Frontiers in Psychology (May 2019)

Brain Responses to Faces and Facial Expressions in 5-Month-Olds: An fNIRS Study

  • Renata Di Lorenzo,
  • Renata Di Lorenzo,
  • Anna Blasi,
  • Caroline Junge,
  • Caroline Junge,
  • Carlijn van den Boomen,
  • Carlijn van den Boomen,
  • Rianne van Rooijen,
  • Rianne van Rooijen,
  • Chantal Kemner,
  • Chantal Kemner,
  • Chantal Kemner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01240
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

Read online

Processing faces and understanding facial expressions are crucial skills for social communication. In adults, basic face processing and facial emotion processing rely on specific interacting brain networks. In infancy, however, little is known about when and how these networks develop. The current study uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure differences in 5-month-olds’ brain activity in response to fearful and happy facial expressions. Our results show that the right occipital region responds to faces, indicating that the face processing network is activated at 5 months. Yet sensitivity to facial emotions appears to be still immature at this age: explorative analyses suggest that if the facial emotion processing network was active this would be mainly visible in the temporal cortex. Together these results indicate that at 5 months, occipital areas already show sensitivity to face processing, while the facial emotion processing network seems not fully developed.

Keywords