Dynamics of the dyad: How mothers and infants co-construct interaction spaces during object play

Studies of dyadic interaction often examine infants’ social exchanges with their caregivers in settings that constrain their physical properties (e.g., infant posture, fixed seating location for infants and adults). Methodological decisions about the physical arrangements of interaction, however, may limit our ability to understand how posture and position shape them. Here we focused on these embodied properties of dyadic interaction in the context of object play. We followed 30 mother–infant dyads across the first year of life (at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months) and observed them during 5 min of play with a standard set of toys. Using an interval-based coding system, we measured developmental change in infant posture, how mothers and infants positioned themselves relative to one another, and how they populated interaction spaces with objects. Results showed that mother–infant dyads co-constructed interaction spaces and that the contributions of each partner changed across development. Dyads progressively adopted a broader spatial co-orientation during play (e.g., positioned at right angles) across the first year. Moreover, advances in infants’ postural skills, particularly increases in the use of independent sitting in real time, uniquely predicted change in dyadic co-orientation and infants’ actions with objects, independent of age. Taken together, we show that the embodied properties of dyadic object play help determine how interactions are physically organized and unfold, both in real time and across the first year of life.     

Touch attenuates infants’ physiological reactivity to stress

Animal studies demonstrate that maternal touch and contact regulate infant stress, and handling during periods of maternal deprivation attenuates the stress response. To measure the effects of touch on infant stress reactivity during simulated maternal deprivation, 53 dyads were tested in two paradigms: still‐face (SF) and still‐face with maternal touch (SF+T). Maternal and infant cortisol levels were sampled at baseline, reactivity, and recovery and mother’s and infant’s cardiac vagal tone were measured during the free play, still‐face, and reunion episodes of the procedure. Cortisol reactivity was higher among infants in the SF condition and while cortisol decreased at recovery for infants in the SF+T, it further increased for those in the SF. Vagal tone showed a greater suppression when SF was not accompanied by maternal touch. Touch synchrony during free play was associated with higher infant vagal tone, whereas touch myssynchrony – maternal tactile stimulation while the infant gaze averts – correlated with higher maternal and infant cortisol. In humans, as in mammals, the provision of touch during moments of maternal unavailability reduces infants’ physiological reactivity to stress.     

Temporal coordination between maternal looming and infant gaze in depressed and nondepressed dyads: A bootstrapping approach

In this study, we examine the convergent validity of a measure of maternal looming derived using a motion capture system, and the temporal coordination between maternal loom and infant gaze using an event-based bootstrapping procedure. The sample comprised 26 mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression, 43 nondepressed mothers, and their 4-month-old infants. Mother-infant interactions were recorded during a standard face-to-face setting using video cameras and a motion capture system. First, results showed that maternal looming was correlated with a globally coded measure of maternal overriding. Maternal overriding is an intrusive behavior occurring when the mother re-directs the infant’s attention to parent-led activities. Thus, this result confirms that maternal looming can be considered a spatial intrusion in early interactions. Second, results showed that compared to nondepressed dyads, depressed dyads were more likely to coordinate maternal loom and infant gaze in a Loom-in-Gaze-pattern. We discuss the use of automated measurement for analyzing mother-infant interactions, and how the Loom-in-Gaze pattern can be interpreted as a disturbance in infant self-regulation.     

Self-Sitting and Reaching in 5- to 8-Month-Old Infants: The Impact of Posture and Its Development on Early Eye-Hand Coordination

The relation between progress in the control of posture (i.e., the achievement of self-sitting posture) and the developmental transition from two-handed to one-handed engagement in infant reaching was investigated. Two groups of 5- to 8-month-old infants, who were either able or yet unable to sit on their own, were videotaped while they reached for objects in four different posture conditions that provided varying amounts of body support. Videotapes of infant reaches were microanalyzed to determine the relative engagement of both hands during reaches. Results demonstrate the interaction between postural development and the morphology of infant reaching. Nonsitting infants displayed symmetrical and synergistic engagement of both arms and hands while reaching in all but the seated posture condition. Sitting infants, by contrast, showed asymmetrical and lateralized (one-handed) reaches in all posture conditions. Results also show that, aside from posture, the perceived spatial arrangement of the object display is a determinant of infant reaching. Combined, these results are discussed as evidence for the interaction between postural and perceptual development in the control of early eye-hand coordination.     

