Changes in face-specific neural processes explain reduced cuteness and approachability of infants with cleft lip

The current study investigated whether changes in the neural processing of faces of infants with a facial abnormality – a cleft lip – mediate effects of the cleft lip on judgments of infant cuteness and approachability. Event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to pictures of faces of healthy infants and infants with a cleft lip, and ratings of cuteness and approachability of these infant faces, were obtained from 30 females. Infants with a cleft lip were rated as less attractive (less cute and approachable) than healthy infants, and both the N170 and P2 components of the ERP were of reduced amplitude in response to pictures of infants with a cleft lip. Importantly, decreased configural processing of infant faces with a cleft lip, as evidenced by reduced N170 amplitudes, mediated the reduced attractiveness ratings for infants with a cleft lip compared to healthy infants. Our findings help elucidate the mechanisms behind the less favorable responses to infants with a cleft lip, highlighting the role of face-specific rather than domain-general neural processes

Beyond main effects of gene-sets: Harsh parenting moderates the association between a dopamine gene-set and child externalizing behavior

Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Masked face identification is improved by diagnostic feature training

To slow the spread of COVID-19, many people now wear face masks in public. Face masks impair our ability to identify faces, which can cause problems for professional staff who identify offenders or members of the public. Here, we investigate whether performance on a masked face matching task can be improved by training participants to compare diagnostic facial features (the ears and facial marks)—a validated training method that improves matching performance for unmasked faces. We show this brief diagnostic feature training, which takes less than two minutes to complete, improves matching performance for masked faces by approximately 5%. A control training course, which was unrelated to face identification, had no effect on matching performance. Our findings demonstrate that comparing the ears and facial marks is an effective means of improving face matching performance for masked faces. These findings have implications for professions that regularly perform face identification.Daniel J. Carragher, Alice Towler, Viktoria R. Mileva, David White, and Peter J. B. Hancoc

Beyond the usual suspects: a multidimensional genetic exploration of infant attachment disorganization and security

Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Association between infant nighttime-sleep location and attachment security: No easy verdict

Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Are boys more sensitive to sensitivity? Parenting and executive function in preschoolers

During early childhood, girls outperform boys on key dimensions of cognitive functions, including inhibitory control, sustained attention, and working memory. The role of parenting in these sex differences is unknown despite evidence that boys are more sensitive to the effects of the early environment. In this study, we measured parental sensitivity at 14 and 36months of age, and children's cognitive and executive functions (sustained attention, inhibitory control, and forward/backward memory) at 52months of age, in a longitudinal cohort (N=752). Boys scored significantly lower than girls on inhibitory control (more Go/NoGo "commission errors") and short-term memory (forward color recall task), but boys did not differ from girls on attention (Go/NoGo "omission errors") or working memory (backward color recall task). In stratified analyses, parental sensitivity at 36months of age was negatively associated with number of errors of commission (p=.05) and omission (p=.02) in boys, whereas child's age was the only significant predictor of commission and omission errors in girls. A combined analysis of both sexes confirmed an interaction between sex and parenting for omission errors (p=.03). The results indicate that sex differences in cognitive functions are evident in preschoolers, although not across all dimensions we assessed. Boys appear to be more vulnerable to early parenting effects, but only in association with omission errors (attention) and not with the other cognitive function dimensions.Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Is parent-child bed-sharing a risk for wheezing and asthma in early childhood?

Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Mild perinatal adversities moderate the association between maternal harsh parenting and hair cortisol: Evidence for differential susceptibility

Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Heritability and genome-wide association analyses of sleep duration in children: The EAGLE Consortium.

Study Objectives: Low or excessive sleep duration has been associated with multiple outcomes, but the biology behind these associations remains elusive. Specifically, genetic studies in children are scarce. In this study, we aimed to: (1) estimate the proportion of genetic variance of sleep duration in children attributed to common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), (2) identify novel SNPs associated with sleep duration in children, and (3) investigate the genetic overlap of sleep duration in children and related metabolic and psychiatric traits. Methods: We performed a population-based molecular genetic study, using data form the EArly Genetics and Life course Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium. 10,554 children of European ancestry were included in the discovery, and 1,250 children in the replication phase. Results: We found evidence of significant but modest SNP heritability of sleep duration in children (SNP h(2) 0.14, 95% CI [0.05, 0.23]) using the LD score regression method. A novel region at chromosome 11q13.4 (top SNP: rs74506765, P = 2.27e-08) was associated with sleep duration in children, but this was not replicated in independent studies. Nominally significant genetic overlap was only found (r(G) = 0.23, P = 0.05) between sleep duration in children and type 2 diabetes in adults, supporting the hypothesis of a common pathogenic mechanism. Conclusions: The significant SNP heritability of sleep duration in children and the suggestive genetic overlap with type 2 diabetes support the search for genetic mechanisms linking sleep duration in children to multiple outcomes in health and disease