Pupil responses to dynamic negative facial expressions of emotion in infants and parents

Evin Aktar; Cosima A. Nimphy; Mariska E. Kret; Koraly Pérez-Edgar; Susan M. Bögels; Maartje E.J. Raijmakers

doi:10.1002/dev.22190

Pupil responses to dynamic negative facial expressions of emotion in infants and parents

Evin Aktar^*, Cosima A. Nimphy, Mariska E. Kret, Koraly Pérez-Edgar, Susan M. Bögels, Maartje E.J. Raijmakers

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Observing others’ emotions triggers physiological arousal in infants as well as in adults, reflected in dilated pupil sizes. This study is the first to examine parents’ and infants’ pupil responses to dynamic negative emotional facial expressions. Moreover, the links between pupil responses and negative emotional dispositions were explored among infants and parents. Infants’ and one of their parent's pupil responses to negative versus neutral faces were measured via eye tracking in 222 infants (5- to 7-month-olds, n = 77, 11- to 13-month-olds, n = 78, and 17- to 19-month-olds, n = 67) and 229 parents. One parent contributed to the pupil data, whereas both parents were invited to fill in questionnaires on their own and their infant's negative emotional dispositions. Infants did not differentially respond to negative expressions, while parents showed stronger pupil responses to negative versus neutral expressions. There was a positive association between infants' and their parent's mean pupil responses and significant links between mothers’ and fathers’ stress levels and their infants’ pupil responses. We conclude that a direct association between pupil responses in parents and offspring is observable already in infancy in typical development. Stress in parents is related to their infants’ pupillary arousal to negative emotions.

Original language	English
Article number	e22190
Pages (from-to)	1-17
Number of pages	17
Journal	Developmental Psychobiology
Volume	63
Issue number	7
Early online date	21 Sept 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22190
Publication status	Published - Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the parents and infants who participated in this study and to Dirk Jan Vet from the University of Amsterdam for the technical support with the current experiment. This research was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) with a VENI grant (#016.Veni.195.285) to Evin Aktar, a VIDI grant (#016.Vidi.185.036) to Mariska E. Kret, and a VICI grant (#453‐09‐001) to Susan M. Bögels. The contribution of Mariska E. Kret was additionally supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582)

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Developmental Psychobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Funding

The authors are grateful to the parents and infants who participated in this study and to Dirk Jan Vet from the University of Amsterdam for the technical support with the current experiment. This research was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) with a VENI grant (#016.Veni.195.285) to Evin Aktar, a VIDI grant (#016.Vidi.185.036) to Mariska E. Kret, and a VICI grant (#453‐09‐001) to Susan M. Bögels. The contribution of Mariska E. Kret was additionally supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582)

Funders	Funder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
H2020 European Research Council	804582
European Commission
European Research Council
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	016

Keywords

infancy
negative emotion
parental stress
pupillometry
temperament

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1002/dev.22190

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{9733cd5d1fc645ab914d2faa203f3b66,

title = "Pupil responses to dynamic negative facial expressions of emotion in infants and parents",

abstract = "Observing others{\textquoteright} emotions triggers physiological arousal in infants as well as in adults, reflected in dilated pupil sizes. This study is the first to examine parents{\textquoteright} and infants{\textquoteright} pupil responses to dynamic negative emotional facial expressions. Moreover, the links between pupil responses and negative emotional dispositions were explored among infants and parents. Infants{\textquoteright} and one of their parent's pupil responses to negative versus neutral faces were measured via eye tracking in 222 infants (5- to 7-month-olds, n = 77, 11- to 13-month-olds, n = 78, and 17- to 19-month-olds, n = 67) and 229 parents. One parent contributed to the pupil data, whereas both parents were invited to fill in questionnaires on their own and their infant's negative emotional dispositions. Infants did not differentially respond to negative expressions, while parents showed stronger pupil responses to negative versus neutral expressions. There was a positive association between infants' and their parent's mean pupil responses and significant links between mothers{\textquoteright} and fathers{\textquoteright} stress levels and their infants{\textquoteright} pupil responses. We conclude that a direct association between pupil responses in parents and offspring is observable already in infancy in typical development. Stress in parents is related to their infants{\textquoteright} pupillary arousal to negative emotions.",

