neonates
Field, T. M., Woodson, R., Greenberg, R., & Cohen, D. (1982) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7123230 · Cited by 864 · see citing works
Learning Display Rules: The Socialization of Emotion Expression in Infancy
Malatesta, C. Z., & Haviland, J. M. (1982) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129139 · Cited by 696 · see citing works
Pattern Vision in Newborn Infants
Fantz, R. L. (1963) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.140.3564.296 · Cited by 683 · see citing works
Fantz, R. L. (1961) · Scientific American · doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0561-66 · Cited by 614 · see citing works
Davidson, R. J., & Fox, N. A. (1982) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7146906 · Cited by 607 · see citing works
The anatomical basis of prosopagnosia
Meadows, J. C. (1974) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.37.5.489 · Cited by 566 · see citing works
Developmental Changes in the Scanning of Faces by Young Infants
Maurer, D. M., & Salapatek, P. (1976) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1128813 · Cited by 516 · see citing works
Eye contact and face scanning in early infancy
Haith, M. M., Bergman, T., & Moore, M. J. (1977) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.918670 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Mother and infant at play: The dyadic interaction involving facial, vocal, and gaze behaviors.
Stern, D. N. (1974) · Cited by 438 · see citing works
Sackett, G. P. (1966) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.154.3755.1468 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Intermodal perception of expressive behaviors by human infants
Walker, A. S. (1982) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-0965(82)90063-7 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Differential contributions of the two cerebral hemispheres to the perception of happy and sad faces
Reuter‐Lorenz, P. A., & Davidson, R. J. (1981) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(81)90030-0 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Four- and Six-Month-Old Infants' Visual Responses to Joy, Anger, and Neutral Expressions
LaBarbera, J. D., Izard, C. E., Vietze, P. M., & Parisi, S. A. (1976) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1128816 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Recognition and discrimination of emotional faces and pictures
DeKosky, S. T., Heilman, K. M., Bowers, D., & Valenstein, E. (1980) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/0093-934x(80)90141-8 · Cited by 268 · see citing works
The smiling response: a contribution to the ontogenesis of social relations.
Spitz, R. A. (1946) · Genetic psychology monographs · Cited by 259 · see citing works
The neuropsychology of facial recognition.
Benton, A. L. (1980) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.35.2.176 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Differential lateralization for positive versus negative emotion
Ahern, G. L., & SCHWARTZ, G. E. R. (1979) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(79)90045-9 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Infant Discrimination of Facial Expressions
Young-Browne, G., Rosenfeld, H. M., & Horowitz, F. D. (1977) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1128653 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
The Generalized Discrimination of Facial Expressions by Seven-Month-Old Infants
Nelson, C. A., & Dolgin, K. G. (1985) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130173 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Perception of Facial Expressions by the Three-Month-Old
Barrera, M. E., & Maurer, D. M. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129231 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Banks, & Salapatek, P. (1983) · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Social Referencing at Ten Months: A Second-Order Effect on Infants'Responses to Strangers
Feinman, S., & Lewis, M. (1983) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1983.tb00509.x · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Discrimination and imitation of facial expressions by term and preterm neonates
Field, T. M., Woodson, R. H., Cohen, D., Greenberg, R., Garcia, R., & Collins, K. (1983) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(83)90316-8 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Differential hemispheric processing of faces: Methodological considerations and reinterpretation.
Sergent, J., & Bindra, D. (1981) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.89.3.541 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
The regulation of infant behavior by maternal facial expression
Klinnert, M. D. (1984) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(84)80005-3 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Recognition of Facial Expressions by Seven-Month-Old Infants
Nelson, C. A., Morse, P. A., & Leavitt, L. A. (1979) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129358 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Self-citationFace recognition in the rhesus monkey
Rosenfeld, S. A., & Hoesen, G. W. V. (1979) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(79)90057-5 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Facedness and emotion related to lateral dominance, sex and expression type
Borod, J. C., & Caron, H. S. (1980) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(80)90070-6 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Do Infants See Emotional Expressions in Static Faces?
Caron, R. F., Caron, A. J., & Myers, R. S. (1985) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130474 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
The Perception of Smiling and Its Experiential Correlates in Three-Month-Old Infants
Kuchuk, A., Vibbert, M., & Bornstein, M. H. (1986) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130379 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
The 5-month-old's ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion
Schwartz, G. M., Izard, C. E., & Ansul, S. E. (1985) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(85)80017-5 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Social Referencing as a Function of Information Source: Mothers Versus Strangers*
Zarbatany, L., & Lamb, M. (1985) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(85)80014-x · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Visual scan patterns of rhesus monkeys viewing faces
Keating, C. F., & Keating, E. G. (1982) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p110211 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Abstraction of Invariant Face Expressions in Infancy
Caron, R. F., Caron, A. J., & Myers, R. S. (1982) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1982.tb01365.x · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Habituation in the Human Infant
Jeffrey, W. E., & Cohen, L. B. (1971) · Advances in child development and behavior · doi:10.1016/s0065-2407(08)60081-6 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Discrimination of vocal expressions by young infants
Walker-Andrews, A., & Grolnick, W. (1983) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(83)90331-4 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Face recognition by monkeys: Absence of an inversion effect
Bruce, C. J. (1982) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(82)90025-2 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Face scanning and responsiveness to social cues in infant rhesus monkeys.
