Research at TRI
INTERACTION STUDIES
Anger
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. Vera, Y.,
Gil, K., Diego, M., Bendell, D., & Yando, R. (2005). Anxiety and anger
effects on depressed mother-infant spontaneous and imitative interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 28,
1-9.
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Depressed mothers were assessed for anxiety and anger. Depressed mothers with
high and low anxiety were compared and depressed mothers with high and low
anger were compared on their spontaneous and imitative interactions with their
3-month-old infants. The high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time
smiling, showing exaggerated faces, gameplaying and imitating, more time moving
their infants’ limbs, but equivalent amounts of time vocalizing and touching.
The infants of high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time smiling and more
time in distress brow and crying, but spent equivalent amounts of time on other
behaviors (vocalizing, motor activity, gaze aversion and imitation). The high
anger versus low anger mothers differed in the same ways that the high anxiety
mothers differed from the low anxiety mothers. However, the infants of high
versus low anger mothers differed on all behaviors (less time spent smiling,
vocalizing, and showing motor activity and imitation and more time spent
showing distress brow, gaze aversion and crying). During the imitation versus
the spontaneous play sessions the mothers in all groups spent less time
smiling, vocalizing, touching and gameplaying and more time showing imitative
behavior. The infants also showed increased time in imitative behavior but also
increased time spent crying during the imitation sessions.
Coding
System
Guthertz, M., & Field, T. (1989).
Lap computer or on line coding and data analysis for laboratory and field
observations. Infant Behavior and
Development, 12, 305- 319.
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Describes two applications of the lap computer and microcomputer for coding and
analyzing data collected in the laboratory and in the field. Two research
studies using these observation systems are described and are followed by a
description of the hardware and software developed for these and other
applications. Unlike previous coding devices, the lap- or hand-held computer
can store sequential, time-series data for indefinite periods of time, and it
can be interfaced with a microcomputer.
Cranial-Facial
Anomaly Infants
Field, T. & Vega Lahr, N. (1984).
Early interactions between infants with cranio-facial anomalies and their
mothers. Infant Behavior and Development,
7, 527- 530.
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The mothers of cranio-facial anomaly infants did not differ in their
looking-at-the-infant-behavior, despite their infants’ facial deformity,
although the infants themselves looked at their mothers less frequently. Also,
the cranio-facial anomaly infants engaged in less frequent smiling and
vocalizing than the normal infants. The mothers of the cranio-facial anomaly
infants also showed less frequent smiling, vocalizing, imitative behaviors,
contingent responsivity, and gameplaying.
Depressed
Mothers
Field, T., Healy, B., & LeBlanc, W.
(1989). Sharing and synchrony of behavior states and heart rate in non-depressed
versus depressed mother infant interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 12, 357- 376.
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Depressed mothers and their infants shared negative affective behaviors more
often and positive behavior states less often than nondepressed dyads. Cross-
spectral analyses of the mothers’ and infants’ behavior and heart rate time
series suggested greater coherence of mother-infant behavior states in
nondepressed versus depressed dyads, greater coherence of infant behavior/
mother heart rate for the nondepressed versus depressed dyads, and greater
coherence across partner behavior (mother/infant behavior) than within partner
behavior and physiology (mother behavior/heart rate or infant behavior/ heart
rate).
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y.,
Gil, K., Diego, M., & Sanders, C. (2005). Infants of depressed mothers
facing a mirror versus their mother. Infant
Behavior & Development, 28, 48-53.
•
Infants showed more positive behavior (smiling) with their mothers versus the
mirror but also showed more negative behavior (gaze aversion, distress brow,
and crying) during the mother condition. These differences highlight the
infants’ greater affective responses (both positive and negative) to their
mother versus the mirror. Equivalent amounts of vocalizing to the mother and
mirror suggested that the mirror does not elicit social behavior, with the
infants perhaps enjoying watching themselves talk. Group differences suggested
that the infants of depressed mothers showed less gaze aversion with their
mothers, perhaps because their mothers were less interactive. When in front of
the mirror, they vocalized more and gaze averted less than the infants of
nondepressed mothers, suggesting that the mirror was particularly effective in
eliciting vocalizations in infants of depressed mothers.
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego,
M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K., & Sanders, C. (2007). Responses to
animate and inanimate faces by infants of depressed mothers. Early Child Development and Care, 177,
533-539.
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Infants of depressed versus non-depressed mothers showed less laughing and more
fussing when their mothers were spontaneously interacting, but showed more
laughing and less fussing during the mother-imitation condition.
Pelaez, M., Field et al. (2007).
