How does the developing brain respond to recent experience? Repetition suppression (RS) is a robust and well-characterized response of to recent experience found, predominantly, in the perceptual cortices of the adult brain. We use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate how perceptual (temporal and occipital) and frontal cortices in the infant brain respond to auditory and visual stimulus repetitions (spoken words and faces). In Experiment 1, we find strong evidence of repetition suppression in the frontal cortex but only for auditory stimuli. In perceptual cortices, we find only suggestive evidence of auditory RS in the temporal cortex and no evidence of visual RS in any ROI. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicate and extend these findings. Overall, we provide the first evidence that infant and adult brains respond differently to stimulus repetition. We suggest that the frontal lobe may support the development of RS in perceptual cortices.

发育中的大脑如何对最近的经历做出反应？重复抑制（RS）是对最近经历的一种强有力且特征明确的反应，主要存在于成人大脑的感知皮层中。我们使用功能性近红外光谱 (fNIRS) 来研究婴儿大脑中的感知（颞叶和枕叶）和额叶皮层如何对听觉和视觉刺激重复（说出的单词和面孔）做出反应。在实验 1 中，我们发现了额叶皮层重复抑制的有力证据，但仅限于听觉刺激。在知觉皮层中，我们仅在颞叶皮层中发现了听觉 RS 的提示性证据，而在任何 ROI 中都没有发现视觉 RS 的证据。在实验 2 和 3 中，我们复制并扩展了这些发现。总的来说，我们提供了第一个证据，表明婴儿和成人大脑对刺激重复的反应不同。我们认为额叶可能支持知觉皮质中 RS 的发展。