The role of motion and speech in face recognition at birth

Abstract

Newborns, a few hours after birth, already encounter many different faces, talking or silently moving. How do they process these faces and which cues are important in early face recognition? In a series of six experiments, newborns were familiarized with an unfamiliar face in different contexts (photographs, talking, silently moving, and with only external movements of the head with speech sound). At test, they saw the familiar and a new faces either in photographs, silently moving, or talking. A novelty preference was evidenced at test when photographs were presented in the two phases. This result supports those already evidenced in several studies. A familiarity preference appeared only when the face was seen talking in the familiarization phase and in a photograph or talking again at test. This suggests that the simultaneous presence of speech sound, and rigid and nonrigid movements present in a talking face enhances recognition of interactive faces at birth.

Keywords:

• Face recognition
• Motion
• Natural settings
• Newborn
• Speech

Acknowledgements

The first two authors contributed equally to this study. This study obtained the authorization of the Graduate School of Paris Descartes as well as the written consent of the nursing staff of Hôpital Bichat and the parents of the newborns. It was supported by grants from the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR). We thank Julien Blais for custom programming. We also thank Aurely Carrières-Rives, Louise Goyet, and Viviane Huet for technical support, as well as Pr. Luton, Laetitia de Lorgeril, and the nursing staff at Bichat Maternity in Paris for their collaboration.