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Putting the "Joy" in joint attention: affective-gestural synchrony by parents who point for their babies

David A Leavens1, Jo Sansone1, Anna Burfield1

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Sussex, East Sussex UK.

Frontiers in Psychology
|August 28, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Parents engaging in joint attention with infants show synchronized smiling and pointing, demonstrating affective synchrony. This positive emotional signaling occurs spontaneously across various infant ages.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Infant Behavior
  • Social Interaction

Background:

  • Limited research exists on adult emotional signaling during infant