Poster #62 - The Impact of Multimodal Exposure to Other-Race Faces on Face Processing in 9- to 12-Month-Old Infants

• In Event: Poster Session 12

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how multimodal (i.e., audiovisual) exposure influences other-race face processing in 9- to 12-month-old infants. The other-race effect (ORE) is characterized by more efficient processing and better recognition of faces that belong to one’s own race, compared to faces that belong to other races (e.g., Kelly et al., 2007). Additionally, multimodal stimuli have been shown to elicit increased attention in infants, compared to unimodal stimuli (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000). The ORE has traditionally been studied using static, unimodal stimuli. However, a few studies have indicated that multimodal exposure to other-race faces may diminish the ORE, allowing infants to discriminate between faces of other races (Minar & Lewkowicz, 2018), In the current study, we recruited English-speaking infants to participate in an online study via Lookit. Full-term 9- to 12-month-olds were recruited regardless of racial background. For the current analyses, we focused on participants that identified as “other-race” from the Southeast Asian actors presented in the stimuli (N = 30). The majority of participants were Caucasian or White (N = 17), in addition to one American Indian/Alaska Native participant, four Asian participants, and eight participants of two or more races. Five participants identified as Hispanic/Latin. Participants were first familiarized with two side-by-side videos of women reciting a children’s story in an infant-directed manner. A soundtrack played that matched only one of the videos. Following familiarization, infants were randomly presented with three static visual-paired comparison (VPC) trials, including: 1) the face from familiarization presented in synchrony with the soundtrack (i.e., synchronous-familiar face) paired with the face from familiarization that was presented asynchronously with the soundtrack (i.e., asynchronous-familiar face); 2) the synchronous-familiar face paired with a novel face; and 3) the asynchronous-familiar face paired with a novel face. Looking during the VPC trials was measured and novelty preferences were tested with one-sample t-tests. Because infants are naturally attracted to novel stimuli, a preference for the novel stimulus would indicate that participants recognized the paired stimulus. Furthermore, increased looking to one familiar stimulus over another may indicate greater processing of the less attended stimulus. The preliminary findings show that when the synchronous-familiar face (M = 3.02 s) was paired with the asynchronous-familiar face (M = 3.65 s), p > .05, and a novel (M = 3.02 s) face was paired with the asynchronous-familiar face (M = 4.04 s), p < .05 infants looked longer to the asynchronous face. These results indicate that the synchronous-familiar face was processed more deeply than the asynchronous-familiar face and that the asynchronous-familiar face appeared more novel to participants. This shows that multimodal synchronous exposure to other-race faces may promote processing of other-race faces, inhibiting the ORE. This study is currently in progress and added data from own- and other-race participants will help to clarify the relationship between multimodal exposure to faces and the ORE. If the results indicate that the ORE can be reduced with multimodal exposure to other-race faces, it will have implications for preventing the onset of the ORE in infants and young children.

Authors

• Aslı Bursalıoğlu, Loyola University Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Cidnee Hall, Loyola University Chicago

• Aleena Ferozuddin, Loyola University Chicago

• Maggie W Guy, Loyola University Chicago