Several research groups have identified a network of regions of the
adult cortex that are activated during social perception and cognition
tasks. In this paper we focus on the development of components of this
social brain network during early childhood and test aspects of a
particular viewpoint on human functional brain development:
“interactive specialization.” Specifically, we apply new data
analysis techniques to a previously published data set of event-related
potential (ERP) studies involving 3-, 4-, and 12-month-old infants viewing
faces of different orientation and direction of eye gaze. Using source
separation and localization methods, several likely generators of scalp
recorded ERP are identified, and we describe how they are modulated by
stimulus characteristics. We then review the results of a series of
experiments concerned with perceiving and acting on eye gaze, before
reporting on a new experiment involving young children with autism.
Finally, we discuss predictions based on the atypical emergence of the
social brain network.This work was funded
by UK Medical Research Council Programme Grants (G9901005 and G9715587) to
M.H.J. and S.B.C. T.F. was supported by a Wellcome Trust Research
Fellowship (073985/Z/03/Z).