$20,000

The role of early visual experience on face processing in children and adults with one eye.

The recognition of facial features is critical for bonding between infants and parents. In later life, the ability to distinguish changes in facial features brought on by different emotions such as joy or anger is essential for meaningful communication and appropriate responses between individuals.It is believed that the neuronal networks involved in face recognition are located in the right hemisphere of the brain. These networks receive their input from the left eye. In order to test this hypothesis, Dr. Steeves will study groups of subjects who have had had either their left or right eye removed in early childhood before the age of two because of retinal cancer. The groups will be compared for their ability to distinguish changes in facial expression. It is anticipated that subjects who have lost their left eye in early childhood will have a greater impairment in face recognition than subjects who have lost their right eye. This work will confirm the importance of the right brain hemisphere in face recognition and contribute to our understanding of brain function.