La imitación y el entonamiento afectivo en el juego social temprano / Imitation and affect attunement in early social play

Con el objetivo de estudiar las pautas adultas de imitación y entonamiento afectivo que ocurren en las situaciones de juego social temprano entre adulto y bebé, se realizó un estudio longitudinal de caso único, con una díada adulto-bebé. La edad del bebé en la primera sesión, según la convención piagetiana [año; mes (día)], fue: 00; 3 (05) y en la última sesión: 00; 6 (28). Se filmaron 8 sesiones de interacción espontánea de la díada, en su hogar, cada 15 días. De cada sesión se seleccionaron los primeros 10 minutos de juego social temprano. Con este material se generó una video-secuencia de juego social temprano a la que se le aplicó un código observacional con categorías para las pautas de actividades de coincidencia maternas (imitación y entonamiento afectivo). Los datos obtenidos en este estudio indican que las actividades de coincidencia maternas de imitación y entonamiento afectivo aparecen en todo el período estudiado, con una frecuencia de dos eventos de coincidencia por minuto de juego social temprano. Se observó que las pautas de entonamiento afectivo materno casi duplican a las de imitación entre los 3 y 6 meses de vida del bebé. Asimismo, se registró que la mayoría de los entonamientos afectivos fueron transmodales y que la madre utilizó su voz como modalidad conductual privilegiada para establecer coincidencias comportamentales con su bebé, ya sea a través de la imitación o del entonamiento. Las imitaciones maternas más frecuentes ocurrieron como respuesta a las vocalizaciones del bebé y los entonamientos afectivos fueron provocados principalmente por los movimientos del bebé.

This paper focuses on two specific matching activities of maternal behavior in early social play: imitation and affect attunement. Imitationis a pattern of frequent interaction between adult and baby, providing a pleasant experience to both participants. In that context, imitation is not only bi-directional, but it is the adult who imitates more frequently. Affect attunement is an intuitive and fleeting interaction pattern, through which the adult attunes to the baby's affective state. It is a matching activity, where the amodal features of the infant's behavior (intensity, temporal organization, spatial pattern and / or quantity) are reflected through a different conduct. Previous research indicates that during the first 6 months of the baby's life, the adult very often uses imitation as well as affect attunement for interacting (which involves performing a different behavior than the baby's in which the adult matches the intensity, temporal pattern, spatial pattern, and / or the amount of the child's original behavior). Maternal affect attunement events have been observed from 2 months of age, and the frequency ratio between affect attunement and maternal imitation has been observed to change in ontogenetic development: between the baby's 2nd and 6th months the adult's imitative activity occurs at higher rates; while in the second half of the first year of life, the relationship is reversed. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal case study on a mother-infant dyad, about maternal imitation and affect attunement behaviors in early social play situations between the 3rd and 6th months of the baby's life. According to Piaget's convention [year; month (day)], the baby's age was 00; 3(05) in the first session, and 00; 6 (28) in the last session. Every 15 days, a total of 8 sessions of the dyad's spontaneous interaction, were filmed in their home. From each session, the first 10 minutes of early social play were selected. With this material a video-sequence of early social play was generated to which an observational code with categories for maternal matching activity patterns (imitation and affect attunement) was applied. The percentage of each category's occurrence in each evolutionary period was calculated. The data obtained in this study indicate that maternal matching activities of imitation and affect attunement appear from the beginning of the studied period. These results confirm those previously obtained in other studies that show the early emergence of adult imitation and affect attunement behavioral patterns. The data also indicate that matching activities of imitation and affect attunement appear throughout the studied period with a frequency of two events perminute of early social play. These results partially confirm those previously obtained in other studies. The new information obtained in our study concerns the frequency of both reciprocity patterns, and the type of behavior of the mother and baby involved in these matching activities. Patterns of maternal affect attunement almost double those of imitation between the baby's 3rd and 6th months. It was also reported that most affect attunements were transmodal and that the mother used her voice as a privileged way to establish a behavioral match with her baby, either through imitation or affect attunement. The most frequent maternal imitations occurred in response to the baby's vocalizations, and affect attunements were caused mainly by the baby's movements. Without detracting from the dyad's intense vocal activity already registered in the field's literature, the high frequency of affect attunements in response to infant movement highlights a trait less noticed in previous research: the adult's mastery in reading the baby's body and movement.

La imitación reconsiderada: Su función social en la infancia temprana / Imitation reconsidered: Its social function in early infancy

En el ámbito de la Psicología del Desarrollo, la imitación infantil ha sido un tema ampliamente estudiado, fundamentalmente, por su vinculación con la capacidad simbólica. Sin embargo, en los últimos 50 años su abordaje teórico y metodológico se ha diversificado profundamente. Se ha provocado un giro en cómo conceptualizar la imitación, desde un enfoque individual que destaca su valor en el desarrollo cognitivo y simbólico, hasta uno que entiende que la imitación infantil y los efectos de ser imitado están estrechamente vinculados con el desarrollo de las habilidades sociales y de la comunicación. El presente artículo recorre este giro partiendo de una breve presentación de la perspectiva de la imitación en la teoría piagetiana, la cual destaca el valor epigenético de esta capacidad en la formación simbólica del niño. Luego, se sintetizan los resultados obtenidos en los estudios sobre imitación neonatal, imitación en interacciones espontáneas adulto-bebé, interacciones entre pares y los efectos de ser imitado. En conjunto, estos datos permitieron reconceptualizar la capacidad de imitación, destacando su aspecto social y su función en el establecimiento de las primeras conexiones interpersonales entre el bebé y sus congéneres. Con vistas a construir una teoría integradora, se propone concebir a ambos enfoques como complementarios y entender a la imitación como una actividad que permite establecer coincidencias interpersonales, las cuales generan algún tipo de encuentro intersubjetivo que sirve para vehiculizar distintas funciones de acuerdo al contexto de interacción.

