Infants’ looking preferences for social versus non-social objects reflect genetic variation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7931442
AutoresAna Maria Portugal (0000-0002-3627-0753, Uppsala University, autor de correspondencia), Charlotte Viktorsson (0000-0003-2727-2957, Uppsala University), Mark J Taylor (0000-0001-5161-4182, Karolinska Institutet), Luke Mason (0000-0001-9978-7349, King's College London), Kristiina Tammimies (0000-0002-8324-4697, Karolinska University Hospital), Ann Ronald (0000-0002-9576-2176, University of Surrey), Terje Falck‐ytter (0000-0001-9714-0197, Uppsala University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen8
Número1
Páginas115-124
Fecha de publicación2023-11-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNature Human Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2397-3374 • E-ISSN: 2397-3374
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1038/s41562-023-01764-w
PMID38012276
OpenAlexW4389045259
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas55

To what extent do individual differences in infants’ early preference for faces versus non-facial objects reflect genetic and environmental factors? Here in a sample of 536 5-month-old same-sex twins, we assessed attention to faces using eye tracking in two ways: initial orienting to faces at the start of the trial (thought to reflect subcortical processing) and sustained face preference throughout the trial (thought to reflect emerging attention control). Twin model fitting suggested an influence of genetic and unique environmental effects, but there was no evidence for an effect of shared environment. The heritability of face orienting and preference were 0.19 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.33) and 0.46 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.57), respectively. Face preference was associated positively with later parent-reported verbal competence ( β = 0.14, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.25, P = 0.014, R 2 = 0.018, N = 420). This study suggests that individual differences in young infants’ selection of perceptual input—social versus non-social—are heritable, providing a developmental perspective on gene–environment interplay occurring at the level of eye movements

Biology · Developmental psychology · Evolutionary biology · Heritability · Perception · Preference · Social preferences · Child and Animal Learning Development · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Face Recognition and Perception · Psychology · Social Psychology