On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond

Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a ‘Kindchenschema’ (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as ‘innate releasing mechanisms’ for inst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cognitive sciences Vol. 20; no. 7; pp. 545 - 558
Main Authors: Kringelbach, Morten L., Stark, Eloise A., Alexander, Catherine, Bornstein, Marc H., Stein, Alan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2016
Subjects:
affiliative
Brain - physiology
caregiving
emotion
Emotions
Face - anatomy & histology
Facial Expression
Humans
Kawaii
Maternal Behavior - physiology
neuroimaging
Neurology
Parenting
Parents
Paternal Behavior - physiology
pleasure
Psychiatry
Kawaii
emotion
affiliative
caregiving
pleasure
neuroimaging
ISSN:1364-6613, 1879-307X, 1879-307X
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a ‘Kindchenschema’ (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as ‘innate releasing mechanisms’ for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple ‘instinctual’ behaviours and to caregiving, protection, and complex emotions. We review how cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions. The parent–infant relation is fundamental to infant survival and development. Cuteness has emerged as an important factor for attracting caregiver attention and affection. Cuteness is not limited to visual infant features, but is also found in positive sounds and smells. Neuroimaging has started to identify how survival-related infant-positive and negative stimuli elicit core affective brain activity through fast attentional biasing and slow appraisal processes. Beyond caregiving, cuteness has a key role in facilitating social relations, pleasure, and well-being, as well as increasing empathy and compassion.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ObjectType-Review-3
content type line 23
ISSN:1364-6613
1879-307X
1879-307X
DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2016.05.003