The aim of the present longitudinal and naturalistic study was to explore and describe several basic aspects of early vocal imitative exchanges in infant± father and infant± mother free interactions. Fifteen infants, born in Crete, were observed with their mothers and fathers at home from the 2nd to the 6th month of their life. It was found that several basic aspects of vocal imitation, such as frequency, structure, the direction and the duration of components of imitative interactions (e.g. modelling, pause, imitation and total duration) did not differ signi® cantly in interactions of infants with their fathers and mothers, although the linguistic nature of some sounds imitated differed in maternal and paternal interactions. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of mothers' and fathers' imitative ability and sensitivity to infant utterances and the intersubjective nature of vocal imitation.

This study deals with parenting from a cultural perspective. Based on Kagitcibasi's model of the autonomous relational self, the authors analyzed Greek urban middle-class mothers' parenting strategies and compared them with German urban middle-class mothers'parenting styles. Interactional behaviors were assessed during videotaped, free-play home observations. It was assumed that urban middle-class Greek and German mothers do not differ in their display of face-to-face context and object stimulation, both considered as supporting an independent agency, that Greek mothers modulate the face-to-face context more with facial warmth than do German mothers who on the other hand, modulate their face-to-face behavior more with experiences of contingency than do Greek mothers. The data confirm our assumptions with the exception of baby talk as a second indicator of facial warmth. The data are interpreted in terms of foundations of socialization pathways of urban families in independent and interrelated societies without denying intracultural variability.

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The present longitudinal, naturalistic and cross-cultural study aims to investigate and extend our understanding of the intersubjective nature of the early imitations that may be observed in free interactions between young infants and their parents. Thirty infants, 15 from Greece and 15 from Scotland, were observed separately with their mothers and fathers at home every 2 weeks, from the second to the sixth month after birth. In each dyad, the emotional states of both interacting partners before, during and after the imitative episodes were subjected to microanalysis. The results indicate that emotional coordination, either by direct matching of expressions or by attunement, precedes, accompanies and follows imitation. This kind of coordination was found to be the same in Crete and Scotland, and for parents and infants of both sexes. It is concluded that this coordination of emotions with early imitative phenomena is evidence of motivational coherence, both within the subjects, and between them in an intersubjective play.

We compare matching of facial expressions and attunement of emotional intensity in spontaneous communication of mothers with infants and of fathers with infants, in families in Crete. Eleven infant-mother and 11 infant-father dyads were videorecorded at home in familiar interactions from the 2nd to the 6th month. Microanalysis of infant, maternal and paternal facial expressions of emotion provided evidence of quantitative differences that favour father-infant interaction as more playful, but the infants' behaviours with mothers and fathers show similar developmental curves. These results are discussed in the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity and of the emotional support parents give to developing motives of infants.

We studied the timing of the spontaneous vocalization that occurs in dyadic interactions of fathers and their neonates.We recorded 21 fathers speaking to their 2 to 4-day-old newborns at the maternity ward and accurately coded all beginnings and endings of paternal and neonatal vocalization, using sound visualization software. Temporal relations Highlights• We used detailed analysis to investigate the temporal organization of spontaneous vocal exchanges in dyadic interactions of fathers with their neonates.• We observed 21 fathers and their 2 to 4-day-old newborns at the maternity ward. We showed a tight temporal organization between both partners' vocal expressions which suggests that a

Eleven infant-mother dyads in Crete were videod during spontaneous interactions at home, from the second to the sixth month of life. Micro-analysis was used to investigate'coordination'and 'nonmatching' of facial expressions of emotion. 'Emotional coordination' was evaluated with four measures: matching of facial expressions, completion when one responded to the other with 'pleasure' or 'interest', synchrony by matching frequency of change or rhythm of emotional expressions, and attunement when shifts of emotional intensity of the two partners were in the same direction.'Emotional non-matching'was coded when neither the infant nor the mother showed interest in interacting with the other. In emotional coordination or non-matching between mother and infant, who performed first was also recorded.We obtained evidence of emotional matching, synchrony, and attunement. Importantly, the probability of emotional non-matching by the infant was higher than the probability of emotional matching and completion, indicating a tendency for thoughtful attention or playful rivalry in the responses of infants, who also initiated emotional matching, completion, and non-matching more frequently than mothers. The probability of expression of emotional matching, completion, and non-matching changed with age.Both mothers and infants act to obtain sympathetic complementarity of feelings and co-operative inter-synchrony of actions.

The present longitudinal and naturalistic study aimed to investigate fathers' and infants' facial expressions of emotions during paternal infant-directed speech. The microanalysis of infant and paternal facial expressions of emotion in the course of the naturalistic interactions of 11 infant -father dyads, from the 2nd to the 6th month, provided evidence that: (a) fathers and infants match their emotional states and attune their emotional intensity; (b) infants seem to match paternal facial emotional expressions more than vice versa; (c) the prevailing emotional states of each partner remain constant in the beginning and at the end of speech; and (d) the developmental trajectories of infant interest and paternal pleasure change significantly across the age range of 2 -6 months and they seem to follow similar courses. These results are interpreted within the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity.