Social visual stimuli increase infants suck response: A preliminary study

This study investigated whether visual stimuli (FACES vs. CARS) combined with the presence of maternal scent can influence suck patterning in healthy infants. Fifteen healthy full-term infants (six months and younger) were exposed to their mother’s scent during a visual preference paradigm consisting of FACES vs. CARS stimuli while sucking on a custom research pacifier. Infants looked significantly longer to the FACES compared to CARS, p = .041. Repeated Measures ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for non-nutritive suck (NNS) bursts and visual stimuli (p = .001) with the largest differences evident between FACES and when the infant looked away from the visual stimuli (p = 0.008) as well as between FACES and CARS (p = 0.026). These preliminary findings suggest that infants have more suck attempts when looking at FACES in the presence of maternal scent thereby indicating potent links between visual preference and suck behavior.