Self-sitting and reaching in 5- to 8-month-old infants: the impact of posture and its development on early eye-hand coordination

The relation between progress in the control of posture (i.e., the achievement of self-sitting posture) and the developmental transition from two-handed to one-handed engagement in infant reaching was investigated. Two groups of 5- to 8-month-old infants, who were either able or yet unable to sit on their own, were videotaped while they reached for objects in four different posture conditions that provided varying amounts of body support. Videotapes of infant reaches were microanalyzed to determine the relative engagement of both hands during reaches. Results demonstrate the interaction between postural development and the morphology of infant reaching. Nonsitting infants displayed symmetrical and synergistic engagement of both arms and hands while reaching in all but the seated posture condition. Sitting infants, by contrast, showed asymmetrical and lateralized (one-handed) reaches in all posture conditions. Results also show that, aside from posture, the perceived spatial arrangement of the object display is a determinant of infant reaching. Combined, these results are discussed as evidence for the interaction between postural and perceptual development in the control of early eye-hand coordination.     

Orienting of attention via observed eye gaze is head-centred

Observing averted eye gaze results in the automatic allocation of attention to the gazed-at location. The role of the orientation of the face that produces the gaze cue was investigated. The eyes in the face could look left or right in a head-centred frame, but the face itself could be oriented 90 degrees clockwise or anticlockwise such that the eyes were gazing up or down. Significant cueing effects to targets presented to the left or right of the screen were found in these head orientation conditions. This suggests that attention was directed to the side to which the eyes would have been looking towards, had the face been presented upright. This finding provides evidence that head orientation can affect gaze following, even when the head orientation alone is not a social cue. It also shows that the mechanism responsible for the allocation of attention following a gaze cue can be influenced by intrinsic object-based (i.e. head-centred) properties of the task-irrelevant cue.     

Infant affective responses to mother's still face at 6 months differentially predict externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 18 months

This study investigated (a) stability and change in infant affective responses to the still-face interaction, (b) whether maternal depression affected infant responses, and (c) whether responses to the still-face interaction predicted toddler problem behaviors. Infants (63 girls and 66 boys) of European American mothers (67 depressed and 62 nondepressed) were observed in the still-face interaction at 2, 4, and 6 months. Affect and gaze were coded on a 1-s time base. There were stable individual differences in gazing away and in rates of negative affect. Developmental change occurred only for gazing away, which increased. At 18 months, infants who failed to smile at 6 months in the still-face interaction showed more externalizing-type behaviors than did other toddlers. Infants who failed to cry at 6 months showed fewer internalizing-type behaviors. Mothers' current depressive symptoms and infants' earlier responses to the still-face interaction made independent, comparable contributions to problem behaviors at 18 months.     

Dyadic co-regulation,affective intensity and infant's development at 12 months: A comparison among extremely preterm and full-term dyads

Extremely low gestational age children (ELGA, born below 28 weeks of GA) represent the most at-risk preterm group in terms of survival, developmental sequelae and rates of impairment and cognitive delays. However, the impact of an extremely preterm birth on mother–infant co-regulation and affective intensity which may affect early infant's development has not been investigated. Based on a relational dynamic system approach, our study aimed to investigate the quality of co-regulation and affective intensity during spontaneous play interaction in 20 mother–infant ELGA dyads compared to 20 full-term (FT) dyads at 12 months (corrected age for ELGA infants). Relationships between the quality of dyadic co-regulation and the infant's level of cognitive, motor and language development were also investigated. The quality of dyadic co-regulation was assessed using the Revised Relational Coding System (R-RCS) by Fogel et al. (2003), the mothers’ and infants’ affective intensity was coded using a coding system by Lunkenheimer, Olson, Hollenstein, Sameroff, and Winter (2011). Infants’ development was assessed using the Bayley Scales (BSID-III, 2006). With respect to FT dyads, ELGA dyads were characterised by less frequent symmetric and more frequent unilateral co-regulation patterns and by less positive and more neutral affective intensity of both infants and mothers. Cognitive, motor and language scores were lower in ELGA infants than in FT infants. Symmetrical co-regulation was related to motor scores in ELGA infants, and to cognitive scores in FT infants. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the difficulties of ELGA mother–infant dyads at 12 months in sharing the symmetric co-regulation and positive affective intensity and how symmetric co-regulation is strictly related to motor development in ELGA infants. Based on these findings, intervention programmes to foster joint attention, active involvement and positive affective intensity in ELGA dyads and infants’ development in the first year of life should be designed.     

