Intra-Hemispheric Dynamics in Infant Encoding of Coloured Facial Patterns

Colour and facial configuration are both very salient aspects of the visual environment for infants, but may both be selectively processed by the right hemisphere (RHS) and under some conditions may compete for RHS resources. The present investigation assessed the relative potency of facial configuration and colour in the two halves of the visual field for 32 infants (with a mean age of 24 weeks). The infants were familiarized to triads of facial figures presented for 250 ms in the left or right visual field. The faces were all different in colour and facial pattern (expression), but one of them (the target) was shown in an upright orientation while the others (distractors) were inverted. The results of paired-comparison recognition tests indicated that the displays had been initially parsed in terms of configurational category (upright faces versus inverted non-faces) in both visual fields, attesting to the primacy of this categorical distinction in both hemispheres. However, the focus for subsequent encoding reflected marked hemispheric discrepancies, with a left visual field (RHS) bias to target colour (comprising the first evidence of this for infants) and a contrary right visual field [left hemisphere (LHS)] advantage for distractor pattern. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.