Interaction and behaviour imaging: a novel method to measure mother–infant interaction using video 3D reconstruction

International audienceStudying early interaction is essential for understanding development and psychopathology. Automatic computational methods offer the possibility to analyse social signals and behaviours of several partners simultaneously and dynamically. Here, 20 dyads of mothers and their 13–36-month-old infants were videotaped during mother–infant interaction including 10 extremely high-risk and 10 low-risk dyads using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) sensors. From 2D+3D data and 3D space reconstruction, we extracted individual parameters (quantity of movement and motion activity ratio for each partner) and dyadic parameters related to the dynamics of partners heads distance (contribution to heads distance), to the focus of mutual engagement (percentage of time spent face to face or oriented to the task) and to the dynamics of motion activity (synchrony ratio, overlap ratio, pause ratio). Features are compared with blind global rating of the interaction using the coding interactive behavior (CIB). We found that individual and dyadic parameters of 2D+3D motion features perfectly correlates with rated CIB maternal and dyadic composite scores. Support Vector Machine classification using all 2D–3D motion features classified 100% of the dyads in their group meaning that motion behaviours are sufficient to distinguish high-risk from low-risk dyads. The proposed method may present a promising, low-cost methodology that can uniquely use artificial technology to detect meaningful features of human interactions and may have several implications for studying dyadic behaviours in psychiatry. Combining both global rating scales and computerized methods may enable a continuum of time scale from a summary of entire interactions to second-by-second dynamics

Quasi-experimental design and outcomes of a graduate clinician and caregiver-infant coaching intervention in a university speech-language pathology program

Infants are born ready to learn language as one of their most critical developmental tasks, yet infants subject to environmental risk factors related to poverty and low maternal education have been shown to lag behind their peers in language development as early as 8 months of age. Research also indicates the quality of an infant’s language environment can significantly diminish the effects of these risk factors. This quasi-experimental clinical research study explored the effects of a preventive caregiver-infant coaching intervention delivered by graduate student clinicians in a university speech-language pathology program. Developed based on a systematic review of preventive programs for caregivers-infants, the Facilitating Infant Responsiveness to Stimulate Talking (FIRST) Program provided 36 caregiver-infant dyads with education and experience in evidence-based practices known to support prelinguistic development and provided clinical experience for 70 graduate clinicians in preventive education, infant interaction, and caregiver coaching. Offered to parents of any socioeconomic status with infants ages 6- to 12- months-old, the intervention was hypothesized to be of particular benefit to the 14 participating caregiver-infant dyads from low-socioeconomic (low-SES) backgrounds. The intervention, which combined the individual attention of home visit coaching with peer-group instructive modeling, was offered as an 8-session program (2019), a 1-session program (2020), and a 4-session program (2021). A control group participated in all outcome measurements timepoints (pre-test, post-test, and a 3-month follow-up) prior to receiving a delayed session of intervention. Scores on measures of caregiver knowledge and beliefs about early language development significantly increased for the 8- and 4-session participants. Time spent in responsive, turn-taking communication patterns significantly increased for 8-session caregivers and infants. Infant standardized expressive communication scores increased significantly in all intervention conditions. Low-SES participant scores on multiple measures of language learning showed boosts not observed in mid-high SES scores. Graduate clinician confidence in both caregiver coaching and infant assessment showed higher gains for higher numbers of intervention sessions. Overall outcomes reveal a promising preventive model for clinical education in speech-language pathology that benefits caregivers, infants, and students and should be replicable in other university settings and communities

Becoming dad: Exploring the neurobiology of the transition into fatherhood

Item does not contain fulltextVrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 22 juni 2021Promotores : Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., Schuengel, C. Co-promotor : Riem, M.M.E.177 p

An Attachment Style Based Experimental Design to Maximize Dog Adoption Success

Evolution and domestication have brought dogs very close to humans. Research has found numerous behavioral, cognitive, neurological, and physiological similarities between the two species. Additional research has found that humans and dogs can share cross-species attachments that are comparable to mother-infant attachments. Furthermore, attachment styles in dogs are classified the same way they are in children. The statistics on the vast amount of dogs in animal shelters, too many of which are being senselessly killed, are shocking. I propose a two-part study that first assesses which attachment style pairings are most successful and which are unsuccessful based on measurements of satisfaction and oxytocin levels reflecting attachment. The second study is designed to verify these pairings by manipulating adoptions and following pairs. If particular pairings are found more successful than others and are utilized at adoption, I hypothesize an attachment style based program would produce more successful adoptions, lower the amount of dogs returned to shelters, and eventually, lower euthanization rates

