Face-Processing and its Role in Development

 Face-Processing and its Role in Development

Research has consistently shown that face-processing is a key milestone in an infant’s early life.  Many studies have worked to determine when exactly infants begin to process facial stimuli, as well as what areas of the brain are utilized in this processing.  Facial processing can tell us a lot about infant cognition as well as the discrimination and biases involved in facial recognition.  Even further, research has investigated face processing in infants at risk for developmental disorders and the differences in ERP components that may lend toward an early diagnosis for these neurodevelopmental disorders.  Many of these disorders are commonly associated with poor face processing, hence why this is a main focus in these studies. However, there are still a lot of unknowns about facial recognition and the visual system in early life.

In the research article “Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of early life,” Dr. Maggie Guy and colleagues analyzed ERP responses in infants from 4.5 to 12 months when shown a picture of a face or a non-face object on a simple background in order to further investigate the localization of neural responses to faces in the brain.  ERP components of interest to the study were P1, N290, P400, and Nc as these components have been seen to be elicited by faces in infants as early as 3 months.  The researchers took a particular interest in the amplification of these brain signals.  Additionally, the research team utilized source localization methods in order to investigate changes in the sources of cortical generators of infant face-sensitive ERP components.  Dr. Guy also presented the differences in ERP components seen in infants at high risk for autism spectrum disorder.  One of the conclusions drawn from the research was that the P1 component is the only one that did not show significant changes across ages, while the N290 did show greater amplitude with age.  They also confirmed that P1 and N290 responded more so to faces over objects presented.  The Nc ERP component was seemingly dependent on many factors and showed amplitude variation between both faces and objects.  Lastly, the P400 component did not show signal preference or increases in sensitivity to one stimulus type over another and rather responded as a function of time.  Overall, the analysis of the research conducted showed that face-sensitive ERP components do show changes within development of the infants first year of life.

As stated before, there is a lot of research being done to determine whether normal face-sensitive neural responses are also seen in those who are later diagnosed with developmental disorders, or if these stimuli responses seem to differ.  Many studies focus on the ERP components typical of facial processing as described in the previous study and how changes in amplification can be characteristic of developmental delays.  However, there is a lot of discrepancy in this area of study.  Although face recognition is different across individuals, many studies show similar deficiencies in face recognition for those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The news article “People with autism may have large deficits in facial recognition” focuses on understanding these recognition differences in those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by comparing facial stimuli to individuals with normal developmental patterns.  The article makes a link between facial recognition and differences in social interaction characteristic of those with autism.  According to the article, face processing in individuals proceeds social cues, so there may be a correlation in where difficulty processing facial stimuli and recognizing common faces translates to social behavior.  This article highlights a study utilizing years of collected autism spectrum disorder data to draw the conclusion that there may be a relationship between deficits in facial recognition and the behavioral patterns observed in those with autism spectrum disorder.   This conclusion is one that many researchers hadn’t focused upon before, making it significant in the study of understanding why exactly these ERP components may differ and the effect that has on an individual’s sociological behavior. 

 To conclude, although it is hard to diagnose these developmental disorders early, research on face processing can assist in recognizing these differences at an early age.  Again, variations in specific ERP components characteristic of face sensitivity have shown to be key in early diagnosis in infants showing developmental delays.  However, there is also importance in recognizing that errors in facial identity may also be able to explain the social behaviors observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.  Research in this area may also aid in further understanding social cues and developing interventions to improve these skills in those with developmental disorders. 

References:

Conte, Stefania, Richards, John E., Guy, Maggie W., Xie, Wanze, Roberts, Jane E. (2020).  Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of life.  Science Direct.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116602

People with autism may have large deficits in facial recognition (2020, October 26).  Penn State.   https://news.psu.edu/story/636702/2020/10/26/research/people-autism-may-have-large-deficits-facial-recognition