Infant imitation is a controversial topic that has been widely studied in the field of developmental psychology. In the last decades, since Piagetian theory of infant imitation, the research on it has been revolutionized. This article intends to review a set of studies on imitation in early infancy that have caused a change in the understanding of this phenomenon. In this review, Piaget's description of the development of imitation and its relationship to symbolic formation are set as a starting point. Piaget's theory has made an essential contribution to the study of imitation: it highlights its importance in development of symbolic function; it stimulated the realization of numerous longitudinal studies, promoted the development of techniques and observation systems for its evaluation in psychology labs, and led to the generation of different assessment scales of psycho-motor child development. However, experimental studies that demonstrated the ability of imitation in newborns have questioned Piagetian developmental theory of imitation and they revolutionized the understanding of the phenomenon. Data on neonatal imitation, which have received different theoretical interpretations, bring out that certain intra and intersensory coordination exist from the first month of life; that the capacity for imitation is selective; that its sequence of development is different from that proposed by Piaget and shows different evolutionary paths depending on the act in question. Beyond experimental studies, early imitation has also been studied in natural contexts. The data show that during the first two years of life, imitation is a frequent pattern of social interaction between adult and baby, providing a pleasant experience to both participants. In that context, imitation is not only bi-directional, but it is the adult who imitated more frequently. Such data suggest that the ability to imitate actions does not appear in development as a product of an exclusively individual process; but, on the contrary, is a capacity that gradually emerges in the context of social patterns of baby-adult reciprocity as a result of the communicative intentions of the latter. Also, imitation is an important relationship tool when the participants interacting are similar in age. There are several studies showing that young children use imitation as a basic way to interact and develop social and communication links between them, as well as to coordinate playful actions. Finally, experimental studies on the effects of being imitated indicate that adult imitation facilitates social interaction with the baby during the first two years of life. It causes greater visual attention from the baby, and more frequent smiles than a spontaneous interaction. Even it has been observed that babies are able to monitor adult imitation, testing it by modulating their behavior (for example, sudden stops or sudden changes in the direction of their behavior). Data from studies on neonatal imitation, spontaneous imitation in adult-baby interactions, peer interactions and the effects of being imitated have allowed reconceptualizing imitation, highlighting the social aspect and its role in the establishment of the first interpersonal connections between the baby and its congeners. All these new empirical evidence highlights the value of imitation in the establishment of social interactions in the early years of a child´s life, beyond their cognitive function of accommodation. In order to construct an integrative theory of imitation, it is proposed to conceive imitation as a matching activity through which emerges a social engagement that might serve to convey different functions according to the context of social interaction. It is suggested to carry out new longitudinal studies that investigate the contexts of interaction in which imitation events emerge, as well as the integration of the results of neurocognitive studies and Comparative Psychology.

El Entonamiento Afectivo en las Interacciones Tempranas Adulto-Bebé: una Revisión / Affect Attunement in Early Adult-Infant Interactions: A Review / A Sintonização Afetiva nas Interações Precoces Adulto-Bebê: uma Revisão

Resumen Este artículo presenta una revisión de las investigaciones sobre entonamiento afectivo en interacciones tempranas adulto-bebé, que siguen la definición original propuesta por Stern. El entonamiento afectivo constituye una pauta de interacción intuitiva que sirve para sintonizar con el estado afectivo del bebé momento a momento. Si bien este concepto ha sido claramente definido y ampliamente aceptado, hasta ahora hay pocos estudios realizados. La mayoría de ellos son estudios observacionales y transversales que se concentran en la descripción de situaciones de juego social madre-bebé durante el primer año de vida del infante. Se reflexiona sobre la escasa cantidad de trabajos realizados en el área y se proponen futuras vías de investigación: la prolongación de su estudio en el segundo año de vida y en poblaciones con dificultades del desarrollo; la evaluación de la incidencia de la disposición corporal y de la presencia de objetos en la frecuencia de entonamiento afectivo en interacciones espontáneas.

Abstract This article reviews research on affect attunement in early adult-infant interactions, following Stern's original definition. Affect attunement is a pattern of intuitive interaction to share the affective state of the infant. Although this concept has been clearly defined and widely accepted, until now few studies on this have been done. Most of those that have been done are observational and cross-sectional focusing on the description of mother-infant social play situations during the infant's first year. The article reflects on the scarceness of work done in this area and proposes future research areas: continuation of the study into the second year of life and in populations with development difficulties, an evaluation of the role of body disposition and the presence of objects in the frequency of affect attu-nement in spontaneous interactions.

Resumo Este artigo apresenta uma revisão das pesquisas sobre sintonização afetiva em interações precoces adulto-bebê, que seguem a definição original proposta por Stern. A sintonização afetiva constitui uma pauta de interação intuitiva que serve para sintonizar com o estado afetivo do bebê momento a momento. Ainda que esse conceito tenha sido claramente definido e amplamente aceito, até agora, há poucos estudos realizados. A maioria deles são estudos observacionais e transversais, que se concentram na descrição de situações de jogo social mãe-bebê durante o primeiro ano de vida da criança. Reflexiona-se sobre a escassa quantidade de trabalhos realizados na área e propõem-se futuras vias de pesquisa: a pro-longação do estudo no segundo ano de vida e em populações com dificuldades de desenvolvimento; a avaliação da incidência da disposição corporal e da presença de objetos na frequência de sintonização afetiva em interações espontâneas.