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Non-verbal communication between four months old infants and their mothers
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Non-Verbal Communication between four months old Infants and Their Mothers Ora Aviezer University of Chicago This study used microanalytic techniques to explore the structure of non-verbal communication between four months old infants and their mothers. Three low SES black mother-infant dyads were ViUC0taped during bottle feeding. Behaviors that included maternal gazes toward the infant eyes, infant's gazes toward the mother and infant's sucking bursts and pauses were coded from each tape and plotted on a real-time line. Data were stUdied in terms of interactive gaze pattern (IGP) units that, for each dyad, contained mutual "gaze sequence as well as unilateral gazing by mother or infant. These IGP units were used to locate the sucking pauses in the interactive flow. Infants in each of the three dyads were more likely than their mothers to initiate gaze interaction, whereas the mothers' gazing was more likely to be contingent upon infant's existing gaze. In all three dyads the relative amount of gaze initiated b the infant was similar to the mother's. However the dyads were very different in terms of the rate of success in engaging one another's gaze. Dyadic dift' erences were also found in the timing of sucking pauses and in how successful infants were in using the pauses to draw the mother into interaction. These results suggest that IGP and suck-pause pattern are dyadic in nature and that maternal and infants' interactive behaviors should be viewed as context bound to the particular individual with whom the interaction takes place rather than be treated as an independent individual characteristic.
Non-Verbal Communication between four months old Infants and Their Mothers Ora Aviezer University of Chicago This study used microanalytic techniques to explore the structure of non-verbal communication between four months old infants and their mothers. Three low SES black mother-infant dyads were ViUC0taped during bottle feeding. Behaviors that included maternal gazes toward the infant eyes, infant's gazes toward the mother and infant's sucking bursts and pauses were coded from each tape and plotted on a real-time line. Data were stUdied in terms of interactive gaze pattern (IGP) units that, for each dyad, contained mutual "gaze sequence as well as unilateral gazing by mother or infant. These IGP units were used to locate the sucking pauses in the interactive flow. Infants in each of the three dyads were more likely than their mothers to initiate gaze interaction, whereas the mothers' gazing was more likely to be contingent upon infant's existing gaze. In all three dyads the relative amount of gaze initiated b the infant was similar to the mother's. However the dyads were very different in terms of the rate of success in engaging one another's gaze. Dyadic dift' erences were also found in the timing of sucking pauses and in how successful infants were in using the pauses to draw the mother into interaction. These results suggest that IGP and suck-pause pattern are dyadic in nature and that maternal and infants' interactive behaviors should be viewed as context bound to the particular individual with whom the interaction takes place rather than be treated as an independent individual characteristic.