THE TEMPORAL COORDINATION IN INFANT SOCIAL ACTIONS

在开始说话之前，婴儿社会行为发展的交际意义的一个指标是它们的时间协调性。当一个动作（例如，发声）在另一个动作（例如，凝视母亲）的过程中开始和结束时，就会出现一种时间协调。这种时间嵌入模式表明，这两个动作是一个表达事件的一部分。拟议的项目将使用一种新的软件模拟引导程序来记录婴儿社会行动的时间协调中的嵌入和其他模式。50名婴儿将在3、6和9个月时纵向观察他们与母亲面对面的互动。描述性编码将用于根据情感语调对婴儿发声和面部表情进行分类。婴儿凝视的方向将被编码为盯着母亲的脸/眼睛或远离。互惠嵌入的模式被假设为所有行为模式对的行动。例如，人们期望婴儿在凝视母亲的脸的过程中开始和结束面部表情；但在面部表情的过程中，他们也会开始和结束对母亲的注视。结合引导程序的软件在每个模态中独立模拟婴儿动作的时间进程，在模态协调之间创建具有随机水平的多个模拟会话。它将表明婴儿是否以高于偶然的水平相互嵌入社会行为。随着年龄的增长，当婴儿成为更有能力的交流者时，时间嵌入会增加。当婴儿因母亲在静止面部过程中无反应而感到沮丧时，预计嵌入会减少。涉及有效的积极和消极行动的嵌入模式的相对强度将被对比，以阐明它们各自的表达清晰度。总之，将采用一种新的方法来确定嵌入事件是否在大于概率的水平上发生：(1)总体，(2)在互动中而不是在母亲静止的脸上，(3)在不同的年龄，以及(4)在不同的有效调和的社会行为对之间。该项目的一个长期目标是收集试点数据，以便将来调查婴儿和母亲之间的时间协调（例如轮流）。这将为探索由婴儿交流障碍（如自闭症和唐氏综合症）引起的协调缺陷以及由产妇风险因素（如抑郁症）引起的协调缺陷开辟道路。

Before the onset of speech, an index of the developing communicative significance of infant social actions is their temporal coordination. One type of temporal coordination occurs when an action (e.g., a vocalization) both begins and ends during the course of another (e.g., a gaze at mother). This pattern of temporal embedding suggests the two actions are part of a single expressive event. The proposed project will use a new software simulation bootstrapping procedure to document embedding and other patterns in the temporal coordination of infant social actions. 50 infants will be observed longitudinally at 3, 6, and 9 months interacting with their mothers in a face-to-face still- face procedure. Descriptive coding will be used to categorize infant vocalizations and facial expressions by affective tone. Direction of infant gaze will be coded as at mother's face/eyes or away. Patterns of reciprocal embedding are hypothesized for actions in all pairs of behavioral modalities. Infants are expected, for example, to begin and end facial expressions in the course of a gaze at mother's face; but they are also expected to begin and end gazes at mother in the course of a facial expression. Software incorporating a bootstrapping procedure simulates the temporal progression of infant actions independently within each modality, creating multiple simulated sessions with random levels of between modality coordination. It will indicate whether infants reciprocally embed social actions at greater than chance levels. Increases in temporal embedding are expected with age as infants become more competent communicators. Decreases in embedding are expected when infant's are frustrated by maternal non-responsiveness in the still face procedure. The relative strength of embedded patterns involving effectively positive and negative actions will be contrasted to shed light on their respective expressive clarity. In sum, a new approach will be used to determine whether embedded events occur at greater than chance levels 1) overall, 2) during interaction rather than a maternal still-face, 3) at different ages, and 4) among different effectively toned pairs of social actions. A long term objective of the project is to gather pilot data for future investigations of temporal coordination between infant and mother (e.g., turn-taking). This will open the way for exploration of coordination deficits stemming from infant communicative disorders such as autism and Down syndrome, as well as coordination deficits stemming from maternal risk factors such as depression.