Affiliations: Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck
College, London, U.K. | Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering,
University College, London, U.K. | Department of Paediatrics, University College London
Hospital, London, U.K.
Note: [] Correspondence: Gergely Csibra, PhD., Centre for Brain and
Cognitive Development, School of Psychology, Birkbeck College Malet Street,
London, WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 20 7631 6323, fax: +44 20 7631 6587.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: We used near infrared spectroscopy to measure changes in cerebral
oxygenation in both human infants and adults as they viewed images of faces or
control "visual noise" stimuli. At an occipital site, adults showed a
significant increase in oxyhaemoglobin and a contrasting pattern of results was
observed in infants. While the same general difference between the processing
of the two stimuli was observed, a larger decrease in oxyhemoglobin
concentration in response to faces than to visual noise was found in infants.
These results demonstrate that near infrared spectroscopy can detect
differences in stimulus processing induced by a complex visual stimulus in both
infants and adults. (J Pediatr Neurol 2004; 2(2): 85–89).
Keywords: near infrared spectroscopy, face perception, infant brain development
