Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Santeri Yrttiaho; Belinda Bruwer; Heather J. Zar; Kirsten A. Donald; Susan Malcolm-Smith; Lee Ginton; Nadia Hoffman; Eileen Vuong; Dana Niehaus; Jukka M. Leppänen; Dan J. Stein

doi:10.1111/cdev.13503

Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Santeri Yrttiaho, Belinda Bruwer, Heather J. Zar, Kirsten A. Donald, Susan Malcolm-Smith, Lee Ginton, Nadia Hoffman, Eileen Vuong, Dana Niehaus, Jukka M. Leppänen, Dan J. Stein

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5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	e236-e251
Journal	Child Development
Volume	92
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13503
State	Published - 1 May 2021
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations",

abstract = "Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.",

author = "Santeri Yrttiaho and Belinda Bruwer and Zar, {Heather J.} and Donald, {Kirsten A.} and Susan Malcolm-Smith and Lee Ginton and Nadia Hoffman and Eileen Vuong and Dana Niehaus and Lepp{\"a}nen, {Jukka M.} and Stein, {Dan J.}",

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T1 - Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

AU - Yrttiaho, Santeri

AU - Bruwer, Belinda

AU - Zar, Heather J.

AU - Donald, Kirsten A.

AU - Malcolm-Smith, Susan

AU - Ginton, Lee

AU - Hoffman, Nadia

AU - Vuong, Eileen

AU - Niehaus, Dana

AU - Leppänen, Jukka M.

AU - Stein, Dan J.

PY - 2021/5/1

Y1 - 2021/5/1

N2 - Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.

AB - Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.

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Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Abstract

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