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Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations
Author(s) -
Yrttiaho Santeri,
Bruwer Belinda,
Zar Heather J.,
Donald Kirsten A,
MalcolmSmith Susan,
Ginton Lee,
Hoffman Nadia,
Vuong Eileen,
Niehaus Dana,
Leppänen Jukka M.,
Stein Dan J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13503
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , psychology , developmental psychology , maternal sensitivity , pupil , distress , gaze , pupillary response , facial expression , demography , clinical psychology , population , communication , neuroscience , sociology , psychoanalysis
Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low‐SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.