title: Face Gender Influences the Looking Preference for Smiling Expressions in 3.5-Month-Old Human Infants.
abstract: Young 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.
authors.affiliation: LPNC, University of Grenoble-Alps, Grenoble, France; LPNC, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Laurie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bayet
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: LPNC, University of Grenoble-Alps, Grenoble, France; LPNC, CNRS, Grenoble, France; Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Édouard
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Gentaz
authors.affiliation: LPNC, University of Grenoble-Alps, Grenoble, France; LPNC, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pascalis
mesh_terms: D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012904:Smiling; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*