The neuropsychology of infants’ pro-social preferences

Gredebäck, Gustaf; Kaduk, Katharina; Bakker, Marta; Gottwald, Janna M.; Ekberg, Therese L.; Elsner, Claudia; Reid, Vincent M.; Kenward, Ben

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2015.01.006

Cited by 98 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Infants clearly demonstrate a focus on the agent of prosocial actions, rather than the beneficiary. This result expands one recent ERP study with 6-mo-old infants wherein greater P400 amplitudes (thought to index attention) for the memory of a previously prosocial agent compared with an antisocial agent were evoked (23). Thus, infants and toddlers exhibit a distinct focus on actors who help others and appear to be unmotivated to focus on a beneficiary of a positive action.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…For example, examining the spatiotemporal dynamics of the neural processing when young children view social interactions can help us to better understand the contribution of domain-general processes to early moral thought. Our current knowledge of the brain circuits involved in the development of moral cognition is based on a limited number of studies with young children using electroencephalography (21)(22)(23), functional MRI (24), and lesion studies (25). Due to the methodological constraints of most neuroimaging methods, no study has yet investigated the link between the online neural processing of the perception of prosocial and antisocial others and actual moral preferences and prosocial behaviors in infants and toddlers, as well as their link to parental values.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The association between neural computations involved in the processing of perception of harm and actual behaviors in children is beginning to be established, yet little is known about the early emergence of simple evaluations, particularly using neuroscience investigations with infants and toddlers. Some preliminary evidence suggests that infant's post hoc evaluations of previously helping and hindering characters are marked by midrange attentional event-related potential (ERP) differences (P400) (23). However, although these findings have begun to illuminate the complexity of the neural underpinnings of early social sociomoral evaluations and prosocial behaviors, it is unclear whether these two fields (social evaluations and behaviors) are related in their emergence and whether there is online neural differentiation to the processing of harmful and helpful actions of others.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Cowell

Decety

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

196

160

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The nature and underpinnings of infants’ seemingly complex, third-party, social evaluations remain highly contentious. Theoretical perspectives oscillate between rich and lean interpretations of the same expressed preferences. Although some argue that infants and toddlers possess a “moral sense” based on core knowledge of the social world, others suggest that social evaluations are hierarchical in nature and the product of an integration of rudimentary general processes such as attention allocation and approach and avoidance. Moreover, these biologically prepared minds interact in social environments that include significant variation, which are likely to impact early social evaluations and behavior. The present study examined the neural underpinnings of and precursors to moral sensitivity in infants and toddlers (n = 73, ages 12–24 mo) through a series of interwoven measures, combining multiple levels of analysis including electrophysiological, eye-tracking, behavioral, and socioenvironmental. Continuous EEG and time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and gaze fixation were recorded while children watched characters engaging in prosocial and antisocial actions in two different tasks. All children demonstrated a neural differentiation in both spectral EEG power density modulations and time-locked ERPs when perceiving prosocial or antisocial agents. Time-locked neural differences predicted children’s preference for prosocial characters and were influenced by parental values regarding justice and fairness. Overall, this investigation casts light on the fundamental nature of moral cognition, including its underpinnings in general processes such as attention and approach–withdrawal, providing plausible mechanisms of early change and a foundation for forward movement in the field of developmental social neuroscience.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Cowell

Decety

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

196

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…From this perspective, and in the same vein as the abovementioned studies, we designed a short study featuring animated cartoons (a well-controlled medium for assessing infants' prosocial preferences; see Gredebäck et al, 2015;Scola et al, 2015) to test the visual preferences of 6-monthold Caucasian infants for prosocial behavior and other-race characters. Compared with previous research in this area (Burns & Sommerville, 2014;Scola et al, 2015), we chose to observe far younger infants (6 months), so as to assess whether and how behavior and race are weighted in social evaluation at an early age.…”

