Canadian Institute receives $1.84 million NIH grant to study face processing by infants, children; hopes to provide insight into autism

From University of Toronto:

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Professor Kang Lee has received $1.84 million US from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers to study the development of face processing in infants and children around the world. This is the first comprehensive large-scale research program of its kind and the first major NIH grant awarded to OISE.

"How typically developing infants and children recognize, perceive and categorize human faces and their development over time provides greater insight into development problems, such as autism," said Lee.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), commonly known as autism, is a neurological disorder that causes developmental disability. Individuals with ASD often have difficulty with communication and social interaction, as well as unusual patterns of activities, interests and behaviour, such as atypical processing of faces.

According to the Autism Society of Canada, one in 165 children -- or approximately 200,000 Canadians -- have ASD. In the U.S., the numbers reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate one in 110 children, or approximately 730,000 Americans, have ASD.

In the next five years, Lee's team will systematically explore the best means to train infants and children between the ages of six months and 14 years of age to extract important facial characteristics and properties such as gender, race, age, species and identity.

"I hope the results of this research study will lay an important foundation for the development of evidence-based programs to help children with face processing deficits, including children with autism," Lee said.

The research team includes: Paul C. Quinn, professor of psychology, University of Delaware; Olivier Pascalis, senior lecturer of psychology, University of Sheffield; James William Tanaka, professor of psychology, University of Victoria; Liezhong Ge, professor of psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in China; and Alan Slater, associate professor, University of Exeter.

"We are grateful to the National Institutes of Health for this phenomenal investment in the education research being conducted at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto by Professor Kang Lee and his research team," said Professor Jane Gaskell, Dean of OISE.

"Professor Lee's research recognizes childhood as a critical period of growth and possibility. It will enable teachers and researchers to work together to explore and develop educational approaches for young children."

Lee joined the University of Toronto in 2005 as Professor and Director of the Institute of Child Study at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He has also taught at Queen's University, Zhejiang Normal University, and Beijing Normal University in China, and was previously a faculty member at the University of California San Diego. He was recently named a fellow of the Association of Psychological Science.