Effects of gaze‐aversion on visual‐spatial imagination

Research suggests that averting gaze from an interlocutor can improve both children's and adults' performance in a range of cognitive tasks. With the present experiments, we investigated the effect of gaze aversion on adults' visual‐spatial imagination, using a methodology adapted from Kerr (1987). Participants mentally kept track of a pathway through an imaginary matrix, while either maintaining eye‐contact with the experimenter, closing their eyes, gazing at a static or a dynamic visual stimulus (in Experiment 1), or fixating an upright or inverted image of the experimenter's face (in Experiment 2). The results show that whereas maintaining eye‐contact with another person disrupts accurate imagination of this pathway, averting gaze or looking at other visual stimuli does not. We conclude that gaze aversion benefits cognitive performance, not just by disengaging visual attention from irrelevant visual information, but also by interrupting social interaction processes involved in face‐to‐face communication.     

See and be seen: Infant–caregiver social looking during locomotor free play

Face‐to‐face interaction between infants and their caregivers is a mainstay of developmental research. However, common laboratory paradigms for studying dyadic interaction oversimplify the act of looking at the partner's face by seating infants and caregivers face to face in stationary positions. In less constrained conditions when both partners are freely mobile, infants and caregivers must move their heads and bodies to look at each other. We hypothesized that face looking and mutual gaze for each member of the dyad would decrease with increased motor costs of looking. To test this hypothesis, 12‐month‐old crawling and walking infants and their parents wore head‐mounted eye trackers to record eye movements of each member of the dyad during locomotor free play in a large toy‐filled playroom. Findings revealed that increased motor costs decreased face looking and mutual gaze: Each partner looked less at the other's face when their own posture or the other's posture required more motor effort to gain visual access to the other's face. Caregivers mirrored infants' posture by spending more time down on the ground when infants were prone, perhaps to facilitate face looking. Infants looked more at toys than at their caregiver's face, but caregivers looked at their infant's face and at toys in equal amounts. Furthermore, infants looked less at toys and faces compared to studies that used stationary tasks, suggesting that the attentional demands differ in an unconstrained locomotor task. Taken together, findings indicate that ever‐changing motor constraints affect real‐life social looking.     

Responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions among immigrant and nonmigrant families: Japanese,South Korean,South American,and European American

A culture learning perspective motivated the present study of the acculturation of responsiveness in mother-infant interactions. Several conceptual and analytic features of responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions were examined: Temporal contingency, mean differences in responsiveness among and within dyads, attunement of mother and infant responsiveness withing dyads, and the influence of acculturation on individual responsiveness. Methodologically, acculturation was assessed at group and individual levels in immigrant Japanese, South Korean, and South American dyads in comparison with nonmigrant dyads in their respective cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, and South America) and their single common culture of destination (United States). In total, 408 mothers and their 5½-month-old infants were observed in the naturalistic setting of the home, and observations were coded for mothers’ speech to infant, social play, and encouraging her infant to look at her, and infants’ looking at mother and nondistress vocalizations. Odds ratios were then generated for mother and infant responsiveness in four types of social interactions: Mother speaks to infant and infant looks at mother (Mother Speak/Infant Attend), mother plays with infant and infant looks at mother (Mother Play/Infant Attend), mother plays with infant and infant vocalizes (Mother Play/Infant Vocalize), and mother encourages infant to look at her and infant vocalizes (Mother Encourage/Infant Vocalize). Five key findings emerged. Specifically, mother and infant responsiveness in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions were temporally contingent in all cultures. Mean differences in responsiveness among cultures emerged, and within dyads infants were more responsive than their mothers in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions. Mother and infant responsiveness in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions were attuned in all cultures. Responsiveness in Mother Play/Infant Vocalize interactions showed acculturation effects at the individual level. Implications of these findings for understanding the development of responsiveness in social interactions and acculturation in immigrant families are discussed.     

Infant responses to maternal still-face at 4 and 9 months

This study investigated developmental changes in infant responses to maternal still-face (SF) situations. Infants (21 males and 25 females) of Japanese mothers were observed in a face-to-face SF paradigm, comprising four phases (normal/SF/normal/SF), at two infant ages (4 and 9 months). The infants' facial expression, gaze direction, and vocalization were coded in both SF and normal interaction conditions. The results indicated that infants at both ages showed a decrease in displaying positive facial expression and gazing at their mothers during SF conditions. The 4-month-old displayed emotional expression and directed their gaze toward their mothers more frequently than the 9-month-old. However, the 9-month-old vocalized more often in SF situations, attempting to elicit responses from their mothers. The "carry-over" effect was observed only in 9-month-old. The results were discussed in the context of developmental changes in infants' social skills to cope with an emotionally stressful situation.     