Section: Research-article20182018mentioning

confidence: 99%

Infants’ Visual Preferences for Prosocial Behavior and Other-Race Characters at 6 Months: An Eye-Tracking Study

et al. 2018

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There is growing evidence that infants display preferences for prosocial agents. However, recent studies have reported conflicting results about the impact of appearance on these preferences. The current study investigated the relative influence of behavior and face/race on 6-month-old infants' evaluation of social agents when these two aspects are in competition. In a short research study featuring animated cartoons where agents interacted in a ball game, we used eye-tracking methodology to assess infants' preferences (a) for prosocial behavior, (b) for one kind of appearance, represented by race, and (c) when the two aspects were pitted against one another. The two control conditions revealed preferences for prosocial agents and for other-race appearance. No preference could be found at group level in the third condition, where these two aspects competed with each other. However, a profile analysis revealed that when this situation was a source of conflict in terms of the preferences identified in the control conditions, infants prioritized appearance over behavior.

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“…The interplay between action production and perception enables humans to act in a number of highly demanding situation such as unusual, novel or unstable environments [1]. Babies interact with their environment in a myriad of different ways such as imitation, selfmotion and observing the examples of others [2][3][4]. These interactions serve to shape not only their knowledge about the world, but also their understanding of the functionality of their bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Biological Motion Speed in Individuals with Down Syndrome

Tolentino-Castro¹,

Riddell²,

Wagner³

2017

J Down Syndr Chr Abnorm

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IntroductionAction and perception are two inherently linked aspects of human behavior that allow us to understand and interact with our surroundings. The interplay between action production and perception enables humans to act in a number of highly demanding situation such as unusual, novel or unstable environments [1]. Babies interact with their environment in a myriad of different ways such as imitation, selfmotion and observing the examples of others [2][3][4]. These interactions serve to shape not only their knowledge about the world, but also their understanding of the functionality of their bodies.Action performance interacts with action perception, and viceversa. This is reflected in the brain, as both performing and perceiving actions activate similar cortical areas [5]. Previous research has revealed significant interactions between action perception and action execution, and studies have shown that action perception can interfere with action execution reciprocally [6][7][8]. It is particularly insightful to study such interactions in populations with abnormal skeleto-muscular and/or neural development, as in these populations the brain may have adapted differently to handle physical differences, which in turn may influence how affected individuals interact with their surroundings. For example Sinha et al. [9] have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder, adapt their sensory input atypically, resulting in diverse behavioral traits. Down Syndrome (DS) is one of the most common genetic disorders (14 per 10 000 live births) caused by the presence of a complete or partial third copy of chromosome 21 (Trisomy 21) [10]. DS is a genetic change that impacts not only intellectual ability, but also motor development and motor control over the lifetime [11,12]. Abnormal brain functioning related to learning has been reveled in a number of studies [13][14][15][16]. In addition to neurodevelopmental abnormalities, corporal abnormalities are also common in DS. These abnormalities are highly related to the impaired motor control of voluntary movements [11,17].Children with DS require more time to learn basic movements. Additionally, as movement complexity increases they achieve gross motor functions at an average age that is almost twice that of typically developed children [18]. However, despite delays in motor development and the control of voluntary movements, the DS population does not exhibit a complete absence of the production of gross motor skills. For instance, individuals with DS are often capable of walking and jumping, as well as fine motor skills and manual dexterity. Examples of functional motor development can be seen when special teaching strategies are implemented [19][20][21][22][23][24]. This demonstrates that individuals with DS are at least somewhat able to adapt to their motor impairments. In more realistic tasks, Latash [11,17] argue that, when confronted with an unexpected or unclear motion situation, individuals with DS choose to act slowly (bradykinesia) during the initiation ph...

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The neuropsychology of infants’ pro-social preferences

Abstract: HighlightsNeural correlates of 6-month-old infants’ detection of pro-social agents.ERP component P400 over posterior temporal areas index social valence.First non-behavioral demonstration of pro-social preferences in young infants.

Cited by 98 publications

References 43 publications

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Infants’ Visual Preferences for Prosocial Behavior and Other-Race Characters at 6 Months: An Eye-Tracking Study

Perception of Biological Motion Speed in Individuals with Down Syndrome

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