{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,5]],"date-time":"2025-12-05T12:21:31Z","timestamp":1764937291305,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":70,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]],"date-time":"2021-07-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1625184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Processing of emotional facial expressions is of great importance in interpersonal relationships. Aberrant engagement with facial expressions, particularly an engagement with sad faces, loss of engagement with happy faces, and enhanced memory of sadness has been found in depression. Since most studies used adult faces, we here examined if such biases also occur in processing of infant faces in those with depression or depressive symptoms. In study 1, we recruited 25 inpatient women with major depression and 25 matched controls. In study 2, we extracted a sample of expecting parents from the NorBaby study, where 29 reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms, and 29 were matched controls. In both studies, we assessed attentional bias with a dot-probe task using happy, sad and neutral infant faces, and facial memory bias with a recognition task using happy, sad, angry, afraid, surprised, disgusted and neutral infant and adult faces. Participants also completed the Ruminative Responses Scale and Becks Depression Inventory-II. In study 1, we found no group difference in either attention to or memory accuracy for emotional infant faces. Neither attention nor recognition was associated with rumination. In study 2, we found that the group with depressive symptoms disengaged more slowly than healthy controls from sad infant faces, and this was related to rumination. The results place emphasis on the importance of emotional self-relevant material when examining cognitive processing in depression. Together, these studies demonstrate that a mood-congruent attentional bias to infant faces is present in expecting parents with depressive symptoms, but not in inpatients with Major Depression Disorder who do not have younger children.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.657269","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]],"date-time":"2021-07-02T05:42:20Z","timestamp":1625204540000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Emotional Infant Face Processing in Women With Major Depression and Expecting Parents With Depressive Symptoms"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Agnes","family":"Bohne","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dag","family":"Nordahl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"\u00c5sne A. W.","family":"Lindahl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"P\u00e5l","family":"Ulvenes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Catharina E. A.","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gerit","family":"Pfuhl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"593010","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2020.593010","article-title":"Negative bias during early attentional engagement in major depressive disorder as examined using a two-stage model: high sensitivity to sad but bluntness to happy cues","volume":"14","author":"Ao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2011.04.015","article-title":"The effects of postnatal maternal depression and anxiety on the processing of infant faces","volume":"133","author":"Arteche","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"volume-title":"Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II","year":"1996","author":"Beck","key":"B3"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"998","DOI":"10.1037\/a0025348","article-title":"Facial affect processing and depression susceptibility: cognitive biases and cognitive neuroscience","volume":"137","author":"Bistricky","year":"2011","journal-title":"Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1080\/026999397380014","article-title":"Attentional biases for emotional faces","volume":"11","author":"Bradley","year":"1997","journal-title":"Cogn. Emot."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"685","DOI":"10.1037\/1528-3542.7.3.685","article-title":"That baby caught my eye. Attention capture by infant faces","volume":"7","author":"Brosch","year":"2007","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327078in0601_2","article-title":"Depressed and well mothers' emotion interpretation accuracy and the quality of mother\u2014infant interaction","volume":"6","author":"Broth","year":"2004","journal-title":"Infancy"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2019.04.013","article-title":"The expectant social mind: a systematic review of face processing during pregnancy and the effect of depression and anxiety","volume":"102","author":"De Carli","year":"2019","journal-title":"Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1037\/h0046671","article-title":"On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall","volume":"58","author":"Deese","year":"1959","journal-title":"J. Exp. Psychol."},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2664","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2007.07.002","article-title":"Rumination and attention in major depression","volume":"45","author":"Donaldson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Ther."},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"107890","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsycho.2020.107890","article-title":"Attention bias to infant faces in pregnant women predicts maternal sensitivity","volume":"153","author":"Dudek","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biol. Psychol."},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"340","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8721.2007.00532.x","article-title":"Parent\u2013infant synchrony: biological foundations and developmental outcomes","volume":"16","author":"Feldman","year":"2007","journal-title":"Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"815","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291709990948","article-title":"Specificity of cognitive biases in patients with current depression and remitted depression and in patients with asthma","volume":"40","author":"Fritzsche","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychol. Med."},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1177\/2515245919847202","article-title":"Evaluating effect size in psychological research: sense and nonsense","volume":"2","author":"Funder","year":"2019","journal-title":"Adv. Methods Pract. Psychol. Sci"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2010.06.015","article-title":"The evaluation of emotional facial expressions in early postpartum depression mood: a difference between adult and baby faces?","volume":"186","author":"Gil","year":"2011","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res."},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1016\/S0165-1781(02)00266-4","article-title":"Interpersonal deficits meet cognitive biases: memory for facial expressions in depressed and anxious men and women","volume":"113","author":"Gilboa-Schechtman","year":"2002","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res."