Development of visual preference for own- versus other-race faces in infancy.

International audiencePrevious research has shown that 3-month-olds prefer own- over other-race faces. The current study usedeye-tracking methodology to examine how this visual preference develops with age beyond 3 months andhow infants differentially scan between own- and other-race faces when presented simultaneously. Weshowed own- versus other-race face pairs to 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Chinese infants. In contrast with3-month-olds’ visual preference for own-race faces, 9-month-olds preferentially looked more at otherracefaces. Analyses of eye-tracking data revealed that Chinese infants processed own- and other-racefaces differentially. These findings shed important light on the role of visual experience in the developmentof visual preference and its relation to perceptual narrowing