Ipsilesional arm reaching movements are not affected by the postural configuration adopted by individuals with stroke

Individuals with stroke present several impairments in the ipsilesional arm reaching movements that can limit the execution of daily living activities. These impairments depend on the side of the brain lesion. The present study aimed to compare the arm reaching movements performed in sitting and standing positions and to examine whether the effects of the adopted posture configuration depend on the side of the brain lesion. Twenty right-handed individuals with stroke (half with right hemiparesis and a half with left hemiparesis) and twenty healthy adults (half used the left arm) reached toward a target displayed on a monitor screen placed in one of three heights (i.e., upper, central, or lower targets). Participants performed the reaches in sitting and standing positions under conditions where the target location was either well-known in advance (certainty condition) or unknown until the movement onset (uncertainty condition). The values of movement onset time, movement time, and constant error were compared across conditions (posture configuration and uncertainty) and groups for each target height. Individuals with stroke were slower and spent more time to start to move than healthy participants, mainly when they reached the superior target in the upright position and under the uncertainty condition. Individuals who have suffered a right stroke were more affected by the task conditions and those who suffered a left stroke showed less accurate reaches. Overall, these results were observed regardless of the adopted posture. The current findings suggested that ipsilesional arm reaching movements are not affected by the postural configuration adopted by individuals with stroke. The central nervous system modulates the reaching movements according to the target position, adopted posture, and the uncertainty in the final target position to be reached.     

Kinesthetic estimation of the main orientations from the upright and supine positions

This work investigated the accuracy of the perception of the main orientations (i.e., vertical and horizontal orientations) with the kinesthetic modality--a modality not previously used in this field of research. To further dissociate the influence of the postural and physical verticals, two body positions were explored (supine and upright). Twenty-two blindfolded participants were asked to set, as accurately as possible, a rod to both physical orientations while assuming one of the two body positions. The horizontal was perceived more accurately than the vertical orientation in the upright position but not in the supine position. Essentially, there were no differences in the supine position because the adjustments to the physical vertical were much more accurate than they were in the upright position. The lower accuracy in the estimation of the vertical orientation observed in the upright position might be linked to the dynamics associated with the maintenance of posture.     

The co‐construction of joint action between mothers and 2–4‐month‐old infants: the mother's role

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to describe object‐centred interactions between mothers and their 2–4‐month‐old infants, before and during the emergence of reaching and grasping movements. We hypothesized that when reaching movements emerge at around 3 months, mothers alternate between attention stimulation and reaching stimulation, before joint actions between mother and infant develop around objects. Twelve dyads were recorded when infants were 2 months, 3 months and 4 months. The interactive sessions lasted 5 min. Three age‐appropriate toys the infant could handle were available to the mother. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on verbal and non‐verbal maternal behaviours, motor infant behaviours and co‐occurrences of those behaviours. The developmental course of prehension in infants when playing with their mother follows similar pathways, as was described when they are observed alone. Mothers appeared to early scaffold prehension skills by verbal and non‐verbal means. Moreover, maternal behaviours change according to the infant's behaviour, and conversely, infant's behaviours influence maternal behaviours: mother plays first an active part in joint action, while later on, the infant achieves joint action when motor skills develop. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of dyadic interactions and coping with still‐face in healthy pre‐term and full‐term infants

Pre‐term birth has a significant impact on infants' social and emotional competence, however, little is known about regulatory processes in pre‐term mother‐infant dyads during normal or stressful interactions. The primary goals of this study were to investigate the differences in infant and caregiver interactive behaviour and dyadic coordination of clinically healthy pre‐term compared to full‐term infant‐mother dyads and to examine pre‐term infants' capacity for coping with stress using the face‐to‐face still‐face paradigm (FFSF). Fifty mother‐infant dyads, including 25 pre‐term infants and 25 full‐term infants were videotaped during the FFSF. All infants were 6–9 months of age (corrected for gestational age in the pre‐term group). Infant and maternal socio‐emotional expressivity and self‐regulatory behaviours were coded and measures of dyadic coordination (Matching, Reparation Rate, and Synchrony) were calculated. There were no significant differences in infant and caregiver socio‐emotional behaviours between the two groups and both groups demonstrated the still‐face (SF) effect and the reunion effect. There was a difference in self‐regulatory behaviour. Pre‐term infants were more likely than full‐term infants to use distancing (e.g., by turning away, twisting, or arching) from their mothers during the FFSF. Additionally, during the Reunion episode of the FFSF pre‐term infants showed more social monitoring compared to full‐term infants. Regardless of the birth status, the dyads showed less coordination and a slower rate of reparation during the Reunion episode than during the Play episode. The higher proportion of distancing in the pre‐term group and the increase in social monitoring suggest that even in normal interactions pre‐term infants may experience a higher level of stress and have less capacity for self‐regulation compared to the full‐terms and that pre‐term infants appear to use a compensatory strategy of increased social monitoring to cope with the stress of renegotiating the interaction during Reunion. The findings suggest that pre‐term infants have different regulatory and interactive capacities than full‐term infants.     

