Human Infant Faces Provoke Implicit Positive Affective Responses in Parents and Non-Parents Alike

Abstract

Human infants' complete dependence on adult caregiving suggests that mechanisms associated with adult responsiveness to infant cues might be deeply embedded in the brain. Behavioural and neuroimaging research has produced converging evidence for adults' positive disposition to infant cues, but these studies have not investigated directly the valence of adults' reactions, how they are moderated by biological and social factors, and if they relate to child caregiving. This study examines implicit affective responses of 90 adults toward faces of human and non-human (cats and dogs) infants and adults. Implicit reactions were assessed with Single Category Implicit Association Tests, and reports of childrearing behaviours were assessed by the Parental Style Questionnaire. The results showed that human infant faces represent highly biologically relevant stimuli that capture attention and are implicitly associated with positive emotions. This reaction holds independent of gender and parenthood status and is associated with ideal parenting behaviors.

Using infrared thermography to assess emotional responses to infants

“…The positive emotional response to infant faces was proposed by the ethologist Konrad Lorenz (1943, 1971) who identified a set of physiognomic features in infants known as kindchenschema (large round head, big eyes, small nose and mouth, and chubby cheeks) that automatically elicit affection and nurturance. Neuroimaging and behavioral studies using experimental manipulations of infant schema have supported Lorenz’s hypothesis that infant schema tend to release a set of care behaviors in conspecifics that are immediate, automatic, and unconscious (Kringelbach et al, 2008; Senese et al 2013) and evolutionarily vital for survival (e.g., Caria et al, 2012; Glocker et al, 2009a, 2009b; Parsons et al, 2011, 2013). Previous studies (Glocker et al, 2009a, 2009b; Caria et al, 2012) have focused on how kindchenschema activate the neural system of both females and males, but they have not explicitly tested or compared emotional responses in the two genders.…”

On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond

“…The visual features that make infant faces cute include large, round eyes, a head “too large” for the body, high eyebrows, full cheeks, and a small chin [1, 18] (Figure 1A). Adults prefer to look at cuter infant faces [19-21] and even prefer them to adult faces [14, 22]. The impact of cuteness transcends in-group versus out-group distinctions and cultural familiarity [23].…”

Common and divergent psychobiological mechanisms underlying maternal behaviors in non-human and human mammals

“…Visual stimuli from the infant also induce emotional and physiological arousal. Faces of babies are particularly capable of eliciting positive emotions in adults (Senese et al, 2013) and watching silent videotape of one’s own baby evokes cardiac acceleration and large skin conductance responses in mothers (Wiesenfeld & Klorman, 1978). …”