When mom and child interact, physiology and behavior coordinate

Date:
November 11, 2021
Source:
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences
Summary:
When mothers and their children play together, they instinctively
respond to each other's cues. And positive interactions promote the
child's healthy socioemotional development. A new study examines
how physiological and behavioral reactions coordinate during
mother-child playtime. The findings highlight the importance of
responsive communication, and can help provide insights for parents,
practitioners, and researchers.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When mothers and their children play together, they instinctively respond
to each other's cues. And positive interactions promote the child's
healthy socioemotional development. A new study from the University of
Illinois examines how physiological and behavioral reactions coordinate
during mother- child playtime. The findings highlight the importance
of responsive communication, and can help provide insights for parents, practitioners, and researchers.


==========================================================================
"Our study measures real-time physiological and behavioral coordination
between mothers and children while they're interacting with each other,"
says Yannan Hu, doctoral student in the Department of Human Development
and Family Studies at U of I and lead author on the paper. "Researchers consider physiological synchrony beneficial for the child's socioemotional development. But our study is one of the first to link it to behavioral synchrony." The findings show mothers generally lead changes in
physiological responses but only for mother-child pairs with high levels
of behavioral coordination.

"Overall, when mothers and children are coordinated at the behavioral
level - - they work together, take turns, and share positive affect --
the child's physiological activity follows the physiological changes in
mom," Hu explains.

The study included 110 mothers and their children, ranging from 3 to 5
years of age. Participants came to a University of Illinois behavioral laboratory for a session of interactive play. Mother and child first
worked together for five minutes on solving a 3-D puzzle. Then, then
switched to "pet doctor" toys and stuffed animals for another five
minutes of pretend play.

During play sessions, the researchers equipped mothers and children
with wireless electrodes to measure their parasymphathetic response
through high- frequency changes in heart rate, known as respiratory
sinus arrhythmia (RSA).

They also recorded the play sessions, and trained observers coded
mother-child behavioral coordination, including shared smiles and
laughter, taking turns, and responding to each other's social cues.



========================================================================== Positive changes in RSA indicate that mothers and children are socially engaging and moving toward each other, the researchers say, while
decreases in RSA are typically observed when confronting a stressor
or problem. Thus, increases in the mother's RSA are likely to indicate increasing engagement with the child, who then reciprocates in turn.

"We measured in real time whether the mom and child are able to
coordinate," Hu says. "This tells us about their interactions above and
beyond the mom's parenting behavior. It not only matters how parents
treat their children.

Children also need to be responsive to their parents' cues for the
parent and child to establish a coordinated interaction." From the
findings, parents can learn more about the importance of tuning in to
their children's cues and being responsive to their behaviors during
playtime and other interactions.

"Another strength of this study is the focus on mother-child
interaction during a positive play context," notes Nancy McElwain,
HDFS professor and co-author on the paper. "Research often focuses on
how parents help children regulate negative emotions and behaviors,
and this is important. It is equally important, though, to understand
how parents and children work together to maintain or increase shared
positive interactions and emotions. Play provides an ideal context
to understand these positive processes." However, the study can also
help practitioners spot potential problems for early intervention by identifying less beneficial behaviors, such as interrupting each other,
failing to take turns, or ignoring each other's social cues.

The researchers are expanding their studies to mothers and infants to
consider how moment-to-moment behavioral and physiological coordination
shapes brain development during the first year of life. They are also
planning in-home "virtual" studies that allow for more diverse samples
and inclusion of fathers and other caregivers.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is in the College
of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of
Illinois.

The study was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation
(SMA- 1416791) and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (ILLU-793- 362).

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Illinois_College_of_Agricultural,_Consumer and_Environmental_Sciences. Original written by Marianne Stein. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yannan Hu, Nancy L. McElwain, Daniel Berry. Mother-child mutually
responsive orientation and real‐time physiological
coordination.

Developmental Psychobiology, 2021; 63 (7) DOI: 10.1002/dev.22200 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211111130301.htm

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