The role of oxytocin in early mother-infant interactions: Variations in maternal affect attunement
Publication date: May 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 55Author(s): Gabriela MarkovaAbstractThe aim of the present research was to investigate the relationship between oxytocin and maternal affect attunement, as well as the role of affect attunement in the relationship between oxytocin and infant social engagement during early mother-infant interactions. Forty-three mother-infant dyads participated in the present study when infants were 4 months. They were observed during (1) a situation where no communication took place and (2) a natural interaction between mother and infant. During this procedure, thre...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 30, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Changing institutional incentives to foster sound scientific practices: One department
Publication date: May 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 55Author(s): Rebecca A. LundwallAbstractReplicable research and open science are of value to our field and to society at large, but most universities provide no incentives to adopt these practices. Instead, current incentive structures favor novel research, which has led to a situation in which few researchers take the time to do replications, share protocols, or share data. Obviously, several approaches to remedy this situation are possible. However, little progress can be made if becoming involved in such activities reduces a researcher’s chances...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 30, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Do as I say - or as I do?! How 18- and 24-month-olds integrate words and actions to infer intentions in situations of match or mismatch
This study investigated how 18- and 24-month-olds’ (N = 88 per age group) action selection was influenced by varying the coherence of a model’s verbal and behavioral cues. Using a between-subjects design, infants received six trials with different stimulus objects. In the conditions Congruent, Incongruent, and Failed-attempt, the model uttered a telic verb particle that was followed by a matching or contradicting goal-directed action demonstration, or by a non goal-directed slipping motion, respectively. In the condition Pseudo-word, a nonsense word was combined with a goal-directed action demonstration. Infants’...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 27, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Longitudinal interplay of young children's negative affectivity and maternal interaction quality in the context of unequal psychosocial resources
Publication date: Available online 11 March 2019Source: Infant Behavior and DevelopmentAuthor(s): Jan-David Freund, Anja Linberg, Sabine WeinertAbstractInteraction quality and child temperament predict early and later child development. Research hints at transactional interrelations of both aspects but lacks adequate data to examine this assumption. Maternal psychosocial resources are suspected moderators in this context but rarely taken into account. Drawing on data of the German National Educational Panel Study we conducted a cross-lagged panel analysis on the longitudinal interplay of maternal interaction quality and ch...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 13, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Shy toddlers act bold: The roles of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and parent emotion language
Publication date: May 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 55Author(s): Jessica Stoltzfus Grady, Delaney CallanAbstractShy children show reticence in social contexts, presumably as a way of regulating their fear. The present study evaluated whether toddler physiological regulation and parent emotion language facilitated shy toddlers’ (21–24 months) engagement with an unfamiliar female examiner. Toddler high basal respiratory sinus arrhythmia was positively associated with bold approach with the examiner. Parent emotion explanations were positively associated with toddler bold approach, particularly for t...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 9, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Early development of attentional disengagement and phasic alertness
This study examines the relationship between phasic aspects of alertness and disengagement in infants, using the overlap paradigm. Research shows that visual disengagement in overlap condition is modulated by auditory cues in 6-year-olds. Our participants were aged 6 months (N = 20), 12 months (N = 27), and 24 months (N = 14). Phasic alertness during overlap and no-overlap tasks was manipulated using a spatially nondirective warning signal shortly before onset of the peripheral target. Responses in overlap condition were slower and fewer than in no-overlap condition. The signal showed a tendency to reduce laten...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 9, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Experimental manipulation of emotion regulation changes mothers’ physiological and facial expressive responses to infant crying
This study examined whether instructing mothers to apply emotion regulation strategies can change mothers’ perception and reactivity to infant crying in an experimental within-subject design. Perception of crying, skin conductance level (SCL), facial expressivity, and intended caregiving responses to cry sounds were measured in mothers (N = 101, M = 30.88 years) who received suppression, reappraisal, and no emotion regulation instructions. Reappraisal resulted in lower SCL during exposure to crying and a less negative perception of crying compared to the suppression condition. In contrast, suppression resulted in...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - March 1, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Intrusive parenting, teacher sensitivity, and negative emotionality on the development of emotion regulation in early head start toddlers
