ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2016
On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring boundary conditions of goal-driven attentional capture by affective categories: the role of prioritisation in working memory.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Cuteness conquest: how cuteness type and brand impression affect consumers' brand evaluation in social media.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Examining the Link Between Social Affect and Visual Exploration of Cute Stimuli in Autistic Children.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Cute Communication: Can Cute Discourse Be Used in Risk Communication?Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Maternal singing and speech have beneficial effects on preterm infant's general movements at term equivalent age and at 3 months: an RCT.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The potential role of robust face representations learned within families when searching for one's child in a crowd.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Lorenz's classic 'baby schema': a useful biological concept?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Neither Parents' Sex Nor the Type of Family Modulates Attentional Bias Toward Infant Faces: A Preliminary Study in Different-Sex and Same-Sex Parents.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- The scent of cuteness-neural signatures of infant body odors.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2024Article
- Ethical Concerns about Fashionable Dog Breeding.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- The Relative Contribution of Facial and Body Information to the Perception of Cuteness.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Comparing the mental effects of interacting with farm animals and walking in a botanical garden.PloS one · 2024Article
- In the eye and mind of the beholder: The effects of familiarisation on the perception of atypical infant facial configurations.PloS one · 2024Article
- Examining infantile facial features and their influence on caretaking behaviors in free-ranging Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).PloS one · 2024Article
- Narrative and Behavioral Engagement as Indicators for the Effectiveness of Intentionally Designed Virtual Simulations of Interpersonal Interactions.International journal of human-computer interaction · 2024Article
- Article
- So cute, I could wait: the effect of cuteness on consumer patience.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Revisiting the baby schema by a geometric morphometric analysis of infant facial characteristics across great apes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of Intergenerational Interaction on Older Adults Depends on Children's Developmental Stages; Observational Evaluation in Facilities for Geriatric Health Service.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Observational
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a 'Kindchenschema' (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as 'innate releasing mechanisms' for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple 'instinctual' behaviours and to caregiving, protection, and complex emotions. We review how 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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.