Mechanisms for the Cognitive Processing of Attractiveness in Adult and Infant Faces: From the Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract

Research on the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness has mainly focused on adult faces. Recent studies have revealed that the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness in infant faces is not the same as that in adult faces. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the evidence on the processing of facial attractiveness in each kind of face and compare their underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we first reviewed studies on the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness in adult faces, including attentional and mnemonic processing, and then discussed the underlying mechanisms. Afterward, studies on facial attractiveness in infant faces were reviewed, and the underlying mechanisms were also discussed. Direct comparisons between the two kinds of cognitive processing were subsequently made. The results showed that the mechanisms for the processing of attractiveness in adult faces and infant faces are mainly motivated by the perspectives of mate selection and raising offspring, respectively, in evolutionary psychology. Finally, directions for future research are proposed.

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

“…Therefore, the baby schema is a series of special features of the infant body that differ from those of the adult body. As an innate releasing mechanism, the baby schema can universally induce positive emotions in adults and is an important basis for human parenting behaviour and the formation of early parent–child relationships (Franklin & Volk, 2018; Kou et al, 2020; Kringelbach et al, 2016).…”

“…Since the concept of the baby schema was proposed, scholars have discovered that typical features—not only an infant’s appearance but also its sound, smell, and so on—can effectively arouse the “cuteness” perception in adults (Kou et al, 2020; Kringelbach et al, 2016). Furthermore, infant faces with particular facial structures induce more pronounced baby schema effects (Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Gur, & Sachser, 2009).…”

“…Specifically, first, the finding that adults exhibit preference responses to infant faces indicates that infant faces are uniquely attractive and hedonic stimuli (see reviews in Kou et al, 2020; Kringelbach et al, 2016). The preference response could activate the prefrontal cortex, which is closely related to social, cognitive, and emotional responses (Strathearn et al, 2008; see review in Swain, 2011), to induce positive parenting experiences and attitudes (see review in Franklin & Volk, 2018).…”

“…As the effect of the babyface schema plays a very important role in the formation of early parent–child relationships, it has recently attracted the attention of many researchers, resulting in numerous valuable research findings (see reviews in Feldman, 2015; Franklin & Volk, 2018; Kou et al, 2020; Kringelbach et al, 2016; Lucion et al, 2017; Swain, 2011, 2017; Swain et al, 2014). However, as studies explored this domain in greater depth, it became clear that some problems needed to be resolved.…”

Network Neuroscience and the Adapted Mind: Rethinking the Role of Network Theories in Evolutionary Psychology

“…Given the close ties between evolutionary psychology and natural sciences, evolutionary psychologists are inherently informed about most theoretical developments in the various fields of biology, including neuroscience, and therefore adopted a network-based perspective early on (e.g., Aboitiz and Garcia, 1997 ; Panksepp and Panksepp, 2000 ). Recently, a myriad of exciting new theoretical or empirical papers are being published that take an interest in the neural correlates of functions defined within an evolutionary framework such as kin detection, cooperation, altruism (e.g., kin-based, reciprocity-based, care-based), competition, or attractiveness processing ( Platek and Kemp, 2009 ; Marsh, 2016 ; Wlodarski and Dunbar, 2016 ; Reimers et al, 2017 ; Yamagishi et al, 2017 ; Heckendorf et al, 2019 ; Platek and Hendry, 2019 ; Kou et al, 2020 ). At the moment, little to no studies employ functional, effective, or structural connectivity analyses (see for instance Brethel-Haurwitz et al, 2017 for an exception), the standard practice being the tracking of cortical activations using classic fMRI paradigms.…”