Do infants associate spiders and snakes with fearful facial expressions?

Author(s)
Stefanie Hoehl, Sabina Pauen
Abstract

Do infants preferentially learn to fear stimuli that represent an ancestral danger? This question was addressed using event-related brain potentials in 9-month-old infants (N = 38). In Experiment 1, infants saw fearful and neutral faces gazing towards spiders and flowers. Then spiders and flowers were presented again without faces. Infants responded with increased attention (signaled by the Negative central, Nc component) to stimuli associated with fear. In particular, spiders that were gaze-cued with a fearful as compared to a neutral expression elicited an increased Nc response. In Experiment 2, targets were snakes and fish. Snakes elicited increased Nc amplitude compared to fish irrespective of emotion condition. Results speak to the evolution-based fear-relevance of spiders and snakes. Our findings provide partial support for social fear learning and preparedness theory (Experiment 1) and non-associative accounts of fear acquisition (Experiment 2). We conclude that both kinds of fear acquisition seem to play a role in early human development.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Scientific Software Center
Journal
Evolution and Human Behavior
Volume
38
Pages
404-413
No. of pages
10
ISSN
1090-5138
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.12.001
Publication date
05-2017
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501005 Developmental psychology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/do-infants-associate-spiders-and-snakes-with-fearful-facial-expressions(98e9c8be-d396-4af7-8a5f-21134f011dd7).html