keywords = "infancy, negative emotion, parental stress, pupillometry, temperament",

author = "Evin Aktar and Nimphy, {Cosima A.} and Kret, {Mariska E.} and Koraly P{\'e}rez-Edgar and B{\"o}gels, {Susan M.} and Raijmakers, {Maartje E.J.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the parents and infants who participated in this study and to Dirk Jan Vet from the University of Amsterdam for the technical support with the current experiment. This research was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) with a VENI grant (#016.Veni.195.285) to Evin Aktar, a VIDI grant (#016.Vidi.185.036) to Mariska E. Kret, and a VICI grant (#453‐09‐001) to Susan M. B{\"o}gels. The contribution of Mariska E. Kret was additionally supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582) Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Developmental Psychobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.",

year = "2021",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1002/dev.22190",

language = "English",

volume = "63",

pages = "1--17",

journal = "Developmental Psychobiology",

issn = "0012-1630",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pupil responses to dynamic negative facial expressions of emotion in infants and parents

AU - Aktar, Evin

AU - Nimphy, Cosima A.

AU - Kret, Mariska E.

AU - Pérez-Edgar, Koraly

AU - Bögels, Susan M.

AU - Raijmakers, Maartje E.J.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the parents and infants who participated in this study and to Dirk Jan Vet from the University of Amsterdam for the technical support with the current experiment. This research was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) with a VENI grant (#016.Veni.195.285) to Evin Aktar, a VIDI grant (#016.Vidi.185.036) to Mariska E. Kret, and a VICI grant (#453‐09‐001) to Susan M. Bögels. The contribution of Mariska E. Kret was additionally supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582) Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Developmental Psychobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

PY - 2021/11

Y1 - 2021/11

N2 - Observing others’ emotions triggers physiological arousal in infants as well as in adults, reflected in dilated pupil sizes. This study is the first to examine parents’ and infants’ pupil responses to dynamic negative emotional facial expressions. Moreover, the links between pupil responses and negative emotional dispositions were explored among infants and parents. Infants’ and one of their parent's pupil responses to negative versus neutral faces were measured via eye tracking in 222 infants (5- to 7-month-olds, n = 77, 11- to 13-month-olds, n = 78, and 17- to 19-month-olds, n = 67) and 229 parents. One parent contributed to the pupil data, whereas both parents were invited to fill in questionnaires on their own and their infant's negative emotional dispositions. Infants did not differentially respond to negative expressions, while parents showed stronger pupil responses to negative versus neutral expressions. There was a positive association between infants' and their parent's mean pupil responses and significant links between mothers’ and fathers’ stress levels and their infants’ pupil responses. We conclude that a direct association between pupil responses in parents and offspring is observable already in infancy in typical development. Stress in parents is related to their infants’ pupillary arousal to negative emotions.

AB - Observing others’ emotions triggers physiological arousal in infants as well as in adults, reflected in dilated pupil sizes. This study is the first to examine parents’ and infants’ pupil responses to dynamic negative emotional facial expressions. Moreover, the links between pupil responses and negative emotional dispositions were explored among infants and parents. Infants’ and one of their parent's pupil responses to negative versus neutral faces were measured via eye tracking in 222 infants (5- to 7-month-olds, n = 77, 11- to 13-month-olds, n = 78, and 17- to 19-month-olds, n = 67) and 229 parents. One parent contributed to the pupil data, whereas both parents were invited to fill in questionnaires on their own and their infant's negative emotional dispositions. Infants did not differentially respond to negative expressions, while parents showed stronger pupil responses to negative versus neutral expressions. There was a positive association between infants' and their parent's mean pupil responses and significant links between mothers’ and fathers’ stress levels and their infants’ pupil responses. We conclude that a direct association between pupil responses in parents and offspring is observable already in infancy in typical development. Stress in parents is related to their infants’ pupillary arousal to negative emotions.

KW - infancy

KW - negative emotion

KW - parental stress

KW - pupillometry

KW - temperament

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117383754&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85117383754&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/dev.22190

DO - 10.1002/dev.22190

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85117383754

SN - 0012-1630

VL - 63

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Developmental Psychobiology

JF - Developmental Psychobiology

IS - 7

M1 - e22190

ER -

Pupil responses to dynamic negative facial expressions of emotion in infants and parents

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this