},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2006.03.007","article-title":"Deficient inhibition of emotional information in depression","volume":"93","author":"Goeleven","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"226","DOI":"10.1002\/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00061.x","article-title":"The heterogeneity of \u201cmajor depression\u201d","volume":"10","author":"Goldberg","year":"2011","journal-title":"World Psychiatry"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s10567-010-0080-1","article-title":"Maternal depression and child psychopathology: a meta-analytic review","volume":"14","author":"Goodman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Clin. Child Fam. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131305","article-title":"Cognition and depression: current status and future directions","volume":"6","author":"Gotlib","year":"2010","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.113.1.121","article-title":"Attentional biases for negative interpersonal stimuli in clinical depression","volume":"113","author":"Gotlib","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol."},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1037\/emo0000103","article-title":"Stuck in a sad place: biased attentional disengagement in rumination","volume":"16","author":"Grafton","year":"2016","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1177\/2515245920922982","article-title":"Persons as Effect Sizes","author":"Grice","year":"2020","journal-title":"AMPPS"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v042.i08","article-title":"MatchIt: nonparametric preprocessing for parametric causal inference","volume":"42","author":"Ho","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Stat. Softw"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e016005","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2017-016005","article-title":"Protocol for the Northern babies longitudinal study: predicting postpartum depression and improving parent\u2013infant interaction with The Newborn Behavioral Observation","volume":"7","author":"H\u00f8if\u00f8dt","year":"2017","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"192","DOI":"10.1080\/09658211.2010.544073","article-title":"Mood-congruent true and false memory: effects of depression","volume":"19","author":"Howe","year":"2011","journal-title":"Memory"},{"key":"B27","unstructured":"The JASP Team (Version 0.12.2)2020"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1177\/0963721410370293","article-title":"Cognitive inhibition and emotion regulation in depression","volume":"19","author":"Joormann","year":"2010","journal-title":"Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1016\/j.beth.2006.01.002","article-title":"Adaptive and maladaptive components of rumination? Diagnostic specificity and relation to depressive biases","volume":"37","author":"Joormann","year":"2006","journal-title":"Behav. Ther"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.116.1.80","article-title":"Selective attention to emotional faces following recovery from depression","volume":"116","author":"Joormann","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol."},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"412","DOI":"10.1037\/a0015621","article-title":"Sadder and less accurate? False memory for negative material in depression","volume":"118","author":"Joormann","year":"2009","journal-title":"J Abnorm Psychol"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"138","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2010.08.005","article-title":"Understanding depressive rumination from a cognitive science perspective: the impaired disengagement hypothesis","volume":"31","author":"Koster","year":"2011","journal-title":"Clin. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1664","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0001664","article-title":"A specific and rapid neural signature for parental instinct","volume":"3","author":"Kringelbach","year":"2008","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1080\/17470919.2012.762039","article-title":"A face a mother could love: depression-related maternal neural responses to infant emotion faces","volume":"8","author":"Laurent","year":"2013","journal-title":"Soc. Neurosci."},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsych.2004.05.017","article-title":"Mothers' neural activation in response to pictures of their children and other children","volume":"56","author":"Leibenluft","year":"2004","journal-title":"Biol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2018.06.008","article-title":"Depression: a cognitive perspective","volume":"69","author":"LeMoult","year":"2019","journal-title":"Clin. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1439-0310.1943.tb00655.x","article-title":"Die angeborenen formen m\u00f6glicher erfahrung [Innate experiences]","volume":"5","author":"Lorenz","year":"1943","journal-title":"Zeitschr. Tierpsychol"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpsycho.2017.01.008","article-title":"Attentional bias toward infant faces \u2013 review of the adaptive and clinical relevance","volume":"114","author":"Lucion","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Psychophysiol"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"LundqvistD.\n            FlyktA.\n            \u00d6hmanA.\n          The Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces - KDEF, CD ROM. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology section, Karolinska Institutet, ISBN 91-630-7164-9.1998","DOI":"10.1037\/t27732-000"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2011.04.002","article-title":"Are children's faces really more appealing than those of adults? Testing the baby schema hypothesis beyond infancy","volume":"110","author":"Luo","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Exp. Child Psychol"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"970","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2015.00970","article-title":"Neural systems and hormones mediating attraction to infant and child faces","volume":"6","author":"Luo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Psychol"},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"409","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2017.00409","article-title":"The Tromso Infant Faces Database (TIF): development, validation and application to assess parenting experience on clarity and intensity ratings","volume":"8","author":"Maack","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Psychol"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.95.1.15","article-title":"Attentional bias in emotional disorders","volume":"95","author":"MacLeod","year":"1986","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol"},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781410611147","volume-title":"Detection Theory: A User's Guide","author":"Macmillan","year":"2004"},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"588","DOI":"10.1002\/imhj.21538","article-title":"The impact of depression on maternal responses to infant faces in pregnancy","volume":"36","author":"Macrae","year":"2015","journal-title":"Infant Ment. Health J."},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916","article-title":"Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders","volume":"1","author":"Mathews","year":"2005","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"B47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-8260.1995.tb01434.x","article-title":"Attentional bias in anxiety and depression: the role of awareness","volume":"34","author":"Mogg","year":"1995","journal-title":"Br. J. