Mother-stranger face discrimination by the newborn

Abstract

Newborn infants discriminate their mother's face from the face of a stranger shortly after birth. The neonates ( M age=45 hours) showed an initial preference for their mother's face. The mother's face (or face and voice) was then presented to the neonates for repeated trials until the infant reached an habituation criterion. In a subsequent discrimination test the infants looked significantly longer at the stranger's face, suggesting that the mother's face was discriminated after very limited experience. Although voice cues were not required for this discrimination, the possibility remains that other cues, such as the mother's odor, may facilitate the discrimination of her face.