The still-face response in newborn, 1.5-, and 3-month-old infants

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.12.003

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume 29, Issue 2, April 2006, Pages 294-297

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.12.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

The present study investigated the still-face response to a female stranger in newborn, 1.5-, and 3-month-old infants. The results revealed that 1.5- and 3-month-olds, but not newborns, reliably decreased their visual attention and positive affect when the interaction partner became unresponsive during the still-face period.

Section snippets

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Kerstin Träger, Caterina Böttcher, Wenke Möhring, and Andrea Kobiella for data collection and coding as well as the parents and infants for their participation in this study. The study was funded in part by the Sofja Kovelevskaja Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to Tricia Striano. A fuller report of this study will be provided upon request.

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Cited by (45)

Influences of infants’ and mothers’ contingent vocal responsiveness on young infants’ vocal social bids in the Still Face Task
2022, Infant Behavior and Development
Citation Excerpt :
Five- and six-month-old infants tend to increase their non-distress vocalizations during the still face phase relative to the interactive phases (Bourvis et al., 2018; Franklin et al., 2014; Goldstein et al., 2009). However at these ages, infant smiling during the still face phase shows decreases relative to the interactive phases (Ekas, Haltigan, & Messinger, 2013; Adamson & Frick, 2003), similar to decreases in smiling during the still face phase seen at earlier ages (Bertin & Striano, 2006; Nadel, Soussignan, Canet, Libert & Gerardin, 2005). Infants younger than five and six months may not show increases in non-distress vocalizations in the still face phase relative to the interactive phases, as seen in older infants (Bourvis et al., 2018; Franklin et al., 2014; Goldstein et al., 2009).
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.
The newborn's smile through the eyes of the parent
2021, Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence
Dès ses premières heures de vie, le nouveau-né sourit d’une manière comparable, sur un plan morphologique, à celle des enfants plus âgés. Pour autant, le sourire néonatal a longtemps été qualifié de sourire endogène, ne lui accordant implicitement aucune valeur sociale. L’objectif de cette recherche exploratoire est de questionner le caractère social du sourire néonatal en situation interactive, un contexte favorable et pourtant peu exploré dans la littérature sur le sujet. Nous émettons l’hypothèse que le caractère social du sourire est lié à la dynamique de l’échange, le parent réagissant au sourire et lui donnant sens.
Quinze dyades mères/nouveau-nés âgés de 2 à 4 jours et 21 dyades pères/nouveau-nés âgés de 1 à 7 jours ont été filmées à la maternité. Le codage des vidéos a été réalisé en image par image à l’aide du logiciel The Observer XT tandis que la retranscription du discours parental a été réalisée au moyen du logiciel Audacity.
Nos résultats vont dans le sens de notre hypothèse initiale. D’une part, le parent sourit ou continue à sourire suite au sourire du nouveau-né. D’autre part, la verbalisation consécutive évoque de manière non-équivoque le sourire, et une fois sur 3 ce sourire est qualifié d’une manière qui laisse penser qu’il est perçu comme ‘adressé’.
La dimension sociale du sourire néonatal ne repose alors pas sur son caractère volontaire ou non mais bien sur le sentiment intime qu’a le partenaire que le sourire lui est adressé.
From the first hours after birth and from a morphological standpoint, newborns smile in a way similar to older children. Nevertheless, the newborn's smile has long been described as endogenous, thus implicitly assigning no social value to it. The objective of this exploratory study is to question the social nature of the newborn's smile during an interactive situation. Although this is a favorable context, it has seldom been explored inside the literature. Our hypothesis is that the social nature of the newborn's smile is linked to the exchange dynamic, where the parent reacts to the smile and gives meaning to it.
Fifteen mother/2 to 4-days-old newborn dyads and 21 father/1 to 7-days-old newborn dyads were video-recorded at the maternity. Video coding was carried out frame by frame using the software The Observer XT. Transcription of parental speech was done using the software Audacity.
Our results go hand in hand with our initial hypothesis. First of all, the parent smiles or continues to smile following the newborn's smile. Moreover, the parent's successive verbalizations evoke the newborn's smile in an unambiguous manner. In addition, the way that smile is described, one time out of three, suggests it is perceived as ‘directed’.
Rather than lying on its voluntary or involuntary nature, the social dimension of the newborn's smile lies on the intimate feeling experienced by the partner, during the interaction, that the smile is directed towards him or her.
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
2019, Infant Behavior and Development
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.
Neonatal Transitions in Social Behavior and Their Implications for Autism
