{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:58:36Z","timestamp":1760237916287,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,1]],"date-time":"2020-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1593561600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["JP17K13901"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP17K13901"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Attractiveness is perceived based on both facial physical features and prior experience for adults. Infants also prefer attractive or familiar faces, but it is unclear whether facial physical features and prior experience affect their preference. In this study, we investigated whether infants\u2019 preference for faces was shaped by both facial physical features and facial looking experience. This experiment comprised two tasks, observation and preference looking. We manipulated fixation durations in the first task (observation experience) to differ between presented faces and measured the preference for faces in the second task right after the observation task. We conducted two experiments: the same faces in the same positions through both tasks in Experiment 1, and the same faces in different positions in Experiment 2, and analyzed the interaction between observation experience and attractiveness of face images in terms of preference. Observation experience and facial attractiveness only affected preference in Experiment 2: Infants generally looked longer at the flickered position but different face, but looked for the attractive face when the face in the flickered position changed from attractive to unattractive. We suggest that observation experience arouses spatial attention, and that facial attractiveness attracts infants\u2019 attention only when they notice changes of faces.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym12071082","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,2]],"date-time":"2020-07-02T05:00:08Z","timestamp":1593666008000},"page":"1082","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Face Preference in Infants at Six and Nine Months Old: The Effects of Facial Attractiveness and Observation Experience"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Kana","family":"Kuraguchi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology, Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka 567-8502, Japan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6361-1090","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kosuke","family":"Taniguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Child Care and Education, Osaka University of Comprehensive Children Education, Osaka 546-0021, Japan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4379-5758","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kei","family":"Kanari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Fundamental Engineering, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi 321-8585, Japan"}]},{"given":"Shoji","family":"Itakura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Baby Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto 619-0225, Japan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.1037\/0735-7036.108.3.233","article-title":"Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness and sexual selection: The role of symmetry and averageness","volume":"108","author":"Grammer","year":"1994","journal-title":"J. Comp. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"659","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03208842","article-title":"Facial symmetry and perception of beauty","volume":"5","author":"Rhodes","year":"1998","journal-title":"Psychonom. Bull. Rev."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00079.x","article-title":"Attractive faces are only average","volume":"1","author":"Langlois","year":"1990","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"398","DOI":"10.1016\/j.evolhumbehav.2005.04.001","article-title":"The voice and face of women: One ornament that signals quality?","volume":"26","author":"Feinberg","year":"2005","journal-title":"Evol. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1016\/S1090-5138(01)00066-6","article-title":"Male facial attractiveness: Evidence for hormone-mediated adaptive design","volume":"22","author":"Johnston","year":"2001","journal-title":"Evol. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1617","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2001.1703","article-title":"Symmetry, sexual dimorphism and facial proportions and male facial attractiveness","volume":"268","author":"Jones","year":"2001","journal-title":"Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"884","DOI":"10.1038\/29772","article-title":"Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness","volume":"394","author":"Perrett","year":"1998","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"925","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.50.5.925","article-title":"Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: Quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty","volume":"50","author":"Cunningham","year":"1986","journal-title":"J. Personal. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"361","DOI":"10.1068\/p2885","article-title":"Effects of eye size on adults\u2019 aesthetic ratings of the faces and 5-month-olds\u2019 looking times","volume":"28","author":"Geldart","year":"1999","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.1186\/s40064-015-0940-8","article-title":"The impact of baby schema on perceived attractiveness, beauty, and cuteness in female adults","volume":"4","author":"Kuraguchi","year":"2015","journal-title":"SpringerPlus"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.1080\/02699931.2013.817383","article-title":"Something to smile about: The interrelationship between attractiveness and emotional expression","volume":"28","author":"Golle","year":"2014","journal-title":"Cogn. Emot."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/2158244016677569","article-title":"Asymmetric effect of expression intensity on evaluations of facial attractiveness","volume":"6","author":"Ueda","year":"2016","journal-title":"SAGE Open"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"222","DOI":"10.3390\/sym6020222","article-title":"Domain specificity in human symmetry preferences: Symmetry is most pleasant when looking at human faces","volume":"6","author":"Little","year":"2014","journal-title":"Symmetry"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"916","DOI":"10.1086\/286030","article-title":"Developmental stability and fitness: A review","volume":"149","year":"1997","journal-title":"Am. Nat."