TY - JOUR
T1 - Infants’ looking preferences for social versus non-social objects reflect genetic variation
AU - Portugal, Ana Maria
AU - Viktorsson, Charlotte
AU - Taylor, Mark J.
AU - Mason, Luke
AU - Tammimies, Kristiina
AU - Ronald, Angelica
AU - Falck-Ytter, Terje
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - To what extent do individual differences in infants’ early preference for faces versus non-facial objects reflect genetic and environmental factors? Here in a sample of 536 5-month-old same-sex twins, we assessed attention to faces using eye tracking in two ways: initial orienting to faces at the start of the trial (thought to reflect subcortical processing) and sustained face preference throughout the trial (thought to reflect emerging attention control). Twin model fitting suggested an influence of genetic and unique environmental effects, but there was no evidence for an effect of shared environment. The heritability of face orienting and preference were 0.19 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.33) and 0.46 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.57), respectively. Face preference was associated positively with later parent-reported verbal competence (β = 0.14, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.25, P = 0.014, R 2 = 0.018, N = 420). This study suggests that individual differences in young infants’ selection of perceptual input—social versus non-social—are heritable, providing a developmental perspective on gene–environment interplay occurring at the level of eye movements.
AB - To what extent do individual differences in infants’ early preference for faces versus non-facial objects reflect genetic and environmental factors? Here in a sample of 536 5-month-old same-sex twins, we assessed attention to faces using eye tracking in two ways: initial orienting to faces at the start of the trial (thought to reflect subcortical processing) and sustained face preference throughout the trial (thought to reflect emerging attention control). Twin model fitting suggested an influence of genetic and unique environmental effects, but there was no evidence for an effect of shared environment. The heritability of face orienting and preference were 0.19 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.33) and 0.46 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.57), respectively. Face preference was associated positively with later parent-reported verbal competence (β = 0.14, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.25, P = 0.014, R 2 = 0.018, N = 420). This study suggests that individual differences in young infants’ selection of perceptual input—social versus non-social—are heritable, providing a developmental perspective on gene–environment interplay occurring at the level of eye movements.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178104725&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-023-01764-w
DO - 10.1038/s41562-023-01764-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 38012276
AN - SCOPUS:85178104725
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 8
SP - 115
EP - 124
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 1
ER -