Neurocognition and Development Group, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Leipzig, & Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2006 Sep;1(2):87-94. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsl008.
Eye gaze is a fundamental component of human communication. During the first post-natal year, infants rapidly learn that the gaze of others provides socially significant information. In addition, infants are sensitive to several emotional expressions. However, little is known regarding how eye contact influences the way the infant brain processes emotional expressions. We measured 4-month-old infants' brain electric activity to assess neural processing of faces displaying neutral, happy and angry emotional expressions when accompanied by direct and averted eye gaze. The results show that processing of angry facial expressions was influenced by eye gaze. In particular, infants showed enhanced neural processing of angry expressions when these expressions were accompanied by direct eye gaze. These results show that by 4 months of age, the infant detects angry emotional expressions, and the infant brain processes their relevance to the self.
目光接触是人类交流的基本组成部分。在出生后的第一年，婴儿迅速学习到他人的目光提供了具有社会意义的信息。此外，婴儿对几种情绪表达很敏感。然而，对于目光接触如何影响婴儿大脑处理情绪表达的方式，人们知之甚少。我们测量了 4 个月大婴儿的脑电活动，以评估当呈现中性、快乐和愤怒表情的面孔伴随着直接和回避的目光接触时，婴儿大脑对这些表情的神经处理。结果表明，目光接触影响了对愤怒表情的处理。特别是，当这些表情伴随着直接的目光接触时，婴儿对愤怒表情的神经处理增强。这些结果表明，在 4 个月大时，婴儿能够察觉到愤怒的情绪表达，并且婴儿的大脑会处理这些表达与自身的关系。
