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Chen J, Zou Y, Jia YC, Ding FY, Luo J, Cheng G. Characteristics of the time processing of adults' strongest sustained attentional bias toward neutral infant faces. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 243:105928. [PMID: 38643735 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that adults exhibit the strongest attentional bias toward neutral infant faces when viewing faces with different expressions at different attentional processing stages due to different stimulus presentation times. However, it is not clear how the characteristics of the temporal processing associated with the strongest effect change over time. Thus, we combined a free-viewing task with eye-tracking technology to measure adults' attentional bias toward infant and adult faces with happy, neutral, and sad expressions of the same face. The results of the analysis of the total time course indicated that the strongest effect occurred during the strategic processing stage. However, the results of the analysis of the split time course revealed that sad infant faces first elicited adults' attentional bias at 0 to 500 ms, whereas the strongest effect of attentional bias toward neutral infant faces was observed at 1000 to 3000 ms, peaking at 1500 to 2000 ms. In addition, women and men had no differences in their responses to different expressions. In summary, this study provides further evidence that adults' attentional bias toward infant faces across stages of attention processing is modulated by expressions. Specifically, during automatic processing adults' attentional bias was directed toward sad infant faces, followed by a shift to the processing of neutral infant faces during strategic processing, which ultimately resulted in the strongest effect. These findings highlight that this strongest effect is dynamic and associated with a specific time window in the strategic process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Chen
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China; Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Yan Zou
- Department of Women and Children, The Second People's Hospital of Guizhou Province, Guiyang 550000, China
| | - Yun Cheng Jia
- School of National Culture and Cognitive Science, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang 550029, China
| | - Fang Yuan Ding
- School of National Culture and Cognitive Science, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang 550029, China
| | - Jie Luo
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Gang Cheng
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China; Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China.
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Gemignani M, Giannotti M, Rigo P, Venuti P, de Falco S. Neither Parents' Sex Nor the Type of Family Modulates Attentional Bias Toward Infant Faces: A Preliminary Study in Different-Sex and Same-Sex Parents. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2024; 53:2053-2061. [PMID: 38811490 PMCID: PMC11176217 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-024-02875-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
An attentional bias toward infant versus adult faces has been detected in parents and positively associated with sensitive caregiving behaviors. In previous research, the attentional bias has been measured as the difference in attention, in terms of reaction times, captured by infant versus adult faces; the larger the difference, the greater the cognitive engagement that adults deployed to infant faces. However, research so far has been mostly confined to samples of mothers, who have been more represented than fathers. Moreover, new family forms, especially same-sex families of men, have been left out of research. To clarify potential sex differences and extend previous findings to diverse family forms, we implemented a modified Go/no-Go attentional task measuring attentional bias to infant faces in parents with children aged from 2 to 36 months. The sample (N = 86) was matched and included 22 fathers and 22 mothers from different-sex families and 20 fathers and 22 mothers from same-sex families. Overall, the results confirmed that infant faces induced a greater attentional bias compared to adult faces. Moreover, we found that neither the type of family nor parents' sex modulated the attentional bias toward infant faces. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the correlates of parental response to infant cues going beyond a heteronormative perspective on parenting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Micol Gemignani
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.
