Toward a Neuroscientific Understanding of Play: A Dimensional Coding Framework for Analyzing Infant-Adult Play Patterns.

Play during early life is a ubiquitous activity, and an individual's propensity for play is positively related to cognitive development and emotional well-being. Play behavior (which may be solitary or shared with a social partner) is diverse and multi-faceted. A challenge for current research is to converge on a common definition and measurement system for play - whether examined at a behavioral, cognitive or neurological level. Combining these different approaches in a multimodal analysis could yield significant advances in understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms of play, and provide the basis for developing biologically grounded play models. However, there is currently no integrated framework for conducting a multimodal analysis of play that spans brain, cognition and behavior. The proposed coding framework uses grounded and observable behaviors along three dimensions (sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional), to compute inferences about playful behavior in a social context, and related social interactional states. Here, we illustrate the sensitivity and utility of the proposed coding framework using two contrasting dyadic corpora (N = 5) of mother-infant object-oriented interactions during experimental conditions that were either non-conducive (Condition 1) or conducive (Condition 2) to the emergence of playful behavior. We find that the framework accurately identifies the modal form of social interaction as being either non-playful (Condition 1) or playful (Condition 2), and further provides useful insights about differences in the quality of social interaction and temporal synchronicity within the dyad. It is intended that this fine-grained coding of play behavior will be easily assimilated with, and inform, future analysis of neural data that is also collected during adult-infant play. In conclusion, here, we present a novel framework for analyzing the continuous time-evolution of adult-infant play patterns, underpinned by biologically informed state coding along sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions. We expect that the proposed framework will have wide utility amongst researchers wishing to employ an integrated, multimodal approach to the study of play, and lead toward a greater understanding of the neuroscientific basis of play. It may also yield insights into a new biologically grounded taxonomy of play interactions

The Longitudinal Effects by Pubertal Maturation and Parenting on the Development of Self-Regulation in Adolescence

Self-regulation (SR) has been implicated as a key developmental precursor to a host of developmental outcomes (e.g., externalizing and internalizing behaviors, academic achievement, task completion, goal setting and achieving, and social competence; Baumeister, Leith, Maraven, & Bratslavsky, 1998; Eisenberg et al., 2003; Eisenberg et al., 2004; Silk et al., 2006). Steinberg (2004) suggests that over the course of adolescence, there are substantial changes in SR capacity, as older teens make markedly better choices. This is manifested by engaging in improved risk perception and appraisal, but also by simply handling risky situations and behaviors better than younger teens. This provides some indirect evidence of developmental changes in SR during adolescence, and yet, no studies have directly tested this. Steinberg identifies one candidate source for these apparent changes in SR, namely maturational changes (e.g., brain development, puberty). Thus, the continued development of the adolescent brain might account for variability in SR; coupled with positive socialization experiences which might achieve better SR during the adolescent period (Dahl, 2004). Thus, the current study connects maturation and parenting to examine developmental changes in SR during adolescence. It draws data from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY) from Canada that follows children from birth to early adulthood. The study focuses on 10 year old children (N = 1,766) from cohort 1 followed in cycles 1-5, covering ages 10 to 18 years. Hypotheses tested in an SEM framework include: (1) SR will continue to develop during adolescence; (2) pubertal development will be associated with SR development; and (3) parenting processes will be associated with SR development. J. Melissa Scarpate is a doctoral candidate at Auburn University in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. She is currently working on her dissertation entitled, The development of self-regulation during adolescence: Understanding the effects by pubertal changes and parenting which utilizes the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Her research interests include parenting, adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and adolescent self-regulation. Alexander T. Vazsonyi is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. His varied research interests include the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors, health compromising behaviors, and deviance, with interests in individual characteristics (self-control, self regulation), in socialization effects (parenting), and in contextual (school, neighborhoods, and culture/society) effects on development; much of his work employs a cross-cultural or cross-national comparative approach to the study of human development and behaviors. He currently serves as the Editor-In-Chief of The Journal of Early Adolescence and is an editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression (2007)

Toward a Neuroscientific Understanding of Play: A Dimensional Coding Framework for Analyzing Infant-Adult Play Patterns.

Play during early life is a ubiquitous activity, and an individual's propensity for play is positively related to cognitive development and emotional well-being. Play behavior (which may be solitary or shared with a social partner) is diverse and multi-faceted. A challenge for current research is to converge on a common definition and measurement system for play - whether examined at a behavioral, cognitive or neurological level. Combining these different approaches in a multimodal analysis could yield significant advances in understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms of play, and provide the basis for developing biologically grounded play models. However, there is currently no integrated framework for conducting a multimodal analysis of play that spans brain, cognition and behavior. The proposed coding framework uses grounded and observable behaviors along three dimensions (sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional), to compute inferences about playful behavior in a social context, and related social interactional states. Here, we illustrate the sensitivity and utility of the proposed coding framework using two contrasting dyadic corpora (N = 5) of mother-infant object-oriented interactions during experimental conditions that were either non-conducive (Condition 1) or conducive (Condition 2) to the emergence of playful behavior. We find that the framework accurately identifies the modal form of social interaction as being either non-playful (Condition 1) or playful (Condition 2), and further provides useful insights about differences in the quality of social interaction and temporal synchronicity within the dyad. It is intended that this fine-grained coding of play behavior will be easily assimilated with, and inform, future analysis of neural data that is also collected during adult-infant play. In conclusion, here, we present a novel framework for analyzing the continuous time-evolution of adult-infant play patterns, underpinned by biologically informed state coding along sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions. We expect that the proposed framework will have wide utility amongst researchers wishing to employ an integrated, multimodal approach to the study of play, and lead toward a greater understanding of the neuroscientific basis of play. It may also yield insights into a new biologically grounded taxonomy of play interactions

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<p>Play during early life is a ubiquitous activity, and an individual’s propensity for play is positively related to cognitive development and emotional well-being. Play behavior (which may be solitary or shared with a social partner) is diverse and multi-faceted. A challenge for current research is to converge on a common definition and measurement system for play – whether examined at a behavioral, cognitive or neurological level. Combining these different approaches in a multimodal analysis could yield significant advances in understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms of play, and provide the basis for developing biologically grounded play models. However, there is currently no integrated framework for conducting a multimodal analysis of play that spans brain, cognition and behavior. The proposed coding framework uses grounded and observable behaviors along three dimensions (sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional), to compute inferences about playful behavior in a social context, and related social interactional states. Here, we illustrate the sensitivity and utility of the proposed coding framework using two contrasting dyadic corpora (N = 5) of mother-infant object-oriented interactions during experimental conditions that were either non-conducive (Condition 1) or conducive (Condition 2) to the emergence of playful behavior. We find that the framework accurately identifies the modal form of social interaction as being either non-playful (Condition 1) or playful (Condition 2), and further provides useful insights about differences in the quality of social interaction and temporal synchronicity within the dyad. It is intended that this fine-grained coding of play behavior will be easily assimilated with, and inform, future analysis of neural data that is also collected during adult–infant play. In conclusion, here, we present a novel framework for analyzing the continuous time-evolution of adult–infant play patterns, underpinned by biologically informed state coding along sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions. We expect that the proposed framework will have wide utility amongst researchers wishing to employ an integrated, multimodal approach to the study of play, and lead toward a greater understanding of the neuroscientific basis of play. It may also yield insights into a new biologically grounded taxonomy of play interactions.</p