Perceptual narrowing during infancy: A comparison of language and faces

In this article, we begin with a summary of the evidence for perceptual narrowing for various aspects of language (e.g., vowel and consonant contrasts, tone languages, visual language, sign language) and of faces (e.g., own species, own race). We then consider possible reasons for the apparent differences in the timing of narrowing (e.g., apparently earlier for own race than for own species). Throughout we consider whether the evidence fits a …