title: Implicit association to infant faces: Genetics, early care experiences, and cultural factors influence caregiving propensities.
abstract: Genetics, early experience, and culture shape caregiving, but it is still not clear how genetics, early experiences, and cultural factors might interact to influence specific caregiving propensities, such as adult responsiveness to infant cues. To address this gap, 80 Italian adults (50% M; 18-25 years) were (1) genotyped for two oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms (rs53576 and rs2254298) and the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), which are implicated in parenting behaviour, (2) completed the Adult Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire to evaluate their recollections of parental behaviours toward them in childhood, and (3) were administered a Single Category Implicit Association Test to evaluate their implicit responses to faces of Italian infants, Japanese infants, and Italian adults. Analysis of implicit associations revealed that Italian infant faces were evaluated as most positive; participants in the rs53576 GG group had the most positive implicit associations to Italian infant faces; the serotonin polymorphism moderated the effect of early care experiences on adults' implicit association to both Italian infant and adult female faces. Finally, 5-HTTLPR S carriers showed less positive implicit responses to Japanese infant faces. We conclude that adult in-group preference extends to in-group infant faces and that implicit responses to social cues are influenced by interactions of genetics, early care experiences, and cultural factors. These findings have implications for understanding processes that regulate adult caregiving.
authors.affiliation: Psychometric Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy. Electronic address: vincenzopaolo.senese@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Vincenzo Paolo
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Senese
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior Unit of Basic Medical Sciences Course of Medical and Dental Sciences, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy; Social & Affiliative Neuroscience Lab, Division of Psychology - School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior Unit of Basic Medical Sciences Course of Medical and Dental Sciences, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Venuti
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, United States.
authors.forename: Marc H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bornstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin / Q000235:genetics; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C569600:OXTR protein, human; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin; C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
keywords: Gene×environment interaction; Implicit association; Infant faces; Oxytocin; SC-IAT; Serotonin