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This research investigated the development of visual self-recognition in infancy. Prior research has investigated infants' self-perception in mirror or live video stimulation in which visual-proprioceptive contingency is available. No research, however, has addressed the young infants' ability to recognize his or her own face on the basis of featural information. Infants of 2, 3, 5, and 8 months of age viewed video films of their own face side by side with that of a peer. The faces were presented under both moving and still conditions. Results indicated that by the age of 3 months, infants discriminated the self from the peer and demonstrated a significant visual preference for the face of the peer. This suggests that infants already are familiar with their own visual appearance by 3 months of age. Given that most infants had received at least daily exposure to their mirror image, it was hypothesized that featural recognition of the self developed through mirror exposure. It was further suggested that vie...

The development of infants' ability to detect the arbitrary relation between the color/shape of an object and the pitch of its impact sound was investigated using an infant-control habituation procedure. Ninety-six infants of 3, 5, or 7 months were habituated to films of two objects differing in color and shape, striking a surface in an erratic pattern. One object produced an impact sound of a high pitch, and the other object produced a low pitch. During test trials, infants in the experimental conditions received a change in the pairing of pitch with color/shape, whereas controls received no change. Results indicate that visual recovery to the change in pitch-color/shape relations was significantly greater than that of age-matched controls at 7 months, but not at 3 or 5 months. A prior study demonstrated that by 3 months, infants were able to discriminate the color/shape and pitch changes of these events. However, it is not until 7 months that they show evidence of detecting the arbitrary relation betwee...

Two experiments were independently conducted in separate labs to determine whether infants are sensitive to intermodal information specifying gender across dynamic displays of faces and voices. In ...