Research Article The Other-Race Effect Develops During Infancy Evidence of Perceptual Narrowing

ABSTRACT—Experience plays a crucial role in the devel-opment of face processing. In the study reported here, we investigated how faces observed within the visual envi-ronment affect the development of the face-processing system during the 1st year of life. We assessed 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Caucasian infants ’ ability to discriminate faces within their own racial group andwithin three other-race groups (African, Middle Eastern, and Chinese). The 3-month-old infants demonstrated recognition in all conditions, the 6-month-old infants were able to recognize Caucasian and Chinese faces only, and the 9-month-old infants ’ recognition was restricted to own-race faces. The pattern of preferences indicates that the other-race effect is emerging by 6 months of age and is present at 9 months of age. The findings suggest that facial input from th