| | - Michele Giannotti
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Paola Rigo
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padua, Padua, PD, Italy
| | - Paola Venuti
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Simona de Falco
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy
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Jia L, Shao B, Wang L, Wang X, Shi Z. Impact of babyface schema on time perception: Insights from neutral and crying facial expressions. Psych J 2024; 13:398-406. [PMID: 38830603 PMCID: PMC11169756 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
Facial expressions in infants have been noted to create a spatial attention bias when compared with adult faces. Yet, there is limited understanding of how adults perceive the timing of infant facial expressions. To investigate this, we used both infant and adult facial expressions in a temporal bisection task. In Experiment 1, we compared duration judgments of neutral infant and adult faces. The results revealed that participants felt that neutral infant faces lasted for a shorter time than neutral adult faces, independent of participant sex. Experiment 2 employed sad (crying) facial expressions. Here, the female participants perceived that the infants' faces were displayed for a longer duration than the adults' faces, whereas this distinction was not evident among the male participants. These findings highlight the influence of the babyface schema on time perception, nuanced by emotional context and sex-based individual variances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lina Jia
- School of EducationJiangnan UniversityWuxiChina
| | | | - Lili Wang
- School of Educational ScienceHuaiyin Normal UniversityHuaianChina
| | | | - Zhuanghua Shi
- Department of PsychologyLudwig‐Maximilians University MunichMunichGermany
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Gemignani M, Giannotti M, Schmalz X, Rigo P, De Falco S. Attentional Prioritization of Infant Faces in Parents: The Influence of Parents' Experiences of Care. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 20:527. [PMID: 36612848 PMCID: PMC9819530 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Infant faces are prioritized by the attentional system in parents, resulting in a greater cognitive engagement in terms of response time. However, many biological, contextual and environmental factors relating to this cognitive mechanism have been left unexplored. To fill this gap, this study aims to (i) confirm that infant faces engage more attention compared to adult faces; (ii) investigate whether the attention to infant faces is affected early care experiences of parents; (iii) explore the effect of parents' sex by taking the amount of involvement with early childcare into consideration. 51 mothers and 46 fathers completed a modified Go/no-Go task, a brief sociodemographic questionnaire, the short version of the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection scale, and an ad-hoc question relating to the amount of parental involvement with early childcare. Parents' response times were slowed in the presence of infant versus adult faces. Parents whose mother was perceived as more sensitively accepting were more engaged by infant cues. By considering the amount of early parental involvement, the sex of parents did not significantly interact with the type of face. These findings provide new insights on the attention process in response to infant cues in parents and suggest that the investigation of experience-based factors may shed further light on this topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Micol Gemignani
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Michele Giannotti
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Xenia Schmalz
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - Paola Rigo
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
| | - Simona De Falco
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
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Li YL, Cheng G, Wu XH, Dai HY, Jia YC. The effect of emotional uncertainty on attentional bias toward neutral infant faces in adults. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22335. [PMID: 36426785 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Recent studies have found that adults have stronger attentional bias toward neutral infant faces than emotional (positive or negative) infant faces. This phenomenon may derive from uncertainty over neutral expressions. To test this hypothesis, we recruited 176 participants to examine the relationship between their attentional bias toward neutral infant faces (with neutral adult faces as a comparison baseline) and their level of certainty in their appraisal of emotional valence through eye-tracking indices. The results showed that participants had a longer dwell time and higher fixation counts for infant faces than for adult faces and that a more uncertain appraisal of facial expressions positively predicted attentional bias toward neutral infant faces. Therefore, this study preliminarily demonstrates that emotional uncertainty heightens adults' attentional bias toward infant faces with neutral expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Lin Li
- College of National Culture and Cognitive Science, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China.,School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.,Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China
| | - Gang Cheng
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.,Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China
| | - Xiu Hong Wu
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.,Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China
| | - Huang Yan Dai
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.,Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China
| | - Yun Cheng Jia
- College of National Culture and Cognitive Science, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China.,Center for Rural Children and Adolescents Mental Health Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China
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Yang C, Zhao M, Xie C, Li J. The Influence of Infant Schema Cues on Donation Intention in Charity Promotion. Front Psychol 2022; 13:869458. [PMID: 35910966 PMCID: PMC9326485 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.869458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This research performed four experiments to investigate the influence of infant schema cues on charitable donation intention and examine the moderating effect of gender. The results indicate that: (1) individuals stimulated by infant schema (vs. adult schema) cues had a higher willingness to donate when facing charity promotion; (2) the main effect was not due to the perceived cuteness of character in posters; (3) empathy played an entirely mediating role in the relationship between infant schema cues and donation intention; (4) gender moderated the influence of infant schema on donation intention: infant schema cues are effective for improving females’ donation intention, but ineffective for males. These findings contributed to the literature on infant schema and provide practical significance for introducing infant schema in charity promotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Yang
- Renmin Business School, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Mengying Zhao
- Renmin Business School, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Chunya Xie
- Renmin Business School, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Jingyi Li
- College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Jingyi Li,
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