Open AccessFace Gender Influences the Looking Preference for Smiling Expressions in 3.5-Month-Old Human Infants
Author(s) -
Laurie Bayet,
Paul C. Quinn,
James W. Tanaka,
Lan Kang,
Édouard Gentaz,
Olivier Pascalis
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
hal (le centre pour la communication scientifique directe)
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0129812.s001
Subject(s) - preference , psychology , face (sociological concept) , facial expression , developmental psychology , communication , sociology , mathematics , social science , statistics
International audienceYoung infants are typically thought to prefer looking at smiling expressions. Although some accounts suggest that the preference is automatic and universal, we hypothesized that it is not rigid and may be influenced by other face dimensions, most notably the face's gender. Infants are sensitive to the gender of faces; for example, 3-month-olds raised by female caregivers typically prefer female over male faces. We presented neutral versus smiling pairs of faces from the same female or male individuals to 3.5-month-old infants (n = 25), controlling for low-level cues. Infants looked longer to the smiling face when faces were female but longer to the neutral face when faces were male, i.e., there was an effect of face gender on the looking preference for smiling. The results indicate that a preference for smiling in 3.5-month-olds is limited to female faces, possibly reflective of differential experience with male and female faces