2018, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Within the context of early infant–caregiver interaction, we review a series of pivotal transitions that occur within the first 6 months of typical infancy, with emphasis on behavior and brain mechanisms involved in preferential orientation towards, and interaction with, other people. Our goal in reviewing these transitions is to better understand how they may lay a necessary and/or sufficient groundwork for subsequent phases of development, and also to understand how the breakdown thereof, when development is atypical and those transitions become derailed, may instead yield disability. We review these developmental processes in light of recent studies documenting disruptions to early-emerging brain and behavior mechanisms in infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, shedding light on the brain–behavior pathogenesis of autism.
Active sleep is associated with the face preference in the newborns who familiarized with a responsive face
2017, Infant Behavior and Development
Citation Excerpt :
It is possible that newborns are attracted by their mother’s face (Field, Cohen, Garcia, & Greenberg, 1984; Sai, 2005) and not by an unfamiliar face (a stranger) previously known during an habituation paradigm as a still face, because the mother’s face, being responsive, meets an expectation of communication. Recent studies demonstrated that three-month old infants (Bertin and Striano, 2006) and also newborns (Nagy, 2008) spent less time looking at a face when it became a freeze face (still-face situation). Moreover, when newborns were engaged in the habituation paradigm with motionless mother’s face, they preferred the novel face in a successive preference task suggesting that the direction of infants’ preference could depend on the habituation task used (Scott and Nelson, 2004; Cecchini, Baroni, Di Vito, Piccolo, & Lai, 2011).
Aim of this study was to investigate the preferential looking behaviour, subsequent to a familiarization task (8-min) with a previously responsive or motionless face, before and after a sleep cycle. Moreover, the role of the active sleep in memory consolidation of the responsive or motionless faces was explored. Hypotheses were that the newborns undergoing a motionless familiarization will exhibit a novelty effect (preference for the novel face) whereas the newborns undergoing a responsive familiarization will show a familiarity effect (preference for the known face) before and after the sleep cycle; moreover, the amount of active sleep will be associated with the looking time at the known face after a sleep cycle.
Forty-five healthy full-term newborns were randomly assigned to two groups (group 1: motionless-familiarization and group 2: responsive-familiarization); in both groups newborns were video-recorded during four post-familiarization face-preference tasks, two of them performed before and two after a sleep cycle.
During the pre-sleep-trials, there was not a significant preference for one face in both groups. During the post-sleep trials, the newborns showed a clear preference for the novel face. This effect was more evident in group 1. Only in group 2 there was a significant positive correlation between the active sleep duration and the looking duration at the known-face during the post-sleep trials (r = 0.41; p = 0.040). Multiple regression confirmed that only in the group 2 the total duration of the active sleep was associated with the looking duration at the known-face during the post-sleep trials (Adjusted R² = 0.13; β = 0.41; t = 2.2; p = 0.040).
Findings showed that in newborns the face representation can be recalled after a sleep cycle. Moreover, the amount of the active sleep predicted the post-sleep looking toward the known-face only in the newborns who interactively familiarized with the face.
Social visual engagement in infants and toddlers with autism: Early developmental transitions and a model of pathogenesis
2015, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Efforts to determine and understand the causes of autism are currently hampered by a large disconnect between recent molecular genetics findings that are associated with the condition and the core behavioral symptoms that define the condition. In this perspective piece, we propose a systems biology framework to bridge that gap between genes and symptoms. The framework focuses on basic mechanisms of socialization that are highly-conserved in evolution and are early-emerging in development. By conceiving of these basic mechanisms of socialization as quantitative endophenotypes, we hope to connect genes and behavior in autism through integrative studies of neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and epigenetic changes. These changes both lead to and are led by the accomplishment of specific social adaptive tasks in a typical infant's life. However, based on recent research that indicates that infants later diagnosed with autism fail to accomplish at least some of these tasks, we suggest that a narrow developmental period, spanning critical transitions from reflexive, subcortically-controlled visual behavior to interactional, cortically-controlled and social visual behavior be prioritized for future study. Mapping epigenetic, neural, and behavioral changes that both drive and are driven by these early transitions may shed a bright light on the pathogenesis of autism.

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The still-face response in newborn, 1.5-, and 3-month-old infants

Abstract

Section snippets

Acknowledgments

Cognition

Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry

The still face: A history of a shared experimental paradigm

Infancy

Mother and infant activity and interaction in Japan and in the United States: A comparative macroanalysis of naturalistic exchange

International Journal of Behavioral Development

Social competence and person-object differentiation: An analysis of the still-face effect

Developmental Psychology

Discrimination and imitation of facial expression by neonates

Science

Receptive language development in infancy

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly