title: Attentional bias toward infant faces - Review of the adaptive and clinical relevance.
abstract: Human survival depends on care received early in life. Infants need to capture adults' attention to have their basic needs met. Therefore, infant stimuli are prioritized by the attention system in adults, resulting in an attentional bias toward infant faces. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on behavioral measures of attentional bias toward infant faces. PubMed, PsycINFO, and ISI Web of Knowledge databases were used. The review suggests the existence of a measurable attentional bias toward infant faces and a positive correlation between attentional bias toward infant distress and the quality of mother-infant relationship. Depressive symptoms and breastfeeding modulate this behavior in women. Parental status and sex also influence the attentional prioritization of infant faces. Evidence indicates that differences in attentional bias are associated with clinical symptoms and variations in maternal behavior, reinforcing the potential use of attentional bias as a behavioral marker of clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Médicas: Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2400 - 2° andar, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marta Knijnik
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lucion
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2600 - Térreo, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2600 - Térreo, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lisiane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bizarro
authors.affiliation: Departmental Clinical Fellowship, Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Adrianne Rahde
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bischoff
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Pediatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2400, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, QC, Canada. Electronic address: 00032386@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: Patricia Pelufo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Silveira
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Médicas: Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2400 - 2° andar, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Laboratório de Psiquiatria Molecular and INCT for Translational Medicine. Centro de Pesquisa Experimental do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2350 - sala 12117, CEP 90035-903 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kauer-Sant'Anna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000070379:Attentional Bias / Q000502:physiology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations
keywords: Attentional bias; Cognition; Infant; Mother-infant relations