Mendelson, M. J., Haith, M. M., & Goldman‐Rakic, P. S. (1982) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.18.2.222 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Visual contrast sensitivity of a 6-month-old infant Measured by the evoked potential
Harris, L. R., Atkinson, J., & Braddick, O. (1976) · Nature · doi:10.1038/264570a0 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
About face: Left-hemisphere involvement in processing physiognomies.
Sergent, J. (1982) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.8.1.1 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Hemispheric specialization displayed by man but not macaques for analysis of faces
Overman, W., & Doty, R. W. (1982) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(82)90002-1 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Infant perception of the structural properties of the face.
Caron, A. J., Caron, R. F., Caldwell, R. C., et al. (1973) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0034910 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
The development of face perception
Carey, S. E. (1981) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Contrast sensitivity of the human infant for moving and static patterns
Atkinson, J., Braddick, O., & Moar, K. (1977) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/0042-6989(77)90008-6 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Borod, J. C., Koff, E., & Caron, H. S. (1983) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-550680-9.50011-x · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Social referencing and the security of attachment
Dickstein, S., Thompson, R. A., Estes, D., Malkin, C. M., & Lamb, M. E. (1984) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(84)80009-0 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
asymmetry of Facial Expression Related to Handedness, Footedness, and Eyedness: a Quantitative Study
Borod, J. C., Caron, H. S., & Koff, E. (1981) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(81)80025-1 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Das erste Verständnis für Ausdruck im ersten Lebensjahr
Bühler, C., & Hetzer, H. (1928) · Max Planck Digital Library · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Kenney, M. D., Mason, W., & Hill, S. D. (1979) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.15.2.176 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Nelson, C. A., & Horowitz, F. D. (1983) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1983.tb00508.x · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Self-citationTurkewitz, G., & Ross-Kossak, P. (1984) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.20.1.95 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Categorical representation of facial expressions by 7-month-old infants.
Ludemann, P. M., & Nelson, C. A. (1988) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.24.4.492 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Self-citationLeft visual-field advantage in children for processing visual emotional stimuli.
Saxby, L., & Bryden, M. P. (1985) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.2.253 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition
Blakemore, S., & Choudhury, S. (2006) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01611.x · Cited by 2,328 · see citing works
Russell, J. A. (1994) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.102 · Cited by 1,640 · see citing works
Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view.
Kopp, C. B. (1989) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.343 · Cited by 1,469 · see citing works
Adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior
Bridge, J. A., Goldstein, T. R., & Brent, D. A. (2006) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01615.x · Cited by 1,361 · see citing works
Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social–emotional development
Vaish, A., Grossmann, T., & Woodward, A. (2008) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.383 · Cited by 1,191 · see citing works
Understanding Other Minds: Linking Developmental Psychology and Functional Neuroimaging
Saxe, R., Carey, S., & Kanwisher, N. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142044 · Cited by 726 · see citing works
Herba, C., & Phillips, M. (2004) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00316.x · Cited by 526 · see citing works
Pollak, S. D., & Kistler, D. J. (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.142165999 · Cited by 475 · see citing works
Amygdala response to facial expressions in children and adults.
Thomas, K. M., Drevets, W. C., Whalen, P. J., Eccard, C. H., Dahl, R. E., Ryan, N. D., & Casey, B. J. (2001) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(00)01066-0 · Cited by 470 · see citing works
Development of emotional facial recognition in late childhood and adolescence
Thomas, L. A., De Bellis, M. D., Graham, R., & LaBar, K. S. (2007) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00614.x · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Infants' ability to connect gaze and emotional expression to intentional action
Phillips, A. T., Wellman, H. M., & Spelke, E. S. (2002) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(02)00073-2 · Cited by 364 · see citing works
A developmental examination of amygdala response to facial expressions
Guyer, A. E., Monk, C. S., McClure-Tone, E. B., Nelson, E. E., Roberson-Nay, R., Adler, A. D., Fromm, S. J., Leibenluft, E., Pine, D. S., & Ernst, M. (2008) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20114 · Cited by 357 · see citing works
Piggot, J., Kwon, H., Mobbs, D., Blasey, C., Lotspeich, L., Menon, V., Bookheimer, S., & Reiss, A. L. (2004) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-200404000-00014 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Evidence for a Global Categorical Representation of Humans by Young Infants
Quinn, P. C., & Eimas, P. D. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1006/jecp.1998.2443 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Sherman, L. J., Rice, K., & Cassidy, J. (2015) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2015.06.001 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Do great apes use emotional expressions to infer desires?
Buttelmann, D., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2009) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00802.x · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Dobson, S. D. (2009) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.20902 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Psychophysiological Methods for the Study of Developmental Psychopathology
Fox, N. A., Ashley Hane, A., & Pérez‐Edgar, K. (2015) · Developmental Psychopathology · doi:10.1002/9780470939390.ch9 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nelson, C. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nelson, Charles A.
- ORCID
- Nelson, Charles A.
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1987-08
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 889
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2071005574
- Cited by
- 306
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 3.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH 29502)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- facial expression recognition, infant development, emotion recognition, social-emotional development, primate research, right hemisphere, brain damage, neurological mechanisms
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Child Development, Discrimination Learning, Facial Expression, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Infant, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Perceptual Masking
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
