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Preferential looking to eyes versus mouth in early infancy: heritability and link to concurrent and later development

Viktorsson, Charlotte ; Portugal, Ana Maria ; Li, Danyang ; Rudling, Maja LU orcid ; Siqueiros Sanchez, Monica ; Tammimies, Kristiina ; Taylor, Mark J ; Ronald, Angelica and Falck-Ytter, Terje (2023) In Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 64(2). p.311-319
Abstract

BACKGROUND: From birth, infants orient preferentially to faces, and when looking at the face, they attend primarily to eyes and mouth. These areas convey different types of information, and earlier research suggests that genetic factors influence the preference for one or the other in young children.

METHODS: In a sample of 535 5-month-old infant twins, we assessed eye (relative to mouth) preference in early infancy, i.e., before neural systems for social communication and language are fully developed. We investigated the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the preference for looking at eyes, and the association with concurrent traits and follow-up measures.

RESULTS: Eye preference was independent from all... (More)

BACKGROUND: From birth, infants orient preferentially to faces, and when looking at the face, they attend primarily to eyes and mouth. These areas convey different types of information, and earlier research suggests that genetic factors influence the preference for one or the other in young children.

METHODS: In a sample of 535 5-month-old infant twins, we assessed eye (relative to mouth) preference in early infancy, i.e., before neural systems for social communication and language are fully developed. We investigated the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the preference for looking at eyes, and the association with concurrent traits and follow-up measures.

RESULTS: Eye preference was independent from all other concurrent traits measured, and had a moderate-to-high contribution from genetic influences (A = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.66). Preference for eyes at 5 months was associated with higher parent ratings of receptive vocabulary at 14 months. No statistically significant association with later autistic traits was found. Preference for eyes was strikingly stable across different stimulus types (e.g., dynamic vs. still), suggesting that infants' preference at this age does not reflect sensitivity to low-level visual cues.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that individual differences in infants' preferential looking to eyes versus mouth to a substantial degree reflect genetic variation. The findings provide new leads on both the perceptual basis and the developmental consequences of these attentional biases.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Child, Infant, Humans, Child, Preschool, Attention, Face, Mouth, Eye, Language, Twin modeling, social attention, langauge development, infant development
in
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
volume
64
issue
2
pages
311 - 319
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85143416696
  • pmid:36426800
ISSN
0021-9630
DOI
10.1111/jcpp.13724
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
id
239ec971-9616-455f-82c5-74b0e23a9401
date added to LUP
2023-07-27 13:07:32
date last changed
2024-04-19 23:58:10
@article{239ec971-9616-455f-82c5-74b0e23a9401,
  abstract     = {{<p>BACKGROUND: From birth, infants orient preferentially to faces, and when looking at the face, they attend primarily to eyes and mouth. These areas convey different types of information, and earlier research suggests that genetic factors influence the preference for one or the other in young children.</p><p>METHODS: In a sample of 535 5-month-old infant twins, we assessed eye (relative to mouth) preference in early infancy, i.e., before neural systems for social communication and language are fully developed. We investigated the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the preference for looking at eyes, and the association with concurrent traits and follow-up measures.</p><p>RESULTS: Eye preference was independent from all other concurrent traits measured, and had a moderate-to-high contribution from genetic influences (A = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.66). Preference for eyes at 5 months was associated with higher parent ratings of receptive vocabulary at 14 months. No statistically significant association with later autistic traits was found. Preference for eyes was strikingly stable across different stimulus types (e.g., dynamic vs. still), suggesting that infants' preference at this age does not reflect sensitivity to low-level visual cues.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that individual differences in infants' preferential looking to eyes versus mouth to a substantial degree reflect genetic variation. The findings provide new leads on both the perceptual basis and the developmental consequences of these attentional biases.</p>}},
  author       = {{Viktorsson, Charlotte and Portugal, Ana Maria and Li, Danyang and Rudling, Maja and Siqueiros Sanchez, Monica and Tammimies, Kristiina and Taylor, Mark J and Ronald, Angelica and Falck-Ytter, Terje}},
  issn         = {{0021-9630}},
  keywords     = {{Child; Infant; Humans; Child, Preschool; Attention; Face; Mouth; Eye; Language; Twin modeling; social attention; langauge development; infant development}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{311--319}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{Preferential looking to eyes versus mouth in early infancy: heritability and link to concurrent and later development}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13724}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/jcpp.13724}},
  volume       = {{64}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}