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1086\/286110","article-title":"Bilateral symmetry and sexual selection: A meta-analysis","volume":"151","author":"Thornhill","year":"1998","journal-title":"Am. Nat."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208","article-title":"The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty","volume":"57","author":"Rhodes","year":"2006","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1037\/h0025848","article-title":"Attitudinal effects of mere exposure","volume":"9","author":"Zajonc","year":"1968","journal-title":"J. Personal. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1016\/0022-1031(92)90055-O","article-title":"Exposure effects in the classroom: The development of affinity among students","volume":"28","author":"Moreland","year":"1992","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1068\/p5028","article-title":"Familiarity breeds attraction: Effects of exposure on the attractiveness of typical and distinctive faces","volume":"33","author":"Peskin","year":"2004","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1216","DOI":"10.1068\/p5865","article-title":"The influence of recent experience on perceptions of attractiveness","volume":"37","author":"Cooper","year":"2008","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"864","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2009.07.005","article-title":"Adolescents\u2019 preferences for sexual dimorphism are influenced by relative exposure to male and female faces","volume":"47","author":"Saxton","year":"2009","journal-title":"Personal. Individ. Differ."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.27.1.79","article-title":"Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces","volume":"27","author":"Langlois","year":"1991","journal-title":"Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.23.3.363","article-title":"Infant preferences for attractive faces: Rudiments of a stereotype?","volume":"23","author":"Langlois","year":"1987","journal-title":"Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-835X.1989.tb00784.x","article-title":"Neonatal recognition of the mother\u2019s face","volume":"7","author":"Bushnell","year":"1989","journal-title":"Br. J. Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1016\/0163-6383(95)90009-8","article-title":"Mother\u2019s face recognition by neonates: A replication and an extension","volume":"18","author":"Pascalis","year":"1995","journal-title":"Infant Behav. Dev."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.1016\/0022-0965(82)90022-4","article-title":"Discrimination of faces by young infants","volume":"33","author":"Bushnell","year":"1982","journal-title":"J. Exp. Child Psychol."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1109","DOI":"10.1068\/p3331","article-title":"Representation of the gender of human faces by infants: A preference for female","volume":"31","author":"Quinn","year":"2002","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1084","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02029.x","article-title":"The other-race effect develops during infancy: Evidence of perceptual narrowing","volume":"18","author":"Kelly","year":"2007","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liao, H.-I., Yeh, S.-L., and Shimojo, S. (2011). Novelty vs. familiarity principles in preference decisions: Task-context of past experience matters. Front. Psychol., 2.","key":"ref_29","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2011.00043"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-7687.2004.00339.x","article-title":"Origins of a stereotype: Categorization of facial attractiveness by 6-month-old infants","volume":"7","author":"Ramsey","year":"2004","journal-title":"Dev. Sci."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.1016\/j.infbeh.2014.03.001","article-title":"Infant\u2019s visual preferences for facial traits associated with adult attractiveness judgements: Data from eye-tracking","volume":"37","author":"Griffey","year":"2014","journal-title":"Infant Behav. Dev."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1068\/p3129","article-title":"Are Average and Symmetric Faces Attractive to Infants? Discrimination and Looking Preferences","volume":"31","author":"Rhodes","year":"2002","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1236","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.42.6.1236","article-title":"Learning by selection: Visual search and object perception in young infants","volume":"42","author":"Amso","year":"2006","journal-title":"Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2013.08.012","article-title":"Visual search and attention to faces during early infancy","volume":"118","author":"Frank","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Exp. Child Psychol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2008.11.010","article-title":"Development of infants\u2019 attention to faces during the first year","volume":"110","author":"Frank","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"436","DOI":"10.1111\/infa.12186","article-title":"Sample size, statistical power, and false conclusions in infant looking-time research","volume":"22","author":"Oakes","year":"2017","journal-title":"Infancy"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2239","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2019.02239","article-title":"Use of Repeated Within-Subject Measures to Assess Infants\u2019 Preference for Similar Others","volume":"10","author":"Bettencourt","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psychol"}],"container-title":["Symmetry"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/12\/7\/1082\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:45:40Z","timestamp":1760175940000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/12\/7\/1082"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,1]]},"references-count":37,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]}},"alternative-id":["sym12071082"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/sym12071082","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-8994"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2073-8994"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,1]]}}}