Infants' attention to fearful faces predicts later altruism

Past studies have suggested that greater sensitivity to fearful faces is linked to heightened levels of prosocial behaviour, which can already be seen in preschool children.

Altruistic behaviour such as helping an unfamiliar person in need is considered a key feature of cooperation in human societies. Yet our propensity to engage in altruistic acts varies considerably among individuals, ranging from extraordinarily altruistic kidney donors to highly antisocial psychopaths.

Examining responsiveness to fearful faces and its variability early in human development represents a unique opportunity to shed light on the precursors of altruistic behaviour.

To address this question, Grossmann and colleagues tracked eye movements to examine whether attentional responses to fear in others at seven months of age predict altruistic behaviour at 14 months of age.

The analysis revealed that altruistic behaviour in toddlerhood was predicted by infants' attention to fearful faces but not happy or angry faces. Moreover, infants' attentional bias to fearful faces and their altruistic behaviour was predicted by brain responses in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex measured through functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Study leader Tobias Grossmann said, "From early in development, variability in altruistic helping behaviour is linked to our responsiveness to seeing others in distress and brain processes implicated in attentional control."

These findings critically advance the understanding of the emergence of altruism in humans by identifying responsiveness to fear in others as an early precursor contributing to variability in prosocial behaviour.

The full findings are present in the journal- PLOS Biology.