The development of visual preferences for direct versus averted gaze faces in infant macaques (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>)

Muschinski, Jana; Feczko, Eric; Brooks, Jenna; Collantes, Marie; Heitz, Thomas R.; Parr, Lisa A.

doi:10.1002/dev.21421

Cited by 25 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Prior to analysis, the data set was modified to remove any trial in which the total viewing time was less than 1 second (Muschinski et al, 2016). This resulted in the removal of 30 trials, totaling 160 fixations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As early as 4 weeks of age, infant monkeys engage in bouts of spontaneous mutual gaze with their mothers, including reciprocal lip-smacking (Ferrari et al, 2009), and Muschinski and colleagues (2016) have recently shown that infant monkeys’ preference for direct compared to averted gaze faces increases developmentally over the first four months of life. Additionally, greater attention to the eyes in faces after acute administration of IN-OT has been one of the most well replicated findings in the OT literature in both human and non-human primates (Ebitz et al, 2013; Guastella et al, 2008; Dal Monte et al, 2014a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using established protocols, researchers entered the social group and isolated the mother-infant pair, moving them to the indoor enclosure (e.g., see Muschinski et al, 2016). The pair was then boxed and moved to a smaller testing cage where the infant was removed from its mother’s ventrum.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The infants were tested at 25 weeks of age (mean 176 days) using an eye-tracking procedure 1 that has been described in detail elsewhere (see Muschinski et al, 2016; Parr et al, 2016, see Supplementary Data section). In brief, the mother and infant were removed from their social group and moved to the testing room.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These procedures have been described in detail elsewhere (Muschinski et al, 2016). Specific regions of interest, called LookZones, were drawn by hand on each video frame (30 frames per second) using a polygon tracing tool in GazeTracker software (http://www.eyetellect.com/gazetracker/).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Effects of chronic oxytocin on attention to dynamic facial expressions in infant macaques

Parr

Brooks²,

Jonesteller³

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Studies in a variety of species have reported enhanced prosocial effects after an acute administration of the neuromodulating hormone, oxytocin (OT). Although the exact mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood, there is broad interest in developing OT into a treatment for social deficits. Only a few studies, however, have examined the effects of OT if given repeatedly during early development, the period when early intervention is likely to have the greatest benefits for reversing the progression towards social impairment. Those studies, exclusively in rodents, report mixed results. Some have shown enhancement of prosocial behavior, including increased social exploration, but others have shown anti-social effects, including increased aggression. In the present study, infant rhesus macaques were treated with a high-frequency (3x per week) or low-frequency (1x per week) dose of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) or placebo (IN-saline) between two and six months of age, after which their reactions to dynamic facial expressions (neutral, lipsmacking and threats) were measured. Results showed that IN-OT, compared to placebo, increased the time monkeys spent viewing the expression videos, but selectively reduced attention to the eyes in neutral faces in a dose dependent manner. The mechanism for this non-prosocial effect may be that repeated IN-OT administration down-regulates the expression of OT receptors in brain regions important for regulating social attention. Consequently, our results raise questions about the efficacy of implementing chronic IN-OT as a pharmacotherapy for the treatment of social deficits, particularly if given early in development. More work is needed, not only to identify optimal treatment schedules, but also to understand how IN-OT exerts its influences on the brain and behavior.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Effects of chronic oxytocin on attention to dynamic facial expressions in infant macaques

Parr

Brooks²,

Jonesteller³

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Sex and rank affect how infant rhesus macaques look at faces

Paukner

Slonecker

Murphy

et al. 2017

Developmental Psychobiology

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We investigated how differences in infant sex and mothers’ dominance status affect infant rhesus macaques’ (Macaca mulatta) interest in visually exploring emotional facial expressions. Thirty-eight infants were presented with animated avatars of macaque facial expressions during the first month of life. Sons of high-ranking mothers looked more at faces, especially the eye region, than sons of low-ranking mothers, but no difference in looking duration was found for daughters. Males looked significantly more at eyes than females, but this effect was reversed in infants who were reared without mothers in a primate nursery facility. In addition, in mother-infant interactions, mothers of sons were more likely to gaze at their infant’s face compared to mothers of daughters. Combined with previous research indicating that rhesus macaque mothers interact differently with infants based on their own rank and infant’s sex, these results support the view that social experiences shape early face preferences in rhesus macaques.

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Visual preferences for direct‐gaze faces in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) with limited face exposure

Simpson

Paukner

Pedersen

et al. 2018

Developmental Psychobiology

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From birth, human and nonhuman primates attend more to faces with direct gaze compared with averted gaze, and previous studies report that attention to the eyes is linked to the emergence of later social skills. Here, we explored whether early experiences influence attraction to eye contact in infant macaques by examining their attention to face pairs varying in their gaze direction across the first 13 weeks of life. Infants raised by human caretakers had limited conspecific interactions (nursery‐reared; N = 16) and were compared to infants raised in rich social environments (mother‐reared; N = 20). Both groups looked longer to faces and the eyes of direct compared to averted‐gaze faces. Looking to all faces and eyes also increased with age. Nursery‐reared infants did not display age‐associated increases in attention to direct‐gaze faces specifically, suggesting that, while there may be an initial preference for direct‐gaze faces from birth, social experiences may support its early development.

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The development of visual preferences for direct versus averted gaze faces in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Cited by 25 publications

References 60 publications

Effects of chronic oxytocin on attention to dynamic facial expressions in infant macaques

Effects of chronic oxytocin on attention to dynamic facial expressions in infant macaques

Sex and rank affect how infant rhesus macaques look at faces

Visual preferences for direct‐gaze faces in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) with limited face exposure

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