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"B48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.1007\/s00737-014-0473-0","article-title":"Salivary cortisol response to infant distress in pregnant women with depressive symptoms","volume":"18","author":"Murphy","year":"2015","journal-title":"Arch. Women's Mental Health"},{"key":"B49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"569","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.100.4.569","article-title":"Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes","volume":"100","author":"Nolen-Hoeksema","year":"1991","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol"},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"400","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x","article-title":"Rethinking rumination","volume":"3","author":"Nolen-Hoeksema","year":"2008","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci"},{"key":"B51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291709990961","article-title":"Depressive symptoms in early pregnancy disrupt attentional processing of infant emotion","volume":"40","author":"Pearson","year":"2010","journal-title":"Psychol. Med."},{"key":"B52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1007\/s00737-010-0180-4","article-title":"Attentional processing of infant emotion during late pregnancy and mother\u2013infant relations after birth","volume":"14","author":"Pearson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Arch. Women's Mental Health"},{"key":"B53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1007\/s00737-012-0269-z","article-title":"Symptoms of depression during pregnancy are associated with increased systolic blood pressure responses towards infant distress","volume":"15","author":"Pearson","year":"2012","journal-title":"Arch. Women's Mental Health"},{"key":"B54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"208","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2012.07.033","article-title":"The normalisation of disrupted attentional processing of infant distress in depressed pregnant women following Cognitive Behavioural Therapy","volume":"145","author":"Pearson","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord"},{"key":"B55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1037\/pas0000036","article-title":"Empirical recommendations for improving the stability of the dot-probe task in clinical research","volume":"27","author":"Price","year":"2015","journal-title":"Psychol. Assess"},{"key":"B56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1080\/02699930302272","article-title":"Memory bias for emotional facial expressions in major depression","volume":"17","author":"Ridout","year":"2003","journal-title":"Cogn. Emot"},{"key":"B57","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"739","DOI":"10.1080\/02699930802121137","article-title":"Memory for emotional faces in major depression following judgement of physical facial characteristics at encoding","volume":"23","author":"Ridout","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cogn. Emot"},{"key":"B58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"803","DOI":"10.1037\/0278-7393.21.4.803","article-title":"Creating false memories: remembering words not presented in lists","volume":"21","author":"Roediger","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn"},{"key":"B59","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1080\/17470919.2015.1108224","article-title":"Depression symptomatology and the neural correlates of infant face and cry perception during pregnancy","volume":"11","author":"Rutherford","year":"2016","journal-title":"Soc. Neurosci"},{"key":"B60","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"595","DOI":"10.1002\/per.554","article-title":"Unreliability of the dot probe task","volume":"19","author":"Schmukle","year":"2005","journal-title":"Eur. J. Pers."},{"key":"B61","unstructured":"Reliability of two versions of the dot-probe task using photographic faces339350\n            StaugaardS. R.\n          Psychol. Sci512009"},{"key":"B62","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1016\/j.infbeh.2010.03.002","article-title":"Interpretation of infant facial expression in the context of maternal postnatal depression","volume":"33","author":"Stein","year":"2010","journal-title":"Infant Behav. Dev"},{"key":"B63","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1159\/000173699","article-title":"The influence of postnatal psychiatric disorder on child development","volume":"42","author":"Stein","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychopathology"},{"key":"B64","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"632","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2020.05.140","article-title":"Attentional biases to emotional information in clinical depression: a systematic and meta-analytic review of eye tracking findings","volume":"274","author":"Suslow","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"B65","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e109362","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0109362","article-title":"I can't take my eyes off of you: attentional allocation to infant, child, adolescent and adult faces in mothers and non-mothers","volume":"9","author":"Thompson-Booth","year":"","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"B66","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1111\/desc.12090","article-title":"Here's looking at you, kid: attention to infant emotional faces in mothers and non-mothers","volume":"17","author":"Thompson-Booth","year":"","journal-title":"Dev. Sci."},{"key":"B67","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2018.01.005","article-title":"Attentional biases in patients suffering from unipolar depression: results of a dot probe task investigation","volume":"261","author":"Trapp","year":"2018","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res."},{"key":"B68","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"769","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2016.00769","article-title":"Best alternatives to Cronbach's alpha reliability in realistic conditions: congeneric and asymmetrical measurements","volume":"7","author":"Trizano-Hermosilla","year":"2016","journal-title":"Front. Psychol"},{"key":"B69","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"313","DOI":"10.1007\/s10608-013-9588-2","article-title":"Measuring attentional bias to threat: reliability of dot probe and eye movement indices","volume":"38","author":"Waechter","year":"2014","journal-title":"Cogn. Ther. Res."},{"key":"B70","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1278","DOI":"10.1080\/02699931.2014.977849","article-title":"Cognitive biases in processing infant emotion by women with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in pregnancy or after birth: a systematic review","volume":"29","author":"Webb","year":"2014","journal-title":"Cogn. Emot"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.657269\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]],"date-time":"2021-07-02T05:42:26Z","timestamp":1625204546000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.657269\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]]},"references-count":70,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.657269"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.657269","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1664-1078"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,2]]},"article-number":"657269"}}