Relations Among Maternal and Paternal Behavior and Children\u27s Stress Biology

Parenting behavior has been shown to have a wide range of effects, influencing children’s psychological and biological stress outcomes. Most research focuses on maternal parenting behaviors, with few studies observing the effects of paternal behaviors or the influence of both parents on their children. In this study, the relationship between maternal and paternal parenting behaviors was examined in its association to predict children’s cortisol levels. Cultural differences in parenting styles was also observed. American (N=86) and Chinese (N=97) families participated in the study, with parents reporting their behaviors. Children’s cortisol was collected during a stressor task and correlational analysis was conducted. Overall, cortisol levels were higher in Chinese children than in American children. Results indicated that across both cultures, only supportive paternal parenting was a significant predictor in children’s cortisol levels. Additionally, there is a significant relationship within styles of parenting, indicating that mothers and fathers tend to have similar parenting styles

Oxytocin and Human Sensitive and Protective Parenting.

In this chapter we review the evidence for the role of oxytocin in parenting, and discuss some crucial but outstanding questions. This is not meant to be a comprehensive review of all studies on oxytocin and parenting in general. Instead, special attention will be paid to a dimension of parenting that has been largely neglected in behavioral and neurobiological research on parental caregiving, namely protection. Parental protection has received considerable attention in animal research but, despite its evolutionary importance, not in studies on humans. It is argued that oxytocin may have specific significance for the protective dimension of parenting. The effects of exogenous oxytocin may be dependent not only on contextual factors, but also on personal characteristics, most notably gender, on endogenous levels of oxytocin, and on early childhood experiences. Examining the contextual, personal, hormonal, neural, genetic, and behavioral mechanisms of protective parenting in tandem is essential for the development of a comprehensive theory of protective parenting, and for the identification of "biomarkers" for insensitive and unprotective parenting that should be taken into account in preventive parenting interventions.Horizon 2020(H2020)ERC AdG 669249Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Linear growth retardation and stress level in school-aged urban Jamaican and Nepali children

Growth retardation (stunting) is a major public health problem in developing countries, where 38% of children under 5 years old are short for their age, and many have poor levels of mental development along with behavioural abnormalities. Animal research suggests that an altered stress response may contribute to the negative outcomes associated with undernutrition. This dissertation research investigated the associations of stunting, stress physiology (hypothalamic-adrenal and autonomic nervous system activity) and behaviour. Study 1 compared 30 stunted children with 24 non-stunted children, all of whom were participants in a prospective, longitudinal case-control study of children who were stunted in early childhood. Study 2 compared 31 stunted children with 31 non-stunted children, all of whom were newly recruited for the study. All children in both studies were 8-10 years old and lived in the same poor areas of Kingston, Jamaica. A test session of physiological and physical stressors was administered, and baseline and response levels of salivary cortisol, heart rate, and urinary catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine) were measured. Behaviours were observed during an interview and frustrating task. As compared with the non-stunted children, stunted children had significantly higher salivary cortisol levels, heart rates, and urinary epinephrine levels. Stunted children also vocalized less, were more inhibited, less attentive, and more frustrated than non-stunted children. After controlling for birthweight or social background, maternal and child IQ, the differences in cortisol level, heart rate, epinephrine, and inhibition remained significant. Study 3 compared 64 stunted with 64 non-stunted school-children from the same poor areas of Kathmandu, Nepal. A modified version of the Jamaican test session was administered, and levels of cortisol and heart rate were measured during testing and also during a baseline. Stunted Nepali children showed a blunted physiological response to psychological stressors, but were not different from the non-stunted children in baseline measures. These findings suggest that childhood growth retardation is associated with changes in physiological arousal, and that the relationship may be mediated by several socio-cultural, environmental, and physical variables