title: On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond.
abstract: Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a 'Kindchenschema' (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as 'innate releasing mechanisms' for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple 'instinctual' behaviours and to caregiving, protection, and complex emotions. We review how cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK; Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. Electronic address: morten.kringelbach@psych.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Morten L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kringelbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.
authors.forename: Eloise A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK; Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Suite 8030, 6705 Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7971, USA.
authors.forename: Marc H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bornstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents; D010332:Paternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Kawaii; affiliative; caregiving; emotion; neuroimaging; pleasure