Infants' Temperament and Mothers', and Fathers' Depression Predict Infants' Attention to Objects Paired with Emotional Faces.

Between 10 and 14 months, infants gain the ability to learn about unfamiliar stimuli by observing others' emotional reactions to those stimuli, so called social referencing (SR). Joint processing of emotion and head/gaze direction is essential for SR. This study tested emotion and head/gaze directio...

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Published in:Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Vol. 44; no. 5; pp. 975 - 991
Main Authors: Aktar, Evin, Mandell, Dorothy, Vente, Wieke, Majdandžić, Mirjana, Raijmakers, Maartje, Bögels, Susan, Mandell, Dorothy J, de Vente, Wieke, Raijmakers, Maartje E J, Bögels, Susan M
Format: journal article
Published: Springer Nature Jul2016
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jul2016
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      pub: Springer Nature
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        10.1007/s10802-015-0085-9
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        atl: Infants' Temperament and Mothers', and Fathers' Depression Predict Infants' Attention to Objects Paired with Emotional Faces.
      aug:
        au:
          Aktar, Evin
          Mandell, Dorothy
          Vente, Wieke
          Majdandžić, Mirjana
          Raijmakers, Maartje
          Bögels, Susan
          Mandell, Dorothy J
          de Vente, Wieke
          Raijmakers, Maartje E J
          Bögels, Susan M
        affil:
          Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129 1018WS Amsterdam Netherlands
          Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 127 1018WS Amsterdam Netherlands
          Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129, 1018WS, Amsterdam, Netherlands
          Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 127, 1018WS, Amsterdam, Netherlands
          Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Weesperplein 4, 1018XA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
      su:
        Emotions
        Brain stimulation
        Brain function localization
        Pupillometry
        Temperament in children
      sug:
        subj:
          Emotions
          Brain stimulation
          Brain function localization
          Pupillometry
          Temperament in children
      keyword:
        Emotion
        Fathers
        Individual differences
        Infancy
        Pupil dilation
        Temperament
        Emotion
        Fathers
        Individual differences
        Infancy
        Pupil dilation
        Temperament
      ab: Between 10 and 14 months, infants gain the ability to learn about unfamiliar stimuli by observing others' emotional reactions to those stimuli, so called social referencing (SR). Joint processing of emotion and head/gaze direction is essential for SR. This study tested emotion and head/gaze direction effects on infants' attention via pupillometry in the period following the emergence of SR. Pupil responses of 14-to-17-month-old infants (N = 57) were measured during computerized presentations of unfamiliar objects alone, before-and-after being paired with emotional (happy, sad, fearful vs. neutral) faces gazing towards (vs. away) from objects. Additionally, the associations of infants' temperament, and parents' negative affect/depression/anxiety with infants' pupil responses were explored. Both mothers and fathers of participating infants completed questionnaires about their negative affect, depression and anxiety symptoms and their infants' negative temperament. Infants allocated more attention (larger pupils) to negative vs. neutral faces when the faces were presented alone, while they allocated less attention to objects paired with emotional vs. neutral faces independent of head/gaze direction. Sad (but not fearful) temperament predicted more attention to emotional faces. Infants' sad temperament moderated the associations of mothers' depression (but not anxiety) with infants' attention to objects. Maternal depression predicted more attention to objects paired with emotional expressions in infants low in sad temperament, while it predicted less attention in infants high in sad temperament. Fathers' depression (but not anxiety) predicted more attention to objects paired with emotional expressions independent of infants' temperament. We conclude that infants' own temperamental dispositions for sadness, and their exposure to mothers' and fathers' depressed moods may influence infants' attention to emotion-object associations in social learning contexts.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: journal article
      src: R
    language: English
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