Despite evidence supporting an early attraction to human faces, the
nature of the face representation in neonates and its development
during the first year after birth remain poorly understood. One
suggestion is that an early preference for human faces reflects an
attraction toward human eyes because human eyes are distinctive
compared with other animals. In accord with this proposal, prior
empirical studies have demonstrated the importance of the eye region
in face processing in adults and infants. However, an attraction for the
human eye has never been shown directly in infants. The current
study aimed to investigate whether an attraction for human eyes
would be present in newborns and older infants. With the use of a
preferential looking time paradigm, newborns and 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-
month-olds were simultaneously presented with a pair of nonhuman
primate faces (chimpanzees and Barbary macaques) that differed only
by the eyes, thereby pairing a face with original nonhuman primate
eyes with the same face in which the eyes were replaced by human
eyes. Our results revealed that no preference was observed in newborns,
but a preference for nonhuman primate faces with human eyes
emerged from 3 months of age and remained stable thereafter. The
findings are discussed in terms of how a preference for human eyes
may emerge during the first few months after birth