Comparison of Japanese and Scottish mother-infant intersubjectivity : resonance of timing, anticipation, and empathy during feeding

Feeding involves communication between mothers and infants and requires precise synchrony in a special triadic relationship with the food. It is deeply related to their intersubjectivity. This study compared the development of mother-infant intersubjectivity through interactional synchrony in feeding between 11 Japanese and 10 Scottish mother-infant dyads, observed at 6 and 9 months by video. Japanese mothers were more deliberate in feeding at an earlier age, whereas Scottish mothers were significantly more coercive than Japanese mothers at an earlier age. Japanese mothers brought the spoon to infants with a pause to adjust the timing of insertion to match their infants' readiness, whereas this pause was not observed in Scottish mothers. Isomorphic mouth opening between mothers and infants was observed. This empathic maternal display is an important element of intersubjectivity in infant feeding that differened between Scottish and Japanese mothers. Scottish mothers' mouth opening always followed their infants' mouth opening, but about half of Japanese mothers preceded their infants. Further, the mouths of Scottish infants and mothers opened almost at the same time as spoon insertion. In contrast, Japanese mothers' mouth opening did not co-ocurr with the insertion but was close to spoon arrival, a subtle but important difference that allows for greater infant autonomy. The time structure of Scottish mother-infant interactions was simpler and more predictable at 9 months than in Japan, where the structure was more variable, likely due to a stronger regulation by Scottish mothers. In conclusion, Scottish mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterised as more maternally reactive and mother-centered, whereas Japanese mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterised as more maternally empathetic and infant-centered. Cultural differences in intersubjectivity during feeding between Japan and Scotland are further discussed in relation to triadic relationships and parenting styles

Embodied inter subjective engagement in mother-infant tactile communication: a cross-cultural study of Japanese and Scottish mother-infant behaviors during infant pick-up

This study examines the early development of cultural differences in a simple, embodied, and intersubjective engagement between mothers putting down, picking up, and carrying their infants between Japan and Scotland. Eleven Japanese and ten Scottish mothers with their 6- and then 9-month-old infants participated. Video and motion analyses were employed to measure motor patterns of the mothers' approach to their infants, as well as their infants' collaborative responses during put-down, pick-up, and carry phases. Japanese and Scottish mothers approached their infants with different styles and their infants responded differently to the short duration of separation during the trial. A greeting-like behavior of the arms and hands was prevalent in the Scottish mothers' approach, but not in the Japanese mothers' approach. Japanese mothers typically kneeled before making the final reach to pick-up their children, giving a closer, apparently gentler final approach of the torso than Scottish mothers, who bent at the waist with larger movements of the torso. Measures of the gap closure between the mothers' hands to their infants' heads revealed variably longer duration and distance gap closures with greater velocity by the Scottish mothers than by the Japanese mothers. Further, the sequence of Japanese mothers' body actions on approach, contact, pick-up, and hold was more coordinated at 6 months than at 9 months. Scottish mothers were generally more variable on approach. Measures of infant participation and expressivity indicate more active participation in the negotiation during the separation and pick-up phases by Scottish infants. Thus, this paper demonstrates a culturally different onset of development of joint attention in pick-up. These differences reflect cultures of everyday interaction

Cultural difference between Japanese and Scottish mother-infant tickling interaction

Aim: Tickling play is naturally observed as 6-month-old face-to-face tactile interaction (Tronick, 1995: Jean, 2009). We examined the development of Japanese infant-mother tickling interaction (Ishijima & Negayama, 2014) and found that infant’s intensive ticklishness and mother’s tickling with "narrative" occurred more often at 6.5- to 7-month-old than at 5- to 6.5-month-old. Infant's intensive ticklishness was also found more often in the "narrative" context than in a normal context. But little is known about a cultural difference in tickling interaction. The aim of this study is to compare the interaction between Scotland and Japan. Method: Participants - 11 Japanese and 9 Scottish healthy mother-infant (6 months old) pairs. Procedure & Data Recording - They were recruited at local nursery schools in Japan and through word of mouth, parent groups, and nurseries in Scotland. Natural 15-minute mother-infant tactile play including tickling was observed. Mothers were instructed to tickle their infants freely at least once during the tactile play. All mother-infant tickling-play episodes (43 and 45 in Japan and Scotland, respectively) were chosen for analysis. Mother's normal and narrative tickling behaviors and their tickling body parts, infant's strong ticklish and other reactions, and infant's eye gaze directions were coded.  Results & Discussion: Scottish mothers tickled their infants using "mouth" more often than Japanese mothers (χ2=9.813, df=1, p<.01；Figure1). The same tendency in Scottish mothers to use mouth in tactile play was reported by Negayama (2006). Behavioral cultural difference in infancy was also seen in holding (Negayama et al., submitted). The cultural difference in behavior was thus embedded in everyday-life tactile interactions in infancy and seems to be a precursor of a later difference in social cognition and interaction patterns