Developmental changes in social attention and oxytocin levels in infants and children.

ABSTRACT: Oxytocin (OT) signalling represents one of the most critical systems involved in human social behaviour. Although several studies have examined the relationship between social functioning and peripheral OT levels, the association between OT and the development of social attention has not been well studied. Therefore, we investigated the developmental relationship between gaze fixation for social cues and OT levels during young childhood. We examined visual attention using an eye tracking system in infants and children (5-90 months of age) and measured the concentration of OT in saliva samples. We observed a negative association between age and both attention toward social cues and salivary OT levels, and a positive association between age and attention for non-social cues. We also observed

SUBMITTER: Nishizato M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5451468 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature