Dataset Information

Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants.

ABSTRACT: Human adults and infants show a preference for average faces, which could stem from a general processing mechanism and may be shared among primates. However, little is known about preference for facial averageness in monkeys. We used a comparative developmental approach and eye-tracking methodology to assess visual attention in human and macaque infants to faces naturally varying in their distance from a prototypical face. In Experiment 1, we examined the preference for faces relatively close to or far from the prototype in 12-month-old human infants with human adult female faces. Infants preferred faces closer to the average than faces farther from it. In Experiment 2, we measured the looking time of 3-month-old rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) viewing macaque faces varying in their distance from the prototype. Like human infants, macaque infants looked longer to faces closer to the average. In Experiments 3 and 4, both species were presented with unfamiliar categories of faces (i.e., macaque infants tested with adult macaque faces; human infants and adults tested with infant macaque faces) and showed no prototype preferences, suggesting that the prototypicality effect is experience-dependent. Overall, the findings suggest a common processing mechanism across species, leading to averageness preferences in primates.

SUBMITTER: Damon F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5390246 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants.

Damon Fabrice F Méary David D Quinn Paul C PC Lee Kang K Simpson Elizabeth A EA Paukner Annika A Suomi Stephen J SJ Pascalis Olivier O

Scientific reports 20170413

Human adults and infants show a preference for average faces, which could stem from a general processing mechanism and may be shared among primates. However, little is known about preference for facial averageness in monkeys. We used a comparative developmental approach and eye-tracking methodology to assess visual attention in human and macaque infants to faces naturally varying in their distance from a prototypical face. In Experiment 1, we examined the preference for faces relatively close to ...[more]

PMID: 28406237

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Project description:1. Differences in the rates at which ligands cap various receptors on the same cells, and their sensitivity to various drugs, have been interpreted as evidence that there are distinct mechanisms for ;fast' and ;slow' cap formation. We have examined the factors which determine the rate of cap formation of three receptors on mouse splenic lymphocytes or thymocytes, and compared the effects of cytochalasin B or colchicine under conditions where the different receptors cap at similar rates. 2. When surface immunoglobulin, concanavalin A receptors, or theta antigen are induced to cap at their maximal rates by appropriate concentrations of one or more cross-linking ligands, the half-time for maximal capping of each receptor population is between 1.5 and 3.0min at 37 degrees C. Slower rates of cap formation are obtained by using non-optimal concentrations of the cross-linking ligands. 3. When the three receptors were induced to cap at similar rates (either maximal or slower), 10mum-cytochalasin B caused a similar decrease in the rate of cap formation for each receptor, without affecting the eventual extent of capping. At comparable capping rates on control cells, colchicine (10mum) increased the rate of cap formation for surface immunoglobulin and concanavalin A receptors to a similar extent, without affecting the eventual extent of cap formation. In contrast, colchicine had no detectable effect on the capping of theta antigen. 4. From these results, we conclude that there are no intrinsic differences in the rates at which different receptors can be induced to cap that can be used to diagnose differences in their mechanisms of cap formation. The observation that ligand concentration and the drugs acting on the cytoskeleton generally affect the rate but not the extent of cap formation accounts for the wide variation in reported effects of the drugs on cap formation measured at fixed times. The receptor-specific effect of colchicine on surface immunoglobulin and concanavalin A receptors, but not theta antigen, is not readily compatible with models of cap formation which depend on lipid or membrane flow.

Dataset Information

Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants.

Publications

Preference for facial averageness: Evidence for a common mechanism in human and macaque infants.

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