Characterizing Mother-Infant Physiological Synchrony During Everyday Home Activities

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Abstract

Background: Mother-infant synchrony, characterized by adaptive and reciprocal behaviors that promote mutually rewarding interaction, is a well-established foundation for child cognitive, self-regulatory, and social-emotional development (Feldman & Eidelman, 2007). Despite a large body of work identifying mother-infant physiological synchrony during structured face-to-face interactions, relatively fewer studies have been conducted in the home using state-of-the-art physiological measures to evaluate mother-infant synchrony during daily activities (Leclère et al., 2014). While physiological synchrony is a dynamic and emergent process (Delaherche et al., 2012; Sameroff, 2009), its presence may also vary systematically across different activities that afford different opportunities for engagement. The present study aims to fill a gap in the current literature by investigating the presence and predictors of mother-infant physiological synchrony during everyday home activities.

Aims and Hypotheses: Our first aim is to characterize mother-infant physiological synchrony across activities varying in levels of engagement: naturalistic free play, infant feeding, diapering, as well as an experimenter-led temperament assessment (where mother and infant are neither face-to-face nor interacting, thus serving as a low-engagement benchmark). We hypothesize that mother-infant physiological synchrony will be dynamically modulated by activity type, such that average synchrony will be higher in some tasks (e.g., breastfeeding) and lower in others (e.g., temperament assessment). Our second aim is to test depressive symptoms as a predictor of mother-infant synchrony. We hypothesize that despite a largely subclinical sample, higher symptoms of depression will be associated with lower levels of synchrony across activities.

Methods: Data were collected from 87 infants (51% male, M=4.5 months, SD=2.5) and their mothers in the context of a study harnessing wearable sensors to examine the intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology. ECG activity was obtained from mothers and infants using Movisens Move4 chest-worn sensors (12bit, 1024 Hz). Free play (n=61), infant feeding (n=39), diapering (n=35) and temperament assessment (n=60) episodes were video recorded and time-locked to ECG activity. Mothers rated their depressive symptoms on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

Pre-registration data analysis: Interbeat intervals (IBIs) extracted from Move4 output will be linearly interpolated to form evenly sampled time-series. Each time-series will be scanned for artifacts and corrected. Consistent with Feldman et al., 2011, we will compute Cross Correlation Functions (CCFs) between the IBI series of each mother and infant. Synchrony will be indicated by positive CCF coefficients (significantly different from zero) and will be compared across activities. Maternal depressive symptoms will also be tested as a predictor of CCF coefficients. In post-hoc analyses, infant age, sex, temperament, and type of feeding (breast vs. bottle) will be explored as moderators. Our data have already been collected. Data analysis will be finished by January 2021 and results will be completed by the time of meeting.

Broader Impacts: This is the first study to evaluate the dynamic modulation of mother-infant physiological synchrony across different activities in the home. Results will yield novel insights into the presence of synchrony across everyday activities, as well as the role that maternal depressive symptoms play in the daily emergence of synchrony among mother-infant dyads.

Authors

• Megan Micheletti, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Karamveer Kaur, Northern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexis Dominguez
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lara Andres, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• McKensey Johnson
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kaya Anna De Barbaro
  Non-Presenting Author