Scientists say babies have evolved to appeal to ALL our senses so we look after them

June 7, 2016

Evolved to trigger our ‘caregiving’ behaviour and appeal to all our senses
Cuteness affects both men and women, even those without children

Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com

Published:
12:56 EST, 6 June 2016

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Updated:
14:06 EST, 6 June 2016

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Nobody can resist a baby – and scientists have worked out why.

They say the combination of big eyes, chubby cheeks and a button nose, along with an infectious laugh, soft skin, and a captivating smell are no accident.

In fact, they evolved to trigger our ‘caregiving’ behaviours – and appeal to all our senses.

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Oxford researchers say the combination of big eyes, chubby cheeks and a button nose, along with an infectious laugh, soft skin, and a captivating smell are no accident.

WHAT BABIES DO TO OUR BRAINS

All of the characteristics contribute to ‘cuteness’ and trigger our caregiving behaviours, which is vital because infants need our constant attention to survive and thrive.

It triggers key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.

‘Infants attract us through all our senses, which helps make cuteness one of the most basic and powerful forces shaping our behaviour,’ said Morten Kringelbach of Oxford University, who led the study.

All of the characteristics contribute to ‘cuteness’ and trigger our caregiving behaviours, which is vital because infants need our constant attention to survive and thrive.

The study, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, revealed that cuteness affects both men and women, even those without children.

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‘This might be a fundamental response present in everyone, regardless of parental status or gender, and we are currently conducting the first long-term study of what happens to brain responses when we become parents,’ said Kringelbach.

Kringelbach, who together with Eloise Stark, Catherine Alexander, Professor Marc Bornstein and Professor Alan Stein, led the work in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, reviewed the emerging literature on how cute infants and animals affect the brain.

They found cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.

From an evolutionary standpoint, cuteness is a very potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants.

The data also shows that definitions of cuteness should not be limited just to visual features but include positive infant sounds and smells.

From an evolutionary standpoint, cuteness is a very potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants.

Professor Kringelbach said: ‘This is the first evidence of its kind to show that cuteness helps infants to survive by eliciting caregiving, which cannot be reduced to simple, instinctual behaviours.

Instead, caregiving involves a complex choreography of slow, careful, deliberate, and long-lasting prosocial behaviours, which ignite fundamental brain pleasure systems that are also engaged when eating food or listening to music, and always involve pleasant experiences.’