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Children with callous-unemotional traits (CUT) respond abnormally to fear-inducing scenes, but these responses are normalized if the children concentrate on eyes (NEJM JW Psychiatry Oct 16 2006). To examine whether facial orientation abnormalities also occur in infancy, investigators studied offspring of primiparous women recruited for a larger study during pregnancy.
At age 5 months, 213 infants (108 girls) underwent testing of orientation preference (either to an examiner's face or an inanimate object). At 29 months, maternal sensitivity was assessed by laboratory-based measures of mother-child interactions during play. At 2.5 years, mothers completed a scale to assess CUT in their children. Infants with low 5-month scores had significantl…