New researchfrom Emory University scientists finds that fathers may play favorites when it comes to their children.

The study, published inthe American Psychological Associations journal Behavioral Neuroscience last week, examined the influence of fathers brain responses to male or female children.

Researchers from Emory University and the University of Arizona gathered data from 52 fathers of toddlers (30 daughters, 22 sons) in the Atlanta area for the study.

The fathers wore small computers on their belts for one weekday and one day on the weekend. The gadget recorded any sounds in 50-second intervals every nine minutes during the 48-hour period as well as nighttime interactions in the childs room, where the device was left charging.

The men also underwent MRI brain scans as they viewed photos of unknown adults, unknown children and their own child with neutral, happy and sad facial expressions.

A father and daughter walk in the city center on July 17, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The fact that fathers may actually be less attentive to the emotional needs of boys, perhaps despite their best intentions, is important to recognize, lead researcher Jennifer Mascaro said.

In addition, regarding the finding that dads with daughters tend to use more body-related words, researchers noted that previous research has shown pre-adolescent girls are more likely than boys to report low self-esteem and body image issues.

But some scientists, includingAlan Kazdin, child psychiatry professor and director of Yale Parenting Center, warned against jumping to any conclusions in the small sample study.

Daughters and sons are very different even in utero and then when they're infants they start behaving very differently,Kazdin told CBS News. Interactions between parents and children drive and influence each other's brains. So what we don't know here is whether the fathers drive the behaviors of their daughters and the sons or if the daughters and the sons drive the behavior of the fathers.

In addition, because the research was conducted in the U.S., cultures with varying societal norms are not as well represented.

But knowing there may be unintentional biases in the treatment of children based on gender could help future researchers explore the subject and possibly help fathers identify their biases, Kazdin said.

Read more:
Do dads treat daughters better than sons? Emory study finds striking differences in treatment of children - Atlanta Journal Constitution