CAREER: Neonatal Imitation and Early Social Skills in Infancy

该项目将分析从出生到生命第一年的社会行为发展，重点是新生儿的模仿。该项目旨在提高对婴儿社会性发展的理解，并为未来旨在识别神经发育障碍风险的婴儿的研究铺平道路。 它将扩展有关早期模仿的性质以及它是否可以用来预测后来的社会兴趣，能力和生理学的知识。 此外，为了进一步推进这一领域的研究，将与更广泛的研究界分享项目资源和数据。一项旨在增加妇女和代表性不足的少数民族参与研究的指导计划将通过向年轻学生介绍科学方法来激励他们追求科学事业。最后，本项目整合了跨学科的研究和教育，将动物行为学和发育科学的各个领域联系起来。本项目将通过行为和生理测量的纵向设计，探索新生儿模仿与后期社会发展之间的联系。新生儿模仿是一种早期的能力，能够模仿他人的动作，比如面部表情。早期研究的结果表明，通过测量新生儿的模仿，我们可能会更好地预测他们的发展轨迹。为了提高测量灵敏度和提高可复制性，将使用自动面部分析评估新生儿对面部姿势的模仿。眼动追踪将测量婴儿对社会和非社会刺激的视觉注意力。婴儿的唾液将被收集来跟踪催产素水平的发展变化，催产素是一种与社会行为有关的神经肽。婴儿将参加对他们的非语言交际技能的半结构化评估。 研究人员将测试新生儿模仿是否可以用来更好地了解早期社会性的个体差异，并预测健康的社会发展。

The project will analyze the development of social behavior from birth through the first year of life, focusing on imitation in newborn babies. This project aims to enhance the understanding of the development of sociality in infants and pave the way for future research aimed at identifying infants at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. It will expand knowledge about the nature of early imitation and whether it may be used to predict later social interest, abilities, and physiology. Furthermore, to further advance research in this domain, project resources and data will be shared with the broader research community. A mentoring program designed to increase the research participation of women and underrepresented minorities will inspire young students to pursue science careers by introducing them to the scientific method. Finally, this project integrates research and education across disciplines, linking the diverse fields of animal behavior and developmental science.Using longitudinal designs with behavioral and physiological measures, this project will explore links between neonatal imitation and later social development. Neonatal imitation is an early capacity to match others' actions, such as facial expressions. The findings of earlier studies have suggested that by measuring imitation in newborn babies, we may become better able to predict their developmental trajectories. To increase measurement sensitivity and improve replicability, neonatal imitation of facial gestures will be assessed using automated facial analysis. Eye tracking will measure infants' visual attention to social and nonsocial stimuli. Infant saliva will be collected to track developmental changes in levels of oxytocin, a neuropeptide associated with social behavior. Infants will participate in semi-structured assessments of their nonverbal communicative skills. The investigator will test whether neonatal imitation can be used to better understand individual differences in early sociability and to predict healthy social development.