Adult-like competence in perceptual encoding of facial configuration by the right hemisphere emerges after 10 years of age.

In the present study, we examined ascription of bizarreness to faces in a ratings task by children aged 8-10 and 11-13 years, and by adults. Configural information was manipulated subtly (a single eye was inverted) or in a more salient manner (eye and mouth were inverted). By utilizing brief presentations we restricted initial processing of the manipulations to one hemisphere. Right-hemispheric sensitivity to the manipulations was seen in higher ratings for (viewer-centered) left-sided manipulations than for right-sided manipulations. The youngest group showed significantly less right-hemisphere sensitivity to the manipulations in upright faces than the adults, but children aged 11-13 years were similar to adults. The three age groups were equivalently able to detect the stronger eye and mouth manipulation. In all, children's performance approached that of adults gradually in this task, which emphasizes immediate perceptual encoding of faces and for which memorial demands are minimal.

Spatiotemporal continuity implicated in the binding of features and object identity.

This study continues the work of Anes et al. (in preparation) in which manipulation of features incidental to an object elicited robust effects in a dynamic object recognition paradigm. In the current series, the spatiotemporal continuity of identity and feature presentation is increasingly distorted between experiments in an attempt to disrupt a process Triesman (1996) calls "binding" of an object's identity and features. Across three experiments, increasing disruption of spatiotemporal continuity significantly diminished the effect of features on object identification, evidence that spatiotemporal continuity is, in part, responsible for binding features to an object.

Investigating hemispheric specialization in a novel face-word Stroop task.

We examined hemispheric specialization in a lateralized Stroop facial identification task. A 2 (presentation side: left or right visual field [LVF or RVF])x2 (picture emotion: happy or angry)x3 (emotion of distractor word: happy, angry, or blank) factorial design placed the right hemispheric specialization for emotional expression processing and the left hemispheric specialization for verbal processing in conflict. Faces (from ) and emotion words were briefly displayed, and participants responded with keypresses corresponding to the picture emotion. As predicted, greater Stroop interference in identification accuracy was found with incongruent displays of facial expression in the LVF and emotion words in the RVF, and females exhibited less Stroop interference. Reaction times were moderated by emotion and visual field.