The beginning of conversation: Early patterns of mother-infant vocal responsiveness

Stevenson, Marguerite B.; Hoeve, James N. Ver; Roach, Mary A.; Leavitt, Lewis A.

doi:10.1016/0163-6383(86)90016-0

Cited by 50 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Symons and Moran (1987) observed vocalization, gaze, and smiling for both mother and infant (ages 13-16 weeks) under play, imitation, and attention-getting sessions finding that infants were responsive to mothers and mothers to their infants from one second of time to the next (in play and imitation sessions only). Similar findings have been obtained in studies of noncontent speech in 4 month olds (Beebe, Jaffe, Feldstein, Mays, & Alson, 1985;Stevenson, Ver Hoeve, Roach, & Leavitt, 1986), pitch matching in 6 month olds (Kessen, Levine, & Wendrich, 1979), and affective behavior in 3, 6 , and 9 month olds (Cohn & Tronick, 1988). One should not conclude, however, that the infant is being molded by the mother but rather regulates the interaction as well, perhaps as early as 8 to 9 weeks of age (Murray & Trevarthen, 1986).…”

Section: Interaction In Neonates and Infantssupporting

confidence: 77%

The Biological Origins of Automated Patterns of Human Interaction

Cappella¹

1991

Commun Theory

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T h e biological origins of automated patterns of-human interaction are explored. Automated patterns of interaction are distinguished f r o m deliberate patterns. Automated patterns consist of two particular types: stimulation regulation and emotional responsiveness.Evidence for the biological origins of these patterns is obtained by studying the early interactions of infants and neonates, surveying the ethological parallels, exploring the evolutionary adaptiveness of the specific patterns, and ascertaining physiological, psychopharmacological, and brain mechanisms responsible f o r the putterns. Although circumstantial, the case f o r a biological basis for stimulation regulation and emotional responsiveness is w r y suggestive.Consider what one can mean by the origins of a set of human behaviors. Origins can be located in learning, through the social, cultural, and environmental forces impinging on the organism. They can be located in the set of causal forces that produce the immediate behaviors under scrutiny. Origins can also be found in the set of logical operators that give rise to the set of all possible behaviors within a given domain, as Chomsky's (1957) grammatical operators did for language. Finally, the origins of a set of behaviors can be located in the biological, genetic, and evolutionary forces that are ultimately responsible for the behavior set. These four domains may be labeled nurture, proximate causality, logical generation, and nature.A student of human behavior interested in understanding behavior in its fullest would be unwise to neglect any of these aspects of a behavior's origins. To do so would be like trying to understand the volume of a complex geometric figure (like a duodecahedron) by measuring its height. It just will not work. That caveat offered, the focus of this article will nevertheless be limited to the biological origins of human interaction, locating itself on nature's side of the nature-nurture debate.Why should one focus o n the biological origins of human interaction? Forgetting about the "human interaction" component for the moment, several factors recommend a consideration of the ultimate origins of a behavior pattern. First, in the field of communication studies, the preeminent forms of explanation of human behavior have been the social and psychological. The reasons for this are as much accidents of history, linked to the roots of communication studies in social psychology, as they are a result of rational consideration of the set of explanatory forces operative in human conduct. Recent trends indicate an even larger role in 4

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Section: Interaction In Neonates and Infantssupporting

confidence: 77%

The Biological Origins of Automated Patterns of Human Interaction

Cappella¹

1991

Commun Theory

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“…Previous research has found that when an infant is picked up and put to a shoulder in response to spontaneous crying, a decrease in crying as well as an increase in alertness and scanning of the environment result (Korner & Grobstein, 1966). Studies have also shown the powerful attraction of maternal vocalization in eliciting infant attention (Stevenson, ver Hoeve, Roach, & Leavitt, 1986) and maintaining it (D'Entremont & Muir, 2000). Thus, the combined effect of holding/rocking and vocalization might be explained as an additive effect of vocalization once the infant has responded to the effect of holding/rocking.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Regulation of Infant Reactivity From 2 to 6 Months.

Jahromi

Putnam

Stifter

2004

Developmental Psychology

107

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Previous research has investigated the effect of maternal soothing behaviors on reducing infant reactivity but not the differential effects of specific maternal behaviors on infant stress responses. The present study investigated maternal regulation of 2-and 6-month-olds' responses to an inoculation and found a significant decline with age in both the intensity and duration of infants' crying. Maternal affection and touching decreased from 2 to 6 months, whereas maternal vocalizing and distraction behaviors increased. At both ages, the combination of maternal holding/rocking and vocalizing was associated with decreases in all levels of infant reactivity. Neither strategy alone, however, was found to be effective. Feeding/ pacifying behaviors were effective only when initial distress was at a low or moderate level, which suggests that the effectiveness of maternal regulatory behaviors may depend on the intensity of infants' crying.

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“…More responsive mothers have more vocal infants (Jones and Moss, 1971). This suggests that mothers' vocal responsiveness contributes significantly to infant language development (Anderson et al, 1977;Stevenson et al, 1986). According to other findings, one of the main characteristics that influence how mothers and infants interact is the degree of responsiveness of the infant (e.g.…”

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confidence: 82%

Maternal verbal interaction in different situations with infants born prematurely or at term

Reissland

Shepherd

Stephenson

1999

Infant and Child Development

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The present study investigates whether maternal verbal behaviour, in terms of the use of declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives, can be accounted for by gestational age of the infant, or the situation in which mother–infant pairs were observed. Thirteen mothers and their premature and term babies were observed twice in three situations, namely playing with, feeding and changing their infants. The first observation took place at a mean gestational age of 40 weeks and the second observation took place approximately 7 weeks later. All mothers used more imperatives during play than during changing or feeding situations. Mothers used more interrogatives during play than during changing or feeding, and they used more declaratives during both changing and playing than during feeding. In contrast, gestational age influenced only the complexity of maternal interrogatives. It is concluded that situational factors are significant and hence that the mother's role has to be judged relative to the context in which mothers and infants are observed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The beginning of conversation: Early patterns of mother-infant vocal responsiveness

Cited by 50 publications

References 17 publications

The Biological Origins of Automated Patterns of Human Interaction

The Biological Origins of Automated Patterns of Human Interaction

Maternal Regulation of Infant Reactivity From 2 to 6 Months.

Maternal verbal interaction in different situations with infants born prematurely or at term

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