Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment
Abstract Specific facial features in infants automatically elicit attention, affection, and nurturing behaviour of adults, known as the baby schema effect. There is also an innate tendency to categorize people into in-group and out-group members based on salient features such as ethnicity. Societies...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15289-1 |
| _version_ | 1828336697184616448 |
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| author | Bindiya Lakshmi Raghunath Kelly Hwee Leng Sng S. H. Annabel Chen Vimalan Vijayaragavan Balázs Gulyás Peipei Setoh Gianluca Esposito |
| author_facet | Bindiya Lakshmi Raghunath Kelly Hwee Leng Sng S. H. Annabel Chen Vimalan Vijayaragavan Balázs Gulyás Peipei Setoh Gianluca Esposito |
| author_sort | Bindiya Lakshmi Raghunath |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Specific facial features in infants automatically elicit attention, affection, and nurturing behaviour of adults, known as the baby schema effect. There is also an innate tendency to categorize people into in-group and out-group members based on salient features such as ethnicity. Societies are becoming increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, and there are limited investigations into the underlying neural mechanism of the baby schema effect in a multi-ethnic context. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine parents’ (N = 27) neural responses to (a) non-own ethnic in-group and out-group infants, (b) non-own in-group and own infants, and (c) non-own out-group and own infants. Parents showed similar brain activations, regardless of ethnicity and kinship, in regions associated with attention, reward processing, empathy, memory, goal-directed action planning, and social cognition. The same regions were activated to a higher degree when viewing the parents’ own infant. These findings contribute further understanding to the dynamics of baby schema effect in an increasingly interconnected social world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:04:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-da829d3e5fc14e12b7c24a4f0c250d07 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:04:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-da829d3e5fc14e12b7c24a4f0c250d072022-12-22T02:27:59ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-06-0112111310.1038/s41598-022-15289-1Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environmentBindiya Lakshmi Raghunath0Kelly Hwee Leng Sng1S. H. Annabel Chen2Vimalan Vijayaragavan3Balázs Gulyás4Peipei Setoh5Gianluca Esposito6Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological UniversityPsychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological UniversityPsychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological UniversityLee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological UniversityLee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological UniversityPsychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological UniversityDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of TrentoAbstract Specific facial features in infants automatically elicit attention, affection, and nurturing behaviour of adults, known as the baby schema effect. There is also an innate tendency to categorize people into in-group and out-group members based on salient features such as ethnicity. Societies are becoming increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, and there are limited investigations into the underlying neural mechanism of the baby schema effect in a multi-ethnic context. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine parents’ (N = 27) neural responses to (a) non-own ethnic in-group and out-group infants, (b) non-own in-group and own infants, and (c) non-own out-group and own infants. Parents showed similar brain activations, regardless of ethnicity and kinship, in regions associated with attention, reward processing, empathy, memory, goal-directed action planning, and social cognition. The same regions were activated to a higher degree when viewing the parents’ own infant. These findings contribute further understanding to the dynamics of baby schema effect in an increasingly interconnected social world.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15289-1 |
| spellingShingle | Bindiya Lakshmi Raghunath Kelly Hwee Leng Sng S. H. Annabel Chen Vimalan Vijayaragavan Balázs Gulyás Peipei Setoh Gianluca Esposito Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment Scientific Reports |
| title | Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| title_full | Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| title_fullStr | Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| title_short | Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| title_sort | stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15289-1 |
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