Abstract
BackgroundThe development of face and object processing has attracted much attention; however, studies that directly compare processing of both visual categories across age are rare. In the present study, we compared the developmental trajectories of face and object processing in younger children (8–10 years), older children (11–13 years), adolescents (14–16 years), and adults (20–37).Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used a congruency paradigm in which subjects compared the internal features of two stimuli, while the (unattended) external features either agreed or disagreed independent of the identity of the internal features. We found a continuous increase in matching accuracy for faces and watches across childhood and adolescence, with different magnitudes for both visual categories. In watch perception, adult levels were reached at the age of 14–16, but not in face perception. The effect of context and inversion, as measures of holistic and configural processing, were clearly restricted to faces in all age groups. This finding suggests that different mechanisms are involved in face and object perception at any age tested. Moreover, the modulation of context and inversion effects by exposure duration was strongly age-dependent, with the strongest age-related differences found for brief timings below 140 ms.Conclusions/SignificanceThe results of the present study suggest prolonged development of face-specific processing up to young adulthood. The improvement in face processing is qualitatively different from the improvement of general perceptual and cognitive ability.
Highlights
Face perception has attracted much attention over the last five decades or more
One widely accepted fact about face perception is its holistic nature; researchers claim that faces are processed holistically [1]
In congruent contexts (CC) stimulus pairs were defined in such way that, when the internal features agreed, the external features agreed
Summary
Face perception has attracted much attention over the last five decades or more. The holistic nature of face perception has been demonstrated repeatedly using context effects and part-to-whole effect as indicators of holistic processing. The effect of unattended facial context is strong when external features (i.e., hair, face, and head outline) are manipulated, and internal features (i.e., eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth in their natural configurations) are compared, yielding the illusion of different face identities two faces share the same internal features [6,7,8,9,10,11]. The development of face and object processing has attracted much attention; studies that directly compare processing of both visual categories across age are rare. We compared the developmental trajectories of face and object processing in younger children (8–10 years), older children (11–13 years), adolescents (14–16 years), and adults (20–37)
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