Sex differences in human infants

Despite a number of studies, it remains unclear whether male and female human infants (0-6 months old) manifest different visual preferences or perceptual abilities. The goal of this project is to determine with greater confidence whether this is the case or not, and at what age such differences appear.

In particular, we are interested in finding out whether male and female infants show different spontaneous preferences for human faces vs. inanimate objects, as suggested by various studies, old and new (e.g., Lewis et al. 1966; Connellan et al. 2000). We are also interested in finding out whether they show differences in certain cognitive abilities, such as mental rotation (Enge et al. 2023).

One part of this project (suitable for a Master internship or a PhD) is to carry out analyses of data from the YOUth cohort, a cohort of about 2000 babies from the Netherlands. These babies underwent eyetracking and EEG experiments involving face vs. object viewing, facial expression discrimination, gaze following, and attention orientation, at 5 months old, 10 months old and 3 years old. The goal of these analyses is to determine at what age sex differences appear in each task, and to what extent such sex differences can be predicted from gender-differentiated parenting.

Another part is to carry out a series of experiments testing sex differences in preferences and in perceptual abilities in newborns using EEG in our babylab at the Port-Royal maternity hospital. This would be suitable for a PhD only.

References

Lewis, M., Kagan, J., & Kalafat, J. (1966). Patterns of fixation in the young infant. Child Development, 331‑341.