The infant brain can integrate information across senses to categorize face-like configurations, a study finds. Grouping objects into distinct categories is critical for interpreting the constant stream of sensory inputs from complex environments. However, the developmental roots of this ability are obscure, and whether early-maturing senses, such as smell, facilitate the acquisition of categories in more slowly developing senses, such as vision, remains unclear. Diane Rekow, Arnaud Leleu, and colleagues used electroencephalography to measure brain activity in 20 four-month-old infants who were shown a series of object images, including shapes that elicit the illusory perception of faces in adults, while being exposed to their mother's odor or a neutral odor. During the neutral odor condition, the face-like shapes elicited greater neural activity in the left and right occipitotemporal cortex, compared with the other objects. However, during the maternal odor condition, the face-selective response was stronger and more extensive in the right occipitotemporal cortex. The results suggest that exposure to maternal odors, which are systematically associated with faces in infants' daily lives, initiates the categorization of face-like objects via activation of the right occipitotemporal cortex, which plays a dominant role in face categorization in adults. According to the authors, the right-hemisphere advantage for face categorization may emerge earlier than previously thought.
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Article #2020-14979: "Odor-driven face-like categorization in the human infant brain," by Diane Rekow et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Diane Rekow, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, FRANCE; email: diane.rekow@u-bourgogne.fr ; Arnaud Leleu, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, FRANCE; e-mail: arnaud.leleu@u-bourgogne.fr
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences