Humans are hardwired to prefer 'cute' faces from the age of three - and toddlers think dogs are more adorable than cats and humans
comments
Cuteness isn't something that only adults can identify, children as young as three can also recognise adorable features.
Even before they start school, children rate puppies, kittens and babies as 'cuter' than their adult counterparts, according to a recent study.
And apparently, in young children, the faces of dogs are thought of more fondly than that of humans and cats.
Pictured is an example of the images shown to young children in the study which included uoung and adult faces of humans, dogs, and cats. On the left the high infantile version, on the right the low infantile version of the same subject
The study, conducted by a pair of PhD students at the University of Lincoln, could provide scientists with an insight into human evolution.
It found that cuteness is wrapped up in what psychologists call 'baby schema' - a set of infantile features such as a round face, high forehead, big eyes and a small nose and mouth.
Baby schema has been shown to stimulate protective, care-giving behaviour and reduced aggression in adults.
This image shows the three 'areas of interest' focused on by the scientists. The researchers measured how long the babies focused on each area to determine the 'cuteness' of an image
Marta Borgi, from the University of Lincoln, who led the new research, said: 'We already knew that adults experience this baby schema effect, finding babies with more infantile features cuter.
'Our results provide the first rigorous demonstration that a visual preference for these traits emerges very early during development.
'Independently of the species viewed, children in our study spent more time looking at images with a higher degree of these baby-like features.'
The researchers conducted two experiments with children aged three to six.
One tracked eye movements to see which facial areas children were drawn to and the other assessed how cute children rated animals and humans with infantile traits.
Even before they start school, children rate puppies, kittens and babies as 'cuter' than their adult counterparts, according to a recent study
LOVING MOTHERS BOOST THEIR BABIES INTELLIGENCE, STUDY FINDS
Good mothering really does boost a baby's brainpower, according to new research.
Scientists found that a mother's presence can have a positive influence on the neuron generation of her children.
And they hope to develop diagnostic tools and therapies for people whose brains may have been impaired or simply underdeveloped during infancy.
The findings, are the first to show how such natural, early attachment behaviour including nesting, nursing and grooming impact key stages in postnatal brain development.
'The study also helps explain how differences in the way mothers nurture their young could account, in part, for the wide variation in infant behaviour among animals, including people, with similar backgrounds, or in uniform, tightly knit cultures,' said Professor Regina Sullivan of New York University.
Images of human adults and babies, dogs, puppies, cats and kittens were digitally manipulated to make them appear 'cuter'.
The same photos were also made less cute by giving subjects more adult-like features, such as a narrow face, low forehead and small eyes.
'Interestingly, while participants gave different cuteness scores to dogs, cats and humans, they all found the images of adult dog faces cuter than both adult cats and human faces,' said Ms Borgi.
Professor Kerstin Meints, who supervised the research, said: 'We have also demonstrated that children are highly attracted to dogs and puppies, and we now need to find out if that attractiveness may override children's ability to recognise stress signalling in dogs.
'This study will also lead to further research with an impact on real life, namely whether the "cuteness" of an animal in rescue centres makes them more or less likely to be adopted.'
The findings appear in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Put the internet to work for you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment