A newborn’s brain is already wired for social life. A new Yale study shows that the neural network responsible for processing faces, voices, and gaze – known as the social perception pathway – is active within weeks after birth. The discovery reveals how the brain begins building the foundation for social behavior long before a baby learns to smile.How Newborn Brains Recognize Faces. Image by FreepikNote: This article is intended for general information and educational purposes. It summarizes scientific research in accessible language for a broad audience and is not an official scientific press release.Scientists from Yale University have discovered that the brain’s social perception pathway – the network that helps humans recognize faces, follow eye gaze, and process voices – is already active at or shortly after birth.The study, published in August 2025 in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, analyzed brain imaging data from two large groups of newborns. It found that even in the earliest days of life, infants show strong communication between brain regions involved in visual and social processing.Infants who displayed stronger early connectivity in this network spent more time looking at faces at four months and showed fewer social difficulties at eighteen months. According to the authors, these findings provide new insight into how the brain begins to organize the systems that underlie social behavior.What the Researchers InvestigatedThe study examined how and when the social perception network starts to form. This pathway connects several brain regions that help interpret social information – such as facial expressions, movement of the eyes, and speech sounds.Previous research had shown that newborns naturally prefer to look at faces and turn toward voices, but scientists did not know when the underlying neural system develops. The Yale team hypothesized that this network might already be active very early in life, setting the stage for later social abilities.Their main questions were whether newborns already show coordinated brain activity within this system, and whether the strength of these early neural connections predicts later social engagement.How the Study Was ConductedTo answer these questions, the researchers combined data from two major sources.The first dataset came from the Developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP), which provided brain scans of 310 full-term, typically developing newborns. This project, funded by the European Research Council, collects brain imaging, clinical, and behavioral data from infants to better understand early human development.The second dataset consisted of 73 full-term newborns from Yale University. Some of these infants had a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while others did not. Including both groups allowed the team to explore natural variation in early brain wiring.Functional connectivity – the degree to which separate brain areas work together – was measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The scientists focused on the social perception pathway, which includes visual processing regions and the superior temporal sulcus, an area that specializes in detecting faces, speech, and gaze.For a smaller group of 37 Yale infants, the team also conducted an eye-tracking test at around four months of age to measure how much attention each baby paid to faces. At eighteen months, parents completed standardized questionnaires assessing early social and communication skills.This combination of imaging, behavioral, and developmental data allowed the researchers to link early brain connectivity with later social attention and outcomes.What Makes This Study NewThis research provides the first large-scale evidence that the social perception network in the brain is already functionally connected at or soon after birth.Previous studies had observed that newborns prefer faces and respond to human voices, but it was unclear whether these behaviors were driven by learned experience or pre-existing brain organization.The Yale-led team found that connections between visual and social processing regions were already well established in the first weeks of life. The authors suggested that these early links may reflect an innate neural foundation for social perception, rather than something learned only after birth.By combining large open-access data from the dHCP with an independent Yale sample, the study demonstrated that this early organization of the social brain is both robust and replicable. It offers a rare view into how the infant brain begins to form the architecture that later supports communication and social interaction.Key Findings from the Study1. Early activation of social pathways.Functional connectivity within the social perception network was observed in both infant groups, indicating that this system is active within weeks after birth.2. Robust and specific connections.The researchers identified strong communication between the superior temporal sulcus and occipital visual areas, regions responsible for processing faces, gaze, and movement. These patterns were specific to social processing and not simply signs of general brain maturation.3. Predictive links with attention to faces.Among the Yale infants – both with and without a family history of autism – those with stronger early connectivity spent more time focusing on faces during eye-tracking at four months of age4. Associations with later social behavior.Infants who looked longer at faces at four months had fewer social communication difficulties at eighteen months, according to parent reports.5. Consistency across datasets.Both the dHCP and Yale samples showed the same overall pattern of connectivity, suggesting that early activation of this pathway is a universal feature of typical newborn brain organization.Together, these findings indicate that the human brain is biologically prepared to process social cues from the very beginning of life.Autism-Related InsightsBecause the Yale study included infants both with and without a family history of autism, the researchers were able to look for subtle differences in early brain organization.They found that the social perception pathway was interconnected in all newborns, but the strength of these connections was meaningfully related to later social attention. Babies with stronger early connectivity tended to spend more time looking at faces at four months and showed fewer signs of social communication challenges at eighteen months.Paying less attention to faces is considered one of the early behavioral markers of autism spectrum disorder. The authors emphasized, however, that their data are not diagnostic and cannot predict whether an individual child will develop autism or any other condition.Instead, the results highlight how variations in early neural wiring may contribute to different developmental trajectories. The study lays a foundation for future research on how the newborn brain supports both typical and atypical patterns of social growth.Authors’ ConclusionsThe authors concluded that the cortical processes supporting social perception are already active soon after birth. These early mechanisms may help infants engage socially long before they develop language or complex communication.They also noted that the findings are correlational and should not be interpreted as evidence of causation or prediction. The goal of this research, they explained, is to better understand how biology and experience interact to shape human social behavior.This work continues a broader scientific effort to map the early architecture of brain systems responsible for attention, communication, and emotional connection. By following these children over time, the researchers hope to see how early neural organization evolves during the first years of life.Key Questions Answered (Based on Neuroscience News Summary)Q: When does the brain’s social perception network begin developing?A: Researchers found that it is already active within weeks after birth.Q: What does this brain network control?A: It governs how the brain processes faces, voices, and gaze—key components of social behavior.Q: How is this network linked to autism?A: Babies with stronger early connectivity in this pathway showed greater attention to faces and fewer social difficulties later, suggesting that early brain wiring helps shape social development.According to the authors and the Neuroscience News summary, the discovery sheds light on the neural roots of social behavior and could inform future research on early detection of autism spectrum disorder.The information in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. For medical advice, please consult your doctor.ReferencesChawarska, K., Vernetti, A., Sun, H., Hampson, M., Li, C., Macari, S., Powell, K., Constable, R. T., Chang, J., Ment, L. R., & Scheinost, D. (2025). Functional connectivity in the social perception pathway at birth is linked with attention to faces at 4 months. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100597Neuroscience News, Born to Connect: Newborn Brain Already Wired for Social Awareness (https://neurosciencenews.com/baby-brain-social-awareness-29768/)The post How Newborn Brains Recognize Faces: Yale Researchers Explain appeared first on CogniFit Blog: Brain Health News.