Cited by 364Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentAction Observation and SynchronizationAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

Mother-infant face-to-face interaction: Influence is bidirectional and unrelated to periodic cycles in either partner's behavior.

Cohn, Jeffrey F., Tronick, Edward Z.·1988·Developmental Psychology

Abstract

During mother-infant face-to-face interactions, bidirectional influence could be achieved through either the entraining of periodic cycles in the behavior of each partner or through the stochastic organization of behaviors. To determine whether and how bidirectional influence occurs, we used both time- and frequency-domain techniques to study the interactions of 54 mother-infant pairs, 18 each at 3, 6, and 9 months of age. Behavioral descriptors for each mother and infant were scaled to reflect levels of affective involvement during each second oftbe interaction. Periodic cycles were found in infants ' expressive behavior only at 3 months and not in mothers ' behavior. Nonperiodic cycles, which were found in some mothers ' and infants ' behavior at each age, were more common. At no age was the occurrence of cycles in mothers ' or infants ' behavior related to the achievement of bidirectional influence. Similar proportions of mothers and infants were responsive to momentto-moment changes in the other's behavior, except at 6 months when the proportion of mothers was higher. Bidirectional influence was brought about by the stochastic organization of behaviors rather than through the mutual entraining of periodic cycles. Early mother-infant face-to-face interactions have a conversation-like pattern in which each partner appears to be responsive to the other. The assumption that this pattern is actually achieved by bidirectional influence has been seriously questioned in a series of papers (Gottman & Ringland, 1981;

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Crossref · 10.1037/0012-1649.24.3.386

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  • Providing prelinguistic infants with sensitively timed conversational turns offers a source of positive reinforcement for infant vocal expressions and engages infants in social interaction.

    “Providing prelinguistic infants with sensitively timed conversational turns offers a source of positive reinforcement for infant vocal expressions and engages infants in social interaction [2,3,27,52,53].”

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Authors
Cohn, J. F., & Tronick, E. Z.
Affiliations
University of Pittsburgh (US)
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Published
1988-05
Volume
24
Issue
3
Pages
386-392
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
OpenAlex
W2024364101
Cited by
364
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 12
FWCI
9.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
mother-infant interaction, face-to-face interaction, bidirectional effects, periodic cycles, emotional engagement, maternal responsiveness, early infancy

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