Disengaged and authoritarian parenting behavior of depressed mothers with their
toddlers. Infant Behavior and
Development, 31, 145-148.
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Non-depressed mothers were classified as permissive a greater percentage of
time than the group of mothers with depressive symptoms. Toddlers of mothers
with depressive symptoms followed their mothers’ instructions for a lesser
percent of time, and displayed aggressive play behavior for a greater
percentage of time than toddlers of non-depressed mothers.
Father
Interactions
Field, T. (1978). Interaction behaviors
of primary vs. secondary caretaker fathers. Developmental
Psychology, 14, 183- 184.
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Fathers in general tended to engage in more gameplaying and less holding of
their infants. Primary caretaker fathers and mothers engaged in more smiling,
imitative grimaces and high-pitched imitative vocalizations than did secondary
caretaker fathers.
Field, T. (1981). Fathers' interactions
with their high- risk infants. Infant
Mental Health Journal, 2, 249- 256.
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The high-risk infants were less attentive and less affectively responsive than
normal infants, and their mothers were more active. Fathers of both high-risk
and normal infants engaged in more gameplaying and laughed more frequently than
mothers during interactions. Fathers engaged in similar amounts of activity,
smiling, laughing, and playing games with normal and high-risk infants.
Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Goldstein, S.,
& Scafidi, F. (1987). Interaction behavior of infants and their dual career
parents. Infant Behavior and Development,
10, 371- 377.
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The behaviors of dual-career parents were compared in face-to-face interactions
with their 8-month-old infants who attended an all day infant nursery. Mothers,
as compared to fathers, exhibited more frequent smiling, vocalizing, and
touching with their infants. In turn, the infants spent a greater proportion of
the interaction time smiling and being motorically active when they were
interacting with their mothers versus their fathers.
Gameplaying
Field, T. (1979). Games parents play
with normal and high risk infants. Child
Psychiatry and Human Development, 10, 41- 48.
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Approximately six different games were played for approximately one-third of
the interaction time. The high-risk infant-parent dyads engaged in gameplaying
less frequently than the normal infant-parent dyads.
Gaze
Aversion
Field, T. (1981). Gaze behavior of
normal and high- risk infants during early interactions. Journal of the American Academy Child Psychiatry, 20, 308- 317.
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The infants showed less gaze aversion with the moderately active partner
(mother) than with the minimally active partners (sibling and peer) or the
excessively active partners (the father). All infants showed less gaze aversion
during the doll and mirror interactions. The preterm infants gaze averted more
than the term infants in all interaction situations except the mirror and doll.
Field, T. (1981). Infant gaze aversion
and heart rate during face-to-face interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 4, 307- 315.
•
Infant gaze aversion was greater and tonic heart rate was elevated during the
low and high activity interactions. Heart rate accelerations occurred prior to
the onset of gaze accelerations and heart rate decelerations occurred during
the gaze aversion periods.
Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Goldstein, S.,
& Scafidi, F. (1987). Face- to- face interaction behavior across early
infancy. Infant Behavior and Development,
10, 111- 116.
• At
8 versus 4 months, infants showed more smiling, vocalizing, and motor activity,
and their mothers touched and moved their infants’ limbs more often.
Highrisk
Infants
Field, T. (1983). High risk infants
"have less fun" during early interactions. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 3, 77- 87.
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High risk infants are less attentive to their mothers and appear to have less
fun during early interactions than term, normal infants. Their smiles and
contented vocalizations were less frequent, and their frowns and cries were
more frequent than those of term, normal infants.
Interaction Coaching
Field, T. (1977). Effects of early
separation, interactive deficits, and experimental manipulations on infant
mother face- to- face interaction. Child
Development, 48, 763- 771.
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The effects of early separation on infant-mother interactions were
investigated. The attention-getting manipulation resulted in more maternal
activity and less infant gaze than in a spontaneous interaction, and the
imitation manipulation in less maternal activity and more infant gaze.
Field, T. (1982). Interaction coaching
for high- risk infants and their parents. Prevention
in Human Services, 1, 5- 24.
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Manipulations which effectively diminished the activity levels of these
extremely active mothers and enhanced their infants’ visual attention during
interaction with their mothers included mother imitation of all infants’
behaviors, repetition of phrases, and silencing during infants’ pauses.
Intrusive/Withdrawn
Diego, M., Field, T., Jones, N.A., &
Hernandez-Reif, M. (2006). Withdrawn and intrusive maternal interaction style
and infant frontal EEG symmetry shifts in infants of depressed and non
depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and
Development, 29, 220-29.