Developmental course of the temporal relationship between gaze direction and vocal production in typical and Down's syndrome infants

This study was aimed at examining the temporal relationship between gaze and vocal production behaviour among typically developing infants, infants with Down's syndrome, and their mothers. If gaze–voice timing behaviour is an organizing principle of communicative interaction in typical population, then studying it should provide insight into how children with Down's syndrome and their mothers use this temporal relationship to structure their exchanges. Forty-four mother–infant dyads (22 dyads with a Down's syndrome child and 22 with a typical child) were observed. The developmental course of timing pattern was not different between DS and typically developing infants from 4 to 19 months (DA). Insofar as the timing patterns differed between DS and typical infants at 20 months, this could be explained by their differing level of language acquisition. With the use of language, the timing patterns will reappear equal in the both populations. Results suggest that (i) the children's behaviours could be partially explained by the behaviours of their mothers. The mother–child dyad would be the mould that shapes the child's future sociolinguistic skills, and (ii) for the two populations, the timing-pattern changes could be explained by the emergence of language.     

Separation anxiety in first-time mothers: infant behavioral reactivity and maternal parenting self-efficacy as contributors

This short-term longitudinal study examined the contribution of infant behavioral reactivity and maternal parenting self-efficacy to first-time mothers’ (total n = 32) separation anxiety. Infants’ behavioral reactivity indexed by gaze and facial affect were observed in the conditions of routine play and maternal still face at 3 months. Mothers reported their self-perceived parenting efficacy at 3 months and separation anxiety at 6 months. Results revealed that infants’ frequent gazing at their mother, greater negative affect, and less positive affect observed during the still face, but not during the routine play, contributed to heightened maternal separation anxiety. In addition to a direct link between low maternal parenting self-efficacy and high maternal separation anxiety, maternal parenting self-efficacy buffered against the impact of infant negative reactivity on maternal separation anxiety. The role of infant reactivity and maternal self-efficacy in parenting was discussed.     

面孔可爱度和客观熟悉度对婴儿面孔注意偏向效应的影响

近年来, 研究发现, 与成人面孔和其他社会性刺激相比, 成人对婴儿面孔表现出更多的注意偏向。本研究利用点探测范式, 结合眼动技术, 探讨了面孔可爱度和熟悉度对婴儿面孔注意偏向效应的影响。行为结果表明, 成人对高可爱度的婴儿面孔的反应时注意偏向更强; 眼动结果发现, 高可爱度的婴儿面孔的首注视时间偏向和总注视时间偏向更强, 表现为注意维持模式, 并且, 这一效应只出现在低熟悉度条件下; 而在可爱度评分上, 高熟悉度的婴儿面孔的可爱度评分显著高于低熟悉度的婴儿面孔。结果表明, 在低熟悉度条件下, 可爱度才会影响成人对婴儿面孔注意偏向效应; 在偏好行为上, 对婴儿面孔的主观评定和观看行为上可能存在分离的情况。     

Demystifying infant vocal imitation: The roles of mouth looking and speaker’s gaze

Vocal imitation plays a fundamental role in human language acquisition from infancy. Little is known, however, about how infants imitate other's sounds. We focused on three factors: (a) whether infants receive information from upright faces, (b) the infant's observation of the speaker's mouth and (c) the speaker directing their gaze towards the infant. We recorded the eye movements of 6‐month‐olds who participated in experiments watching videos of a speaker producing vowel sounds. We found that an infants’ tendency to vocally imitate such videos increased as a function of (a) seeing upright rather than inverted faces, (b) their increased looking towards the speaker's mouth and (c) whether the speaker directed their gaze towards, rather than away from infants. These latter findings are consistent with theories of motor resonance and natural pedagogy respectively. New light has been shed on the cues and underlying mechanisms linking infant speech perception and production.