Publication date: May 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 55Author(s): Jennifer A. Mortensen, Melissa A. BarnettAbstractToddler emotion regulation develops within the context of relationships but is also influenced by toddlers’ individual characteristics. Drawing on transactional and differential susceptibility frameworks, this study examined direct and interactive associations of intrusive parenting, teacher sensitivity, and negative emotionality on toddler emotion regulation development in a sample of Early Head Start families utilizing center-based child care. Latent growth models indicated that, after...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 28, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Toxic Environment of war: Maternal prenatal heavy metal load predicts infant emotional development
ConclusionsAdverse impact of war is not limited to those who experience it directly, but is passed on to future generations through multiple mechanisms. International organizations are obliged to protect parents and infants from the modern weaponry in wars. (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 27, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 26, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Exploratory behavior and developmental skill acquisition in infants with down syndrome
This study used a Latent Profile Analysis framework to examine within-syndrome variability in exploratory behavior in infants with DS and the developmental correlates of different exploratory behavior profiles. Participants were 45 infants with DS (CA = 9.58 months; SD = 3.62) who completed an object exploration activity and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III (BSID-III; Bayley, 2006). Exploration behavior was coded for the percentage of time engaged in visual, manual, and oral exploration. Results indicated that a 2-profile solution provided the best model fit for exploratory behavior, yielding profiles th...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 20, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Are sensorimotor experiences the key for successful early intervention in infants with congenital brain lesion?
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Anina Ritterband-Rosenbaum, Mikkel Damgaard Justiniano, Jens Bo Nielsen, Mark Schram ChristensenAbstractLiving with a congenital brain lesion may have detrimental effects on the ability to do everyday activities, but contrary to acquired brain lesions, people and in particular children, with congenital brain lesions may have limited or no experience of how their bodies work. This absence of experience gives rise to challenges for habilitation of sensorimotor abilities and derived cognitive abilities. How can motor and cognitive abil...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 13, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Is feeding the new play? Examination of the maternal language and prosody used during infant feeding
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Emily Zimmerman, Kathryn Connaghan, Jill Hoover, Danielle Alu, Julie PetersAbstractThe current study examined maternal language and prosody production during feeding (milk vs. solid foods) and playing with their infant compared to an adult-directed speech (ADS) baseline in 12 healthy full-term infants (6–13 months old). We recorded maternal language during 10 min of spontaneous speech across the four conditions. We further recorded maternal connected speech containing specific word targets, elicited through picture description, ...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - February 11, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Maternal positive responses to a distressed infant simulator predict subsequent negative affect in infants
Publication date: Available online 19 January 2019Source: Infant Behavior and DevelopmentAuthor(s): Erin R. McKay, Leanna Rosinski, Linda C. Mayes, Helena J.V. Rutherford, David J. BridgettAbstractExisting evidence indicates that maternal responses to infant distress, specifically more sensitive and less inconsistent/rejecting responses, are associated with lower infant negative affect (NA). However, due to ethical and methodological constraints, most existing studies do not employ methods that guarantee each mother will be observed responding to infant distress. To address such limitations, in the current study, a distres...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 20, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
PyHab: Open-source real time infant gaze coding and stimulus presentation software
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Jonathan F. KominskyAbstractInfant looking-time paradigms often use specialized software for real time manual coding of infant gaze. Here, I introduce PyHab, the first open-source looking-time coding and stimulus presentation solution designed specifically with open science in mind. PyHab is built on the libraries of PsychoPy (Peirce, 2007). PyHab has its own graphical interface for building studies and requires no programming experience to use. When creating a study, PyHab saves a folder that contains all of the code required to ru...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 20, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
