![]() In other words, the perceived object of cuteness may not be limited to those with baby schemas, such as babies. Also, factors affecting one’s perception of cuteness include not only types of objects but also shapes, such as circles, and colors, such as reddish hue 24. For examples, cuteness can be perceived not only in response to babies, images showing things such as desserts, accessories, and plants can also make us smile 23. We also feel a sense of cuteness about objects rather than people. However, cuteness is not only felt in response to babies, but also to adults 3, 22. It is also known that babies with faces that are more consistent with the baby schema are looked at for longer 19, 20, 21. Previous studies have shown that the more consistent infants’ faces are with the schema, the cuter they are thought to be 1, 5, 8, 17, 18. The physical characteristics babies and young animals typically have represents this baby schema. Perception of cuteness is produced by baby schema: a set of physical features possessed by infants, such as large eyes, a small mouth, chubby cheeks, and a high and protruding forehead 16. By using the pupillary response as an unconscious physical reaction, we may clarify the differences and similarities in the axes of judgments of cuteness and aesthetic pleasure or attractiveness. On the other hand, cuteness has been differentiated from attractiveness and beauty 14, 15, and different visual responses to cuteness have been shown even in response to the same image 3, 14. ![]() Therefore, the level of cuteness may also influence pupil response. Pupillary response is also associated with uncanny, which is considered to be the opposite of cute, and weaker pupillary dilation has been shown for uncanny faces 13. For example, in a study which used faces as stimuli, the pupils of participants dilated as ratings of aesthetic pleasantness increased 11 and contracted as ratings of attractiveness increased 12. Aesthetic or attractiveness judgments are related to cuteness, and previous studies have shown that these judgements are correlated with changes in pupil diameter. However, this point has not been investigated previously. Since babies induce us to perceive cuteness, cuteness perception itself may cause the pupil to dilate, especially for women. The results of the pupil measurements also suggest that women may be more interested in babies, which may reflect differences in sensitivity to cuteness. Hess 10 revealed that an observer’s pupil size enlarges when looking at what interests them: women’s pupils dilate when looking at photographs of babies or male models, while men’s pupils dilate when looking at female models. In most cases, women play the role of primary caregiver, which seems to be consistent with the finding that women are more sensitive to cuteness. ![]() From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, cuteness motivates us to raise a child. Furthermore, it has been shown that in general women are more attuned to perceiving cuteness 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Previous studies have revealed that female reproductive hormones have an effect on sensitivity in perceiving cuteness 4, 5. In other words, when trying to judge cuteness, there may be a top-down change in perception. These findings show that perceiving or judging cuteness focuses our attention on the cute object and suggest that cuteness evokes interest in the object to facilitate communication. Additionally, perceiving cuteness narrows our perceptual attention 2 and makes it difficult to compare two faces in our peripheral vision 3. Perceiving cuteness encourages us to approach the cute object and provides motivation for caretaking 1. Positive reactions associated with cuteness may be premised on the existence of unconscious perceptual alterations and physical responses. In our study, perceiving cuteness enlarged female observers’ pupils except when observing female faces. Results revealed a significant negative correlation between perceived cuteness and pupil dilation. In the second experiment, participants rated the cuteness of images of female faces. The results showed a significant positive correlation between perceived cuteness and participants’ pupil dilation. In the first experiment, female participants were requested to rate the subjective cuteness of greyscale pictures of objects such as animals and foods their pupil sizes were measured. Since many objects besides babies can be perceived as cute, we investigated whether the perception of cuteness, or the type of object observed, is related to pupil dilation. ![]() It is reported that women’s pupils dilate when they see a baby it is unclear if this pupillary response is caused by the perception of cuteness itself.
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