A cross-cultural comparison of face scanning strategies in infancy: screen-based paradigms and live dyadic interactions

The emergence of cultural differences in face scanning is shaped by postnatal social experience. However, previous studies mainly investigated eye movement patterns of adults and little is known about early development. The current study recorded eye movements of British and Japanese infants (aged 10 and 16 months) and adults, who were presented with static and dynamic faces on screen. The findings revealed cultural differences across all age groups, with British participants exhibiting more mouth scanning and Japanese individuals showing increased central face scanning. Against predictions, culture and age independently modulated face scanning, suggesting that cultural differences largely already manifested by 10 months of age. We also examined whether screen-based scanning strategies extend to more naturalistic settings. Specifically, British and Japanese 10-month-old infants engaged in face-to-face interaction with a local research assistant while their eye movements were recorded. To examine scanning strategies, we used traditional regions-of-interest analysis as well as a novel data-driven, spatially sensitive method (permutation test). In contrast to the screen-based paradigm, no cultural differences were found, with both groups predominantly scanning the mouth region which may indicate a role of low-level saliency or an adaptive mechanism for language learning. In combination, our findings suggest that various factors modulated face scanning, including culture, age, and stimulus characteristics, with their relative contribution changing across experimental conditions. Overall, this points to a highly adaptive face processing system that is shaped by early postnatal social experience and modulated by contextual factors.