Meta-analytic review of infants' preferential attention to familiar and unfamiliar face types based on gender and race

Abstract

Infants’ earliest attention shows prioritization of social and communicative signals – faces. Not all faces receive equal attention; infants show early preferential attention to some face types over others. Although the pattern is not consistent across studies, potentially because infant experience varies, sample sizes and effect sizes are small, and methodological parameters are inconsistent, infants seem to show dynamic preferential attention first to familiar or caregiver-like (e.g., female, own-race) and developmentally later to unfamiliar (e.g., male, other-race) face types. This meta-analysis clarifies infants’ attention to familiar (i.e., caregiver-like) and unfamiliar (i.e., not caregiver-like) face types across the first year of life. The combined results from 19 studies (76 samples) of infant visual preferential attention reveal greater attention to familiar over unfamiliar face types (M = 2.69%, SE = 1.01), which declines over the first year of life. Face comparison type (race or gender) and infant age significantly predicted preferential attention: attention to familiar over unfamiliar race faces declined significantly with increasing infant age. There was no significant age-related decline in infants’ preferential attention to familiar gender faces. Task parameters did not significantly predict infants’ preferential attention. With the high variability in methodological parameters and reporting in the field, we suggest best practices for research to clarify our understanding of infants’ early visual attention to faces.