The perception of facial expressions and stimulus motion by two- and five-month-old infants using holographic stimuli.

3 experiments were conducted in which holograms of faces were used in an attempt to expand our current knowledge of infant face perception. 5-month-old infants in the first experiment were asked to discriminate a change in facial expression and pose displayed in a holographic stereogram that either moved or remained stationary. The experimental group did not show evidence of discrimination when compared to a control group. In addition, there was no preference on the part of infants to attend more to the moving face. 2-month-old infants were tested in a second experiment on an identical discrimination task, using only the moving hologram. Unlike the older infants, the 2-month-olds succeeded in discriminating the change in expression/pose. In the final experiment, the contributions of motion to face recognition were explored in 5-month-old infants using the same hologram as in the first 2 experiments. There was again no evidence to suggest that infants preferred (in any absolute sense) the moving face. There was strong evidence, however, that motion contrasts (i.e., the starting and stopping of motion), and not motion per se, facilitate face recognition. These results are discussed, as is the potential of using holography to study face perception and other perceptual skills in infancy.