Infants use of Facial Recognition Processes to Differentiate Emotions

    Socializing is an essential part of our daily lives. It allows us to form connections, create networks, and share our experiences. Expression of emotions is a big contributor to this phenomenon in such that we create bonds and make inferences about others based on their facial expressions. Being able to identify the differences in emotional expression comes from facial recognition processes. There are many studies surrounding these processes in adults; however, studies involving the developmental processes for facial recognition in infants are particularly sparse. 

    In the study “Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of like” (Conte et al., 2020) researchers looked at the adaptation of various neural pathways in the brains of infants to determine the presence of certain ERP (event-related potential) responses. The study suggested that within the first year of life, infants’ recognition of faces is larger than that of objects. This is primarily due to the P1, and N290 ERP components, complemented with the repetitive exposure to familiar faces. Through this exposure to faces, the development in facial recognition has contributed to the assimilation and familiarization of facial expressions and their corresponding emotions. 

    In association with Conte’s study, “Emotion in motion: Facial dynamics affect infants’ neural processing of emotions” (Quadrelli et al., 2018) looks at the N290 ERP component as well as the Nc (right-lateralized negative central) and P400 components to identify the “attentional bias” that infants hold towards happy, angry, and fearful expressions. The study determined that Nc had a faster response to happy expressions over angry ones; N290 had greater responses to happy and fearful faces over angry faces; P400 was the inverse of N290. This demonstrates that the components that affect the processing of facial recognition also have an influence on the infant’s ability to decipher between emotional expressions.

    The ERP components identified in both studies aid in the understanding of developmental facial recognition in infants and further aid in the differentiation of emotional expressions. With these studies, we see that the processes investigated by Conte’s team have a significant correlation to that of Quadrelli’s team. Both studies promote the further investigation of the science behind facial recognition in infants and how they attribute to their ability to comprehend the difference in emotions.  

References:

Conte, S., Richards, J.E., Guy, M.W., Xie, W., & Roberts, J.E. (2020). Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of life. NeuroImage, 211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.1166025

Quadrelli, E., Conte, S., Macchi Cassia, V., Turati, C., 2019. Emotion in motion: facial dynamics affect infants’ neural processing of emotions. Dev. Psychobiol. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21860, 00.