Maternal mind-mindedness over infants' first three months.

Maternal mind-mindedness refers to mothers' ability to reflect upon their infants' mental states and respond appropriately. The present study assessed mind-mindedness longitudinally from the newborn period to the infant age of three months. The study is the first to assess maternal mind-mindedness in the infant's early life prior to three months (one week, one month, two months, three months). To measure maternal mind-mindedness, mothers' speech to their infants is coded for mental state comments about the infants' thoughts, desires, and emotions. Appropriate mind-minded comments are judged to accurately reflect the infants' mental states; non-attuned mind-minded comments are judged to misinterpret the infants' mental states. Mothers' individual stability (rank order stability) and group level continuity (mean level of stability across the infant ages) were assessed. Mothers showed modest temporal stability in both appropriate and non-attuned mind-mindedness over the infants' first three months. The continuity of mind-mindedness showed that appropriate mind-mindedness increased over the infant ages, but non-attuned mind-mindedness showed no change. In infants' early lives, mothers' ability to accurately interpret their infants' mental states is enhanced as the mother-infant relationship develops and infants become more communicative partners.

Influences of infants' and mothers' contingent vocal responsiveness on young infants' vocal social bids in the Still Face Task.

Infants' social bids in the still face phase of the Still Face Task demonstrate their emerging sense of self agency as these behaviors happen in the absence of the partner's social overtures. The study examined the role of infants' contingent responsiveness to their mothers in social interactions on their social bidding to the mother when she becomes unresponsive. Social bids are non-distress vocalizations or smiles while looking at the unresponsive partner. Infants and their mothers longitudinally engaged in the Still Face Task when infants were one, two, and three months. At two months, infant non-distress vocalizations and smiles and contingent vocal and smiling responsiveness increased in the initial interactive phase and vocal and smile social bids increased in the still face phase. Infant contingent vocal responsiveness predicted infant vocal social bids but infant contingent smiling responsiveness did not predict infant smile social bids. Infant contingent vocal responsiveness was a stronger predictor than infant non-distress vocalizations per se of infant vocal social bids at two and three months. However, maternal contingent vocal responsiveness was the primary predictor of infant vocal social bids at these ages. Maternal contingent responsiveness to infant behavior allows infants to sense their agency in affecting their mothers' behavior. Yet infants are active participants, becoming contingently responsive to their mothers, which facilitates their awareness that they are effective agents in instigating social interaction, as demonstrated by social bids.

Intersubjectivity and the Emergence of Words.

Intersubjectivity refers to two non-verbal intersubjective relations infants experience during their first year that are precursors to the emergence of words. Trevarthen, a pioneer in the study of intersubjectivity, referred to those relations as primary and secondary intersubjectivity. The former, a dyadic coordination between the infant and her caregiver, begins at birth. The latter, a triadic coordination that develops around 9 months, allows the infant and a caregiver to share attention to particular features of the environment. Secondary intersubjectivity is crucial for an infant's ability to begin to produce words, at around 12 months. Much research on the social and cognitive origins of language has focused on secondary intersubjectivity. That is unfortunate because it neglects the fact that secondary intersubjectivity and the emergence of words are built on a foundation of primary intersubjectivity. It also ignores the evolutionary origins of intersubjectivity and its uniquely human status. That unique status explains why only humans learn words. This article seeks to address these issues by relating the literature on primary intersubjectivity, particularly research on bi-directional and contingent communication between infants and mothers, to joint attention and ultimately to words. In that context, we also discuss Hrdy's hypothesis about the influence of alloparents on the evolution of intersubjectivity.

Mother-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact: Short- and Long-Term Effects for Mothers and Their Children Born Full-Term.

This brief report reviews findings from a longitudinal study of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with mothers and full-term infants and a follow-up study of these dyads when the children were 9 years. Findings infer the positive influence of SSC on mother-child interactions in infancy and into children's middle childhood. Mothers and infants in SSC and control groups were seen when infants were 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months. SSC group mothers reported fewer depressive symptoms in infants' early weeks and had a greater reduction in salivary cortisol, a physiological stress indicator, in infants' first month (Bigelow et al., 2012). SSC group mothers who initially chose to breastfeed continued to breastfeed their infants throughout the 3 months, whereas breastfeeding mothers in the control group declined over the visits (Bigelow et al., 2014). When engaged in the Still Face Task with their mothers, SSC group infants showed the still face effect with their affect at 1 month, a month before the control group infants did so (Bigelow and Power, 2012). At 3 months, SSC group infants were social bidding to their mothers during the still face phase. When the children were 9 years, the mother-child dyads engaged in conversations about the children's remembered emotional events (Bigelow et al., 2018). Mother-child dyads who had been in the SSC group showed more engagement and reciprocity in the conversations than mother-child dyads who had been in the control group. Oxytocin, which is induced by SSC, is hypothesized to be an underlying factor that helped the mother-infant relationship have a positive trajectory with long-term benefits.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on Ghanaian infants' response to the Still Face Task: Comparison between Ghanaian and Canadian mother-infant dyads.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on Ghanaian infants' developing social expectations for maternal behavior was investigated. Infants with high and low mother-infant skin-to-skin contact experience in the infants' first month engaged with their mothers in a Still Face Task at 6 weeks of age. Infants with high skin-to-skin contact experience, but not those with low skin-to-skin contact experience, demonstrated the still face effect with their smiles. Infants with both high and low skin-to-skin contact experience demonstrated the still face effect with their visual attention. The behaviors of the Ghanaian infants and their mothers during the task were compared to archival evidence of Canadian mother-infant dyads' behaviors in skin-to-skin and control groups who engaged in the Still Face Task at the infant ages of 1 and 2 months. Similarities and differences between the behaviors of the mother-infant dyads in the two cultures were assessed.

Longitudinal relations among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal mind-mindedness, and infant attachment behavior.

The relations among maternal depression risk, maternal mind-mindedness, and infants' attachment behavior were longitudinally examined in a community sample of mother-infant dyads. Maternal self-reported depression risk was measured at the infant ages of 6 weeks, 4 months, and 12 months. Maternal mind-mindedness, assessed from mothers' comments about infants' mental states (e.g., infants' thoughts, desires, or emotions), was measured during mother-infant interactions when infants were 4 months. Infants' attachment behavior was assessed at one year. Mothers' depression risk decreased over the infants' first year, with the sharpest decline between 6 weeks and 4 months. Mothers at risk for depression when infants were 6 weeks showed less appropriate mind-mindedness at 4 months. Mind-mindedness was not related to maternal depression risk at the infant age of 4 months or 12 months. Infants' degree of disorganized attachment behavior at one year was positively associated with maternal depression risk at 6 weeks and negatively associated with maternal appropriate mind-mindedness at 4 months. Mothers who are at risk for depression in their infants' early lives may be hampered in their capacity to respond appropriately to their infants' mental states. Infants with mothers who have difficulty responding appropriately to their mental states, as suggested by low appropriate mind-mindedness, may feel less known and recognized by their mothers, a key theme in the origins of disorganized attachment.

Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, and mother-infant interactions over infants' first three months.

The effects of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on the maintenance of mothers' decision to breastfeed, the effects of breastfeeding and SSC on mother-infant interactions, and whether maternal depressive symptoms mediate these effects were investigated over infants' first 3 months. When infants were 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months of age, mothers in the SSC and control groups reported the type of infant feeding provided and completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; J.L. Cox, J.M. Holden, & R. Sagovsky, 1987); mother-infant interactions were coded on the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS; G. Summer & A. Spietz, 1994). Percentage of breastfeeding dyads in the SSC group was stable over the 3 months; yet, fewer dyads in the control group were breastfeeding at the 2- and 3-month visits than at the 1-week visit. Breastfeeding dyads had higher NCAFS Caregiver subscale scores, indicating more positive maternal interactions, at 1 week, 2 months, and 3 months. NCAFS scores did not differ for the SSC and control groups. EPDS scores did not mediate the effect of SSC on breastfeeding or breastfeeding on NCAFS Caregiver subscale scores.

Effect of mother/infant skin-to-skin contact on postpartum depressive symptoms and maternal physiological stress.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of mother/infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on mothers' postpartum depressive symptoms during the first 3 postpartum months and their physiological stress during the first postpartum month. DESIGN: Longitudinal quasi-experiment. SETTING: Data were collected during home visits. PARTICIPANTS: Mothers in the SSC group (n = 30) provided approximately 5 hours per day of SSC with their infants in the infants' first week and then more than 2 hours per day until the infants were age one month. Mothers in the control group (n = 60) provided little or no SSC. All mothers had full-term infants. METHODS: Mothers completed self-report depression scales when infants were 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months of age. RESULTS: Compared to mothers in the control group, mothers in the SSC group had lower scores on the depression scales when the infants were one week and marginally lower scores when the infants were one month; when the infants were age 2 and 3 months, there were no differences between groups in the mothers' depression scores. Over their infants' first month, mothers in the SSC group had a greater reduction in their salivary cortisol than mothers in the control group. CONCLUSION: Mother/infant SSC benefits mothers by reducing their depressive symptoms and physiological stress in the postpartum period.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on infants' response to the Still Face Task from newborn to three months of age.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on infants' developing social expectations for maternal behavior was investigated longitudinally over infants' first 3 months. Infants with and without skin-to-skin contact engaged with their mothers in the Still Face Task at ages 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months. Infants with skin-to-skin contact began responding to changes in their mothers' behavior with their affect at 1 month; infants without skin-to-skin contact did so at 2 months. At 3 months, infants with skin-to-skin contact increased their non-distress vocalizations during the still face phase, suggesting social bidding to their mothers. Skin-to-skin contact accelerated infants' social expectations for their mothers' behavior and enhanced infants' awareness of themselves as active agents in social interactions.

The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and later maternal sensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants.

The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) and mothers' subsequent sensitivity to their low birth weight infants was investigated in a study of 12 mother-infant dyads who participated in a South African randomized control study of early SSC. The dyads were visited in the home when infants were under 1 year. Amounts of SSC were taken from hospital records and home interviews. Videotapes of mother-infant interactions in the home were scored for maternal sensitivity on the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (D.R. Pederson, G. Moran, & S. Bento, 1999) and the Maternal Behavior subscale of the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (G. Sumner & A. Spietz, 1994). Amount of SSC in infants' first 24 hr correlated with amount of SSC through the first month. Amount of SSC in infants' first 24 hr independently accounted for maternal sensitivity on both measures, indicating that early mother-infant SSC predicted subsequent maternal sensitivity.

Maternal sensitivity throughout infancy: continuity and relation to attachment security.

Relations among different measures of maternal sensitivity were assessed longitudinally by examining maternal behavior when infants were 4 months, 15 months, and 2.5 years. At each time period, two measures of maternal sensitivity were scored (4 months: maternal vocal and smiling contingency in face-to-face interactions; 15 months: maternal scaffolding and following of infants' play within joint attention; 2.5 years: maternal facilitative and collaborative play within joint attention). When infants were 2.5 years, attachment security was assessed. Mothers' scores on each maternal sensitivity measure within each time period were correlated with their maternal sensitivity scores in another time period, suggesting individual measures of maternal sensitivity were tapping similar aspects across the time periods. Maternal vocal contingency at 4 months was the strongest predictor of infants' attachment security over 2 years later.

Infants' Response to Maternal Mirroring in the Still Face and Replay Tasks.

Infants' response to maternal mirroring was investigated in 4-month-old infants. Mother-infant dyads participated in the still face and replay tasks. Infants were grouped by those whose mothers did and did not mirror their behavior in the interactive phases of the tasks. In the still face task, infants with maternal mirroring showed more attention, smiling, and positive vocalizations across the phases, although both groups of infants demonstrated the still-face effect with attention and smiling. Infants' social bidding to the mother during the still-face phase correlated with mothers' mirroring behavior. In the replay task, infants with maternal mirroring demonstrated carryover effects with smiling; infants without maternal mirroring showed no awareness of change in their mothers' behavior. In both the still face and replay tasks, infants with maternal mirroring were more engaged with their mothers. Results suggest that maternal mirroring of infants' behavior affects infants' detection of, and response to, reciprocal interaction.

Distinguishing Mother-Infant Interaction From Stranger-Infant Interaction at 2, 4, and 6 Months of Age.

Observers watched videotaped face-to-face mother-infant and stranger-infant interactions of 12 infants at 2, 4, or 6 months of age. Half of the observers saw each mother paired with her own infant and another infant of the same age (mother tapes) and half saw each infant paired with his or her mother and with a stranger (infant tapes). Observers were asked to judge which was the mother-infant dyad in each pair. Observers' accuracy improved as infants aged and was above chance for both mother and infant tapes when infants were 6 months. Differences between mother-infant and stranger-infant dyadic communication patterns also emerged as the infants aged. At 6 months, mother-infant dyads had more symmetrical communication and less asymmetrical communication than stranger-infant dyads.

Two-Month-Old Infants' Sensitivity to Social Contingency in Mother-Infant and Stranger-Infant Interaction.

Two-month-old infants (N = 29) participated in face-to-face interactions with their mothers and with strangers. The contingent responsiveness for smiles and vocalizations, while attending to the partner, was assessed for each partner in both interactions. For smiles and for vocalizations, infants were less responsive to the stranger relative to the mother when the stranger's contingent responsiveness was either more contingent or less contingent than that of the mother. Results are supportive of the hypothesis that young infants develop sensitivities to levels of social contingency present in their maternal interactions, which influence their responsiveness to others.

The role of joint attention in the development of infants' play with objects.

Year-old infants' play was scored within and outside joint attention with mother and when alone for four levels of maturity: stereotypical, inappropriate relational, appropriate relational, functional. Maternal sensitivity within joint attention was rated on two measures: following infants' interests and scaffolding infants' activities. Infants' play was more advanced with mother than when alone. With mother, infants had more functional and appropriate relational play within joint attention and more stereotypical play outside joint attention, indicating more advanced play within joint attention and more immature play outside joint attention. Functional play within joint attention, but not outside joint attention, correlated with functional play when alone. Mothers' ability to scaffold infants' activities within joint attention may be particularly facilitative to infants' advanced play.

The development of joint attention in blind infants.

There is little documentation of how and when joint attention emerges in blind infants because the study of this ability has been predominantly reliant on visual information. Ecological self-knowledge, which is necessary for joint attention, is impaired in blind infants and is evidenced by their reaching for objects on external cues, which also marks the beginning of their Stage 4 understanding of space and object. Entry into Stage 4 should occur before joint attention emerges in these infants. In a case study of two totally blind infants, the development of joint attention was longitudinally examined during Stage 4 in monthly sessions involving interactions with objects and familiar adults. The interactions were scored for behavior preliminary to joint attention, behavior liberally construed as joint attention, and behavior conservatively construed as joint attention. Behavior preliminary to joint attention occurred throughout Stage 4: behavior suggestive of joint attention by both liberal and conservative standards emerged initially in Stage 4 and became prevalent by mid to late Stage 4. The findings are discussed in terms of how they inform our thinking about the development of joint attention with respect to the importance of vision, cognition, social context, language, and early self-knowledge.