PROJECT TITLE :

Head Movement Dynamics during Play and Perturbed Mother-Infant Interaction

ABSTRACT:

We have a tendency to investigated the dynamics of head movement in mothers and infants throughout an age-appropriate, well-validated emotion induction, the Still Face paradigm. During this paradigm, mothers and infants play normally for 2 minutes (Play) followed by two minutes in that the mothers stay unresponsive (Still Face), and then two minutes in which they resume traditional behavior (Reunion). Participants were forty two ethnically various 4-month-old infants and their mothers. Mother and infant angular displacement and angular velocity were measured using the CSIRO head tracker. In male however not female infants, angular displacement increased from Play to Still-Face and decreased from Still Face to Reunion. Infant angular velocity was higher throughout Still-Face than Reunion with no differences between male and feminine infants. Windowed cross-correlation prompt changes in how infant and mother head movements are associated, revealing dramatic changes in direction of association. Coordination between mother and infant head movement velocity was larger during Play compared with Reunion. Together, these findings suggest that angular displacement, angular velocity and their coordination between mothers and infants are strongly related to age-appropriate emotion challenge. Attention to move movement will deepen our understanding of emotion communication.