Under the skin: Exploring 2‐month‐olds' thermal reactions in different social interactions with mother and stranger

Abstract

Physiological adaptations to external stressors can reveal socio-cognitive health in infancy. With the use of thermal imaging and behavioural analyses, the current study examined the arousal markers accompanying infants' interactions with a familiar and an unfamiliar person. To address the current research question, the mother and a complete stranger interacted with 2 to 3 month-old infants (N= 10, 2 boys)in three different conditions: Neutral, Play, and Compliment. Behavioral analyses showed that overall gaze was longer to the Stranger compared to the Mother independent of condition. Physiological findings showed that skin temperature was significantly higher with the stranger independent of condition. The regions of the face that passed the significance threshold included the maxillary area, the nose, and the forehead. Both behavioral and physiological findings emphasize the ability of the infant to distinguish between a familiar and an unfamiliar person. Most importantly, however thermal imaging has proven to be a promising tool in physiologically differentiating between variable social conditions in very young infants opening up a new experimental portal for identifying healthy physiological development. How to cite this article: Ioannou S, Morris P, Hassanain H, et al. Under the skin: Exploring 2-month-olds' thermal reactions in different social interactions with mother and stranger.

Beyond the familial: The development of emotional communication with mothers, fathers, and strangers

“…Infants gazed longer at strangers than at fathers, probably because paternal interaction styles are characterized by active, physical play (e.g., Bögels & Phares, 2008; Paquette, 2004), which is associated with frequent but brief patterns of gaze (Aktar et al., 2017; Colonnesi et al., 2012; Forbes et al., 2004). Unlike previous studies, however, there were no significant differences in infant levels of visual engagement between strangers and mothers (e.g., Beebe et al., 2009; Bigelow, 1977, 1998; Iannou et al., 2021; Lin & Green, 2009). Young infants' visual engagement with unfamiliar partners has been often interpreted as a reflection of alertness (Beebe et al., 2009), indexing emotional states of wariness (Izard, 1977; Sroufe, 1977; Sroufe et al., 1974; Waters et al., 1975).…”

“…When interacting with a stranger, high levels of novelty and uncertainty are involved, such that novel communicative patterns tend to emerge (Beebe, 2014). Prior research observed that by the second month of life, infants exhibit higher levels of visual engagement with a stranger than with mother (Beebe et al., 2009; Bigelow, 1998; Ioannou et al., 2021; Kurzweil, 1988; Lin & Green, 2009; Sherrod, 1979), presumably an index of alertness to novelty. Differential levels of positive affective and vocalization with strangers are only evident from four months (Bigelow, 1998; Bigelow & Rochat, 2006; Contole & Over, 1981; Lin & Green, 2009), which may reflect the development of expectations relevant to interactions with familiar communication patterns (Bigelow, 1998).…”

“…The first goal of the present study was to examine differences in the development of infant visual, facial, and vocal communication patterns between strangers and each parent. We anticipated that infants would display longer visual engagement with strangers than with either parent, particularly fathers (Beebe et al., 2009; Bigelow, 1977, 1998; Colonnesi et al., 2012; Iannou et al., 2021; Lin & Green, 2009). Conversely, we expected that infants would exhibit briefer positive affect and fewer vocalizations when interacting with strangers than when interacting with mothers, and perhaps fathers as well (Beebe et al., 2009; Bigelow, 1998; Colonnesi et al., 2012; Forbes et al., 2004).…”

Predicting Pointing from Early Emotional Communication with Mothers, Fathers, and Strangers through the Lens of Temperament

“…Infant vocalization rates appear to be similar with mothers and fathers (Aktar et al, 2017;Colonnesi et al, 2012;Salvadori et al, 2022), and are typically more frequent with either parent than with a stranger (Bigelow , 1998;Lin & Green, 2009;Salvadori et al, 2022; but see Beebe et al, 2009). In interaction with strangers, infant's levels of partner-directed gazing are typically higher than with mothers (Beebe et al, 2009;Lin & Green, 2009) or fathers (Salvadori et al, 2022) by the second month of life (Bigelow, 1998;Ioannou et al, 2021).…”

Predicting pointing from early socioemotional communication with mothers, fathers, and strangers through the lens of temperamental reactivity.

“…Infant vocalization rates appear to be similar with mothers and fathers (Aktar et al, 2017; Colonnesi et al, 2012; Salvadori et al, 2022), and are typically more frequent with either parent than with a stranger (Bigelow, 1998; Lin & Green, 2009; Salvadori et al, 2022; but see also Beebe et al, 2009). In interaction with strangers, infants’ levels of partner-directed gazing are typically higher than with mothers (Beebe et al, 2009; Lin & Green, 2009) or fathers (Salvadori et al, 2022) by the second month of life (Bigelow, 1998; Ioannou et al, 2021).…”