| Abstract | Adult facial expressions are more intense on the left hemiface, suggesting right hemisphere emotional specialization. In this research, adult judgments of mirror-image chimeras indicated that infant expressions are more intense on the right hemiface, which is not predicted by current
models of adult cerebral asymmetries. The rightward bias was stronger when judgments were restricted to the central facial features in computer-digitized images of the chimeric faces. Because the mouth and eye regions receive contralateral versus bilateral cortical input, respectively,
separate judgments of the mouth and eyes/brows were obtained. Only the mouths showed a significant rightward bias, implicating cortical rather than lower-level mechanisms. The results were replicated with a second set of infants. The findings are interpreted as support for a right-to-left gradient in development of cortical inhibition over subcortical influences on facial expressions. |
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