Detecting 'infant-directedness' in face and voice.

Five- and 3-month-old infants' perception of infant-directed (ID) faces and the role of speech in perceiving faces were examined. Infants' eye movements were recorded as they viewed a series of two side-by-side talking faces, one infant-directed and one adult-directed (AD), while listening to ID speech, AD speech, or in silence. Infants showed consistently greater dwell time on ID faces vs. AD faces, and this ID face preference was consistent across all three sound conditions. ID speech resulted in higher looking overall, but it did not increase looking at the ID face per se. Together, these findings demonstrate that infants' preferences for ID speech extend to ID faces.