•
The effects of maternal interaction style (intrusive/withdrawn) on the
development of brain electrical activity were studied in infants of depressed
and non-depressed mothers’ shortly after birth and again at 3–6 months of age.
Infants of depressed mothers exhibited significantly greater relative right
frontal EEG activation than infants of non-depressed mothers. Infants of
depressed withdrawn mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG
activation than infants of depressed intrusive mothers.
Peer
Interactions
Field, T. (1979). Infant behaviors
directed toward peers and adults in the presence and absence of mother. Infant Behavior Development, 2, 47- 54.
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Social behaviors of infants were observed over the course of a semester while
the infants played in a university parents’ cooperative nursery. The infants
were more “social” and less “negative” toward their peers when mother was out
of the room, and they exhibited more social behaviors toward their peers by the
end of the semester.
Field, T. & Pawlby, S. (1980). Early
face- to- face interactions of British and American working and middle class
mother- infant dyads. Child Development,
51, 250- 253.
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The dyads engaged in equivalent amounts of proximal interaction but varying
amounts of distal interaction. Distal interaction behaviors occurred less
frequently in working-class dyads. Furthermore, the British dyads engaged in
more toy-related games and the American dyads exhibited more socially oriented
interactions and games.
Review
Field, T. (1978). The three Rs of infant
adult interactions: Rhythms, repertoires, and responsivity. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 3, 131-
136.
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Different studies on early infant-adult interactions, particularly face-to-face
and feeding interactions are reviewed. Data suggest that interactions can be
facilitated by the modulation of rhythms, modification of response repertoire,
and mutual responsivity by both infant and parent.
Field, T. (1987). Interaction and
attachment in normal and atypical infants. Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 1- 7.
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This paper reviews what we know about the relations between early interactions,
the “strange situation,” and social behavior in normal and atypical infants,
including premature infants, abused or neglected infants, and the infants of
depressed mothers.
Still-Face
Interactions
Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F.,
& Goldstein, S. (1986). Effects of maternal unavailability on mother-
infant interactions. Infant Behavior and
Development, 9, 473- 478.
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Four-month-old infants were subjected to the mother’s still-face and to a brief
separation from the mother. Although the infants became more negative and
agitated during both conditions, the still-face was more stressful.
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego,
M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K., & Sanders, C. (2007). Still-face and
separation effects on depressed mother-infant interactions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 28, 314-323.
•
Infants of depressed versus those of non-depressed mothers were less
interactive during the spontaneous interactions, as were their mothers, and
they showed less distress behaviors during the still-face condition.
Teaching
Interactions
DeCubas, M. M., & Field, T. (1984).
Teaching interactions of Black and Cuban teenage mothers and their infants. Journal of Early Child Development and Care,
16, 41- 56.
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Cuban mothers demonstrated the task to their infant with significantly more
verbalization than the Black mothers. Adult mothers showed a more internal
locus of control than teenage mothers. Infants of Black, teenage mothers
vocalized significantly less often than infants of other groups.
Temperament
Field, T., Adler, S., Vega Lahr, N.,
Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1987). Temperament and play interaction
behaviors across infancy. Infant Mental
Health Journal, 8, 156- 165.
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Easier temperament infants were generally noted to vocalize more and cry less
frequently during their play interactions.
Video
Taping Effects
Field, T., & Ignatoff, E. (1981).
Videotaping effects on the behaviors of low income mothers and their infants
during floor play interactions. Journal
of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2, 227- 235.
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One group of mothers was aware they were being videotaped, while the other was
not. When the mothers were aware of being videotaped, they were proximal to
their infants, offered and demonstrated toys more frequently, emitted a greater
number of words as well as declarative and imperative sentences, and their
infants engaged in more constructive play.
Working
Mothers
Field, T., Stoller, S., Vega Lahr, N.,
Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1986). Maternal unavailability effects on
very young infants in homecare vs. daycare. Infant
Mental Health Journal, 7, 274- 280.
•
Homecare vs. daycare infants displayed more motor activity and distress brow
behavior, and their mothers showed more exaggerated facial expressions,
vocalizing, and touching their infants than the mothers of daycare infants.
Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F.,
& Goldstein, S. (1987). Working mother infant interactions across the
second year of life. Infant Mental Health
Journal, 8, 19- 27.
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Changes noted in the infants’ play behavior included an increase in
vocalization and constructive play and a decrease in affectionate play. These
results, together with corresponding decreases in the mother’s constructive and
affectionate play behavior, suggest growing autonomy of the infant’s play and
encouragement and autonomy by the mothers.