18-Month-olds can perceive Mooney faces

The ability to detect facial information despite poor visual conditions is important for young infants. The present study investigated the developmental course of facial information detection by examining whether infants perceive Mooney faces, a well-studied type of impoverished face image. The 18-month-olds preferred upright Mooney faces to inverted ones, but 12- and 6-month-olds did not show any signs of discriminating the upright Mooney faces from inverted ones. These results indicate that 18-month-olds possess the ability to perceive Mooney faces, but definitive conclusions cannot be drawn regarding the ability to perceive Mooney faces in younger infants.