2-097 - Extending the Still-Face Paradigm: Physiological and Neural Correlates of Infant Behavioral Regulation

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The Still-Face Paradigm (SFP; Tronick et al., 1978) has long been incorporated into laboratory studies of infant affect and regulation. The face-to-face interaction between infant and caregiver allows researchers to study emotional expressions within the dyadic relationship. Through these interactions, infants learn appropriate social behaviors and also form expectations of the caregivers’ role in communication and expressive behavior. Individual differences in infant-caregiver interactions throughout the SFP also elucidate infants’ real-world behaviors (i.e., attachment, emotion regulation).

A recent meta-analysis (Mesman et al., 2009) called for further research to extend the ways in which the SFP is used to understand infant behaviors. Specifically, the authors suggested we should: 1) better understand the father’s role in infant emotional development; 2) include infant temperament measures to examine individual differences in SFP responses; and 3) identify moderators of still-face behaviors. The three papers presented in this symposium use the SFP to examine infant development by incorporating some of these suggestions using methods that extend findings beyond observational coding. The first measures infant RSA suppression during the SFP with mothers and fathers, and offers evidence of different predictors of infant RSA suppression with mothers versus fathers. The second examines infant neural development predicting behavioral regulation during the SFP, and finds interesting differences between infants exposed to varying levels of prenatal stress. The final paper examines the correspondence between infant-mother heart rate changes and infant affective regulation during the SFP. Findings suggest individual differences during reunion play a significant role in maternal influences on infant behavioral regulation.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Elizabeth Planalp, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Discussant

• Julie Braungart-Rieker, University of Notre Dame

Individual Presentations

• Predictors of Infant Physiological Regulation during the Still-Face Paradigm with Mothers and Fathers - Presenting Author: Diane M Lickenbrock, Western Kentucky University; Lauren G Bailes, Western Kentucky University; Joanna K Pearson, Western Kentucky University, Department of Psychological Sciences

• Pathways from early adversity to infant brain development and emotion regulation during the Still-Face Paradigm - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Planalp, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Douglas C Dean III, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kristin Noelle Dowe, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Richard J. Davidson, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hill Goldsmith, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Infant behavioral and physiological regulation in the Still Face Paradigm: Infant and maternal contributions - Presenting Author: Elizabeth B DaSilva, Indiana University-Bloomington; Bennett I Bertenthal, Indiana University