The development of timing Daniel Messinger, Marygrace Yale, Alan Cobo-Lewis, Alan Fogel, Meg Venezia, Susan Acosta, Danielle Thorp, Peter Mundy, & Tricia Cassel Supported by NICHD & & The Positive Psychology Foundation

Timing of expressive actions Window into real-time experience and interaction 1. Emotion expression central to infant communication 2. Developmental roots of emotion regulation 3. Beginning of referential communication

Timing early expressive behaviors n How do infants coordinate expressive actions in time and how does this change with age? What is an event-based approach? Which pairs of infant expressive behaviors are coordinated in time (facial expressions and vocalizations, facial expressions and gazes at a parent’s face, and/or vocalizations and gazes) and what does this suggest for the role of facial expressions? Indicate two patterns in which infant gazes and smiles are coordinated with mother smiles? How do all these patterns change with age? What does this suggest about infant-mother interaction? How do infants coordinate expressive actions in time and how does this change with age?

Face-to-face/still-face n Promise of assessing infant communicative intentionality n Relatively little focus on individual infants n And their sequences of communicative behaviors n Either in the still-face or regular face-to- face

Intentional Bid?

Overall research goal Assessing intentionality by directly coding early infant communicative bids has proved difficult Communicative coordination may provide a window on the interactive development of intentionality

Events as unit of analysis Unit of association = Patterns of actions (e.g., B1 & B2) B1B2 SMILE GAZE Overlapping behaviors create an expressive signal dependent on how they are patterned in time Beyond duration of co-occurrence

Generic Observed Patterns – A BEFORE B. E.g., Smile before Gaze n A smile which begins before and ends within a gaze at parent’s face. – A IN B. E.g., Smile in Gaze n A smile which begins and ends within a gaze at parent’s face. – B BEFORE A. E.g., Gaze before Smile n A gaze at parent which begins before and ends within a smile. – B IN A. E.g., Gaze in Smile n A gaze at parent’s face which begins and ends within a smile.

Expressions Gazes SM Take Observed Pattern SM No Smiles Gazes Away Gazes at Mom Smiles SM Separate into Observed Behaviors Time Smile in Gaze Simulation Procedure

To Create Simulated Pattern Smile Gaze SM No Smiles Gazes Away Gazes at Mom Smiles SM Observed Behaviors Time Use observed behaviors to create simulated sequences

Gaze Observed Pattern SmileSM Z = (Observed – Simulated)/SD S Smile in Gaze! Simulation indicates patterns not due to chance Simulated Random Pattern SM Smile Gaze Time Subtract Repeat 2000 times.

Study 1: Early infant communication Facial expressions (smiles & frowns) Vocalizations (non- reflexive vocalizations) Gaze direction (gazing at parent’s face & other) 40 infants at 3- & 6- months of age in modified face-to- face/still-face Facial Expression VocalizationGaze --?-- Yale, Messinger, Cobo-Lewis, et al. (1999; in press, Developmental Psychology) 12 & 40 infants at 3- & 6-months of age in modified face-to-face/still-face

Facial expression & vocalization n Facial expressions encompass vocalizations in a pattern that does not change with age or expression - replicated Facial Expression Vocalization

Facial expressions and gaze n Facial expressions – especially smiles - begin during gazes at parent’s face – Stronger with age & smile Facial Expression Gaze

Vocalization & Gaze n Vocalizations and gazes at parent were not coordinated in time VocalizationGaze --?--

Centrality of facial expressions n Facial expressions - both smiles and frowns - begin during gazes at parent’s face n Facial expressions encompass vocalizations n Vocalizations and gazes at parent were not coordinated in time

Dynamic formation of patterns n Communicative package is not pre-formed, but emerges through two links n Gaze at parent’s face sets the stage: n for a facial expression n into which a vocalization is likely to be inserted Communicative signal dynamically assembles in real-time Facial Expression VocalizationGaze --?--

Development of timing? Smile in gaze  Smile after gaze

Study 2. Interaction & developmental process – 13 mothers and infants – Interacting weekly in first 6 months of life – Data summed monthly – Infant gazes at mother’s face – Infant smiles – Mother smiles – Analyses relating infant and mother smiles are preliminary – Messinger, et al. – (in prep.)

Infant gaze  Infant smile  Stops gaze  Stops smile Smile after gaze

Emotion regulation development n Continuous visual contact scaffolds positive affect between months as infants embed smiles in gazes at parent. n Infants gaze away from parent while smiling between months, perhaps in the service of emotion regulation - replicated

Infant smile  Mother smile  Infant stops  Mother stops Infant Smile Mother Smile

More emotion regulation development in real-time n Between 4 – 6 months, infant smile elicits mother smile and infant stops smiling, perhaps also in the service of emotion regulation n Video Video

Emotion regulation development n Infant and mother create moments of mutual positive affect – Infants show increasingly strong positive affect in this period n Infants increasingly manage their own responses by briefly disengaging from these encounters Infant Gaze Mother Smile Infant Smile

Video example

Development of coordination n When infants gaze away from mother while smiling, it creates a potential bridge to focus on another object... n Alternating gaze between an object and social partner defines joint attention which develops between 8 & 12 months and often involves smiling n Timing: Anticipatory Smiles involve sharing positive affect with a partner during joint attention

Early smile before gaze less than expected by chance

Study 3. Roots of affective sharing n 26 typically developing infants n Administered the Early Social-Communication Scales at 8, 10 and 12 months of age n During episodes of joint attention (JA) – alternating gaze between object and experimenter n Proportion of JA episodes involving smiles n Proportion of Anticipatory Smiles: – Smiles at an object followed by smiling gaze at the experimenter n Conventional analyses

Anticipatory smile Gaze at object → Smile → Gaze at experimenter

Anticipatory smile

Only anticipatory smiling rises

Communicative milestone n Anticipatory smiling, not smiling in general, became a more likely feature of joint attention n When infants gaze at an object, smile, and then gaze at their social partners, it suggests the infants are intentionally sharing something specific - positive emotion about an object – with another.

Development of timing n A variety of methods can help us understand n The lived or real-time experiences of – Infants communicating – Infants and parents interacting – Infants and experimenters interacting n Revealing the central role of emotional facial expressions, the roots of emotion regulation, and the development of affective sharing.

Three interactive links n Infant gaze  Infant smile  Infant stop gaze  Infant stop smile – Increase with age n Infant smile  Mother smile  Infant stops  Mother stops – Increase with age n Infant gaze at mother  Mother smile  Infant gaze away  Mother stops smile – No increase with age

Centrality of emotional expressions