Environmental Sensitivity and Emotion Discrimination of Facial Expressions in Infancy: Evidence from a Habituation (Peekaboo) Paradigm

Environmental Sensitivity refers to individual differences in how people perceive, process, and respond to environmental experiences, including emotional information. Although research suggests that sensitivity is related to emotional responsiveness and the processing of emotional information, little is known about how these differences are expressed during infancy. This thesis examines whether Environmental Sensitivity observed at three months is associated with infants’ emotional discrimination and responsiveness during a Peekaboo task at six months. During the Peekaboo task, looking time was used as an indicator of visual attention and discrimination, while negative emotionality reflected affective responsiveness. The findings did not show significant associations between early Environmental Sensitivity and infants’ looking time or negative emotionality at six months. Small descriptive differences in looking-time patterns were observed across levels of sensitivity, but these were not consistent across the task. Overall, the findings highlight the complexity of studying Environmental Sensitivity during infancy and the importance of considering developmental changes when examining its relationship with early emotional processing.