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Background: Term infants learn word–object relations in their first year during multisensory interactions with caregivers. Although preterm infants often experience language delays, little is known about how caregivers contribute to their early word–object learning. The present longitudinal study compared maternal naming and word learning in these infant groups. Methods: Forty moderately preterm and 40 term infants participated at 6–9 and 12 months with their mothers. At each visit, mothers named two novel objects during play, and infants' learning was assessed using dynamic displays of the familiar and novel (mismatched) word–object relations. Infants' general cognitive, language, and motoric abilities were evaluated. Maternal multisensory naming was coded for synchrony between the target words and object motions and other naming styles. Results: During play, although overall maternal naming‐style was similar across infant groups within visits, naming frequency increased to term but not preterm infants, from visit 1 to 2. On the test at visit 1, although the term infants' looked equally to novel and familiar word–object relations, their looking to the novel relations correlated positively with maternal synchrony use but inversely with naming frequency. At visit 2, term infants looked longer to the novel relations. In contrast, preterm infants showed no looking preference at either visit. Neither was their word–object learning correlated with maternal naming. Their cognition, language, and motor scores were attenuated when compared to term infants on the Bayley‐III but not their MCDI vocabulary. Conclusions: Less adaptive maternal naming and delayed word mapping in moderately preterm infants underscore a critical need for multisensory language intervention prior to first‐word onset to alleviate its cascading effects on later language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:  Research points to the importance of breastfeeding for promoting close mother–infant contact and social‐emotional development. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified brain regions related to maternal behaviors. However, little research has addressed the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal behavior in human mothers. We investigated the associations between breastfeeding, maternal brain response to own infant stimuli, and maternal sensitivity in the early postpartum. Methods:  Seventeen biological mothers of healthy infants participated in two matched groups according to feeding method – exclusive breastfeeding and exclusive formula‐feeding at 2–4 weeks postpartum. fMRI scanning was conducted in the first postpartum month to examine maternal brain activation in response to her own baby's cry versus control baby‐cry. Dyadic interactions between mothers and infants at 3–4 months postpartum were videotaped in the home and blindly coded for maternal sensitivity. Results:  In the first postpartum month, breastfeeding mothers showed greater activations in the superior frontal gyrus, insula, precuneus, striatum, and amygdala while listening to their own baby‐cry as compared to formula‐feeding mothers. For both breastfeeding and formula‐feeding mothers, greater activations in the right superior frontal gyrus and amygdala were associated with higher maternal sensitivity at 3–4 months postpartum. Conclusions:  Results suggest links between breastfeeding and greater response to infant cues in brain regions implicated in maternal–infant bonding and empathy during the early postpartum. Such brain activations may facilitate greater maternal sensitivity as infants enter their social world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prematurity and perinatal insults lead to increased developmental vulnerability. The home-based Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program (IBAIP) was designed to improve development of preterm infants. In a multicenter randomized controlled trial the effect of IBAIP on mother-infant interaction was studied as a secondary outcome. Method: Mother-infant interaction was assessed during the Still-face procedure at 6 months corrected age. One hundred and twelve mother-infant dyads (57 intervention, 55 control) were studied. Results: Findings partially supported our hypothesis that the intervention would increase maternal sensitivity in interaction with their preterm infants. No effects were found on infant self-regulatory behavior or positive interaction behavior. Conclusion: The family-centered and strength-based approach of IBAIP appears to be a promising intervention method to promote sensitive mother-infant interaction at home after discharge from hospital. However, no positive effects were found on infant interaction behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emotion regulation (ER) has been conceptualized as an ongoing process of the individual’s emotion patterns in relation to moment-to-moment contextual demands. In contrast to traditional approaches of descriptively quantizing ER, we employed a dynamic approach to ER by examining key transitions in infants of clinically depressed and nondepressed mothers in the context of maternal still-face (SF). Methods: Mothers with ( n = 48) and without a clinical diagnosis of depression ( n = 68) were seen in a modified SF paradigm with their 5-month-olds. Infant states and self-soothing behaviors were coded in 1-sec time intervals. Results: Infants of nondepressed mothers used attentional regulatory strategies, whereas infants of depressed mothers used internally directed strategies of self-soothing to reduce negativity and maintain engagement with mother. Conclusions: This study advances our understanding of processes underlying infant ER and points to possible mechanisms for the development of long-term maladaptive ER strategies in infants of depressed mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Successful communication with profoundly deaf children is heavily dependent on visual attention. Previous research has shown that mothers of deaf children -- notably those who are deaf themselves -- use a variety of strategies to gain their children's attention. This study compares patterns of visual attention in deaf and hearing children to determine how they are affected by the absence of auditory cues, especially when looking to the mother's face. Method: The visual attention of 18-month-old infants to their mothers was examined in two groups of deaf children (6 with deaf mothers and 6 with hearing mothers) and two of hearing children (6 with deaf mothers and 8 with hearing mothers). Dyads were observed in free play and 10 minutes of videorecorded interaction was analysed. All looks to the mother were classified as Spontaneous, Responsive (Child turns in response to something done by mother) or Elicited (Mother actively seeks to gain child's attention by, e.g., tapping or waving). The kind of event that attracted the child's attention in Responsive and Elicited episodes was also determined (e.g., object movement, speech, physical contact), as was the focus of the child's attention (e.g., mother's face, mother's body). Results: Responsive looks to the mother were the most frequent for all groups but on only about 25% of occasions were they directed to her face. Elicited and spontaneous looks occurred less often but were frequently directed to the mother's face. Spontaneous looking occurred in all groups but elicited looking very seldom occurred in Hearing--Hearing dyads. Overall, there were fewer looks to the mother in the two groups where mother and child had congruent hearing status, although the proportion of the looks to the mother's face was similar. Conclusions: Both spontaneous and elicited looks are likely to involve attention to the mother's face. However, while active elicitation of attention is an important part of successful communication with young deaf children, this does not appear necessary for typically developing hearing children who turn to look at their mother's face on hearing her voice. The implications of these findings for differences in the dynamics of communication with young deaf and hearing children are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study investigated the early processes involved in the development of symptoms of conduct disorder and hyperactivity. Method: The study employed a prospective design, over a period from 2 months to 8 years. Detailed observational data of early and later mother-child interactions were collected, infant prefrontal function (the A not B task) was assessed, and symptoms of child conduct disorder and hyperactivity were rated by maternal report at age 5 and 8 years. Results: The principal findings of the study were that emotional dysregulation on the A not B task at 9 months predicted symptoms of conduct disorder at 5 and 8 years, and delayed object reaching times on the same task predicted hyperactive symptoms at 5 years. These two developmental trajectories were associated with distinct patterns of early parenting that were strongly influenced by infant gender. Thus, in boys early emotional dysregulation was predicted by rejecting and coercive parenting, and delayed reaching on the A not B task by coercive parenting, whereas in girls only continuity from earlier infant behaviour could be demonstrated. There was strong continuity between these early infant behaviours and later child disturbance that was partially mediated by parenting for conduct disorder symptoms (maternal hostile parenting in boys, and maternal coercive parenting in girls), but not for hyperactive symptoms. Conclusions: These data would suggest that only in boys was there evidence for the existence of a sensitive period for the development of hyperactive symptoms, and to a lesser extent, conduct disorder symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of postural control of the head and of looking towards and looking away from the mother is described, the age relationship between attainment of postural head control and looking towards the mother is investigated and the relation between smiling and 'pleasure' vocalizations to looking towards and away is examined. Twelve normal, full-term mother-infant pairs participated in this home-based study. En face interaction was video-taped for maximally 15 min at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 (or 21) weeks. We conclude that postural head control constitutes an important prerequisite for the emergence of socially directed behaviours during en face interaction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of prematurity on the responsiveness of mothers and their 4-nionih-old infants was examined across three channels of communication: attentional, vocal and affective. Loglinear models were used to determine how the behavior of one partner was conditional upon the behavior of the other during home observations of '24 preterm and 24 term infants and their mothers. Visual attention was elicited by vocalization, and the onset of infant gaze was marled by a maternal smile. Mothers and infants responded to vocalizations with vocalizations, and mothers responded to smiles with smiles. Mothers of preterm infants were particularly responsive to their infants' signals within the: attentional. vocal and affective channels. Preterm infants demonstrated correspondingly heightened responsiveness within the vocal and affective channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The temporal organization of the behaviour of children at risk can exhibit inconsistencies which may impair their adaptation. Seven mother-newborn pairs, selected for neurological and obstetric optimality of the babies, were observed during 2 breast-feedings (2nd after birth and 6th to 9th after birth). During pauses between sucking bouts the behaviours of the two partners were strongly coupled, even in the earlier feedings, which was not the case during sucking bouts themselves. Pauses which contained tactile behaviour were shorter in later feedings than in earlier ones, in contrast to both pauses without tactile behaviour and to bouts. The possible functional relevance of emerging temporal relations between partners' behaviours during breast-feeding is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY In two studies, photographs of facial expressions of normal and Down's syndrome infants were viewed by mothers who recognized discrete emotions and reported regularities in caregiving associated with these emotions. Stimulating interactions were reported more frequently for high intensity expressions than for low intensity expressions. While these regularities held for both groups of infants, high intensity expressions were less frequent in the Down's group. The biological mothers of Down's infants seemingly compensated by reporting more stimulating interventions in response to their infants' low intensity expressions. Mothers who were unfamiliar with both groups of infants did not evidence this compensatory adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]