5-MONTH-OLD AND 8-MONTH-OLD INFANTS RECOGNIZE THEIR FACES AND VOICES AS FAMILIAR AND SOCIAL-STIMULI

Five- and 8-month-old infants were presented with silent moving and st atic video images of self, peer, and doll and with sounds of self, pee r, and nonsocial objects. In the visual conditions, infants at both ag es showed a significant looking preference to peer over self when the faces were moving. When the faces were static, older infants showed th e same significant discriminations, but the younger infants showed a s ignificant looking preference for their own faces over peer and doll. These data suggest that recognition of one's own image develops throug h experience with dynamic facial stimulation during the first 8 months of life. In the auditory conditions, infants at both ages showed sign ificant looking preferences for sounds of peer over self or nonsocial objects. In general, infants of both ages smiled and produced more voc alizations to social faces and social sounds than to nonsocial faces a nd nonsocial sounds. Thus, at 5 months infants treat their faces and v oices as familiar and social stimuli. The findings forge important lin ks among studies of self-perception, self-recognition, and social know ledge.