Infants’ faces diminish reflexive attentional orienting to gaze in males, but not in females

Attentional orienting according to infants’ gaze plays a vital role in effective caregiving and interaction with infants, but it has often been overlooked in previous studies. This study employed a modified central cueing paradigm incorporating infant faces and involved childless college students (N=115). Results revealed that infants’ faces diminished reflexive attentional orienting to gaze male participants, but not in female participants. Specifically, male participants displayed a negligible gaze cueing effect (GCE) to infant faces, significantly smaller than that associated with adult faces, and significantly smaller than the GCE observed in female participants. In contrast, female participants exhibited a significant GCE in response to infant faces, comparable to that observed with adult faces. This gender-based disparity in responses vanished when the face was partially scrambled and revealed only the eyes, thereby confirming that facial features of infants may contribute to the gender difference. These findings demonstrate distinct processing of infant gaze between males and females, offering novel evidence of gender-based variations in the processing of infant-related stimuli.