Perceiving
Eye Gaze in an Infant Gibbon (Hylobates agilis)
M. Myowa-Yamakoshi & M. Tomonaga |
The
development of the ability to perceive gaze direction was studied
in a nursery-reared infant gibbon (Hylobates agilis). We used a head
turning procedure that measured the infant's eye and head tracking
of moving stimuli. In Experiment 1, we determined how sensitive the
subject was at distinguishing between direct and averted gaze in
the context of an upright face, an inverted face, and a scrambled
face. The subject preferentially looked at the face with a directed
gaze over one with an averted gaze irrespective of the surrounding
face context. Experiment 2 tested the infant's sensitivity to the
existence of eyes in a face. The infant looked at the face containing
eyes over no-eyes. These findings suggest that there might be similarities
in the early ability to perceive eye direction in humans and gibbons. Key words: infant gibbon, gaze direction, eye detection, face recognition |