Baby schema in human and animal faces induces cuteness perception and gaze allocation in children
Open accessAbstract
The baby schema concept was originally proposed as a set of infantile traits with high appeal for humans, subsequently shown to elicit caretaking behavior and to affect cuteness perception and attentional processes. However, it is unclear whether the response to the baby schema may be extended to the human-animal bond context. Moreover, questions remain as to whether the cute response is constant and persistent or whether it changes with development. In the present study we parametrically manipulated the baby schema in images of humans, dogs, and cats. We analyzed responses of 3-6 year-old children, using both explicit (i.e., cuteness ratings) and implicit (i.e., eye gaze patterns) measures. By means of eye-tracking, we assessed children's preferential attention to images varying only for the degree of baby schema and explored participants' fixation patterns during a cuteness task. For comparative purposes, cuteness ratings were also obtained in a sample of adults. Overall our results show that the response to an infantile facial configuration emerges early during development. In children, the baby schema affects both cuteness perception and gaze allocation to infantile stimuli and to specific facial features, an effect not simply limited to human faces. In line with previous research, results confirm human positive appraisal toward animals and inform both educational and therapeutic interventions involving pets, helping to minimize risk factors (e.g., dog bites).
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Humans perceive images of dogs and cats with infantile facial features as cute.
“Humans perceive images of dogs and cats with infantile facial features as cute, indicating that a preference for infantile facial configurations may emerge in other species [27].”
From Are dark-eyed dogs favoured by humans? Domestication as a potential driver of iris colour difference between dogs and wolves (2023) · cites this paper as [27]
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- Authors
- Borgi, M., Cogliati-Dezza, I., Brelsford, V., Meints, K., & Cirulli, F.
- Affiliations
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità (IT)
- University of Lincoln (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Borgi, Marta
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-05-07
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 411-411
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4019884
- OpenAlex
- W1965734658
- Cited by
- 243
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 8.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) (acceptedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- European Science Foundation (06-RNP-020)
- European Social Fund
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- baby schema, cuteness perception, gaze allocation, children's attention, human-animal bond, dogs, cats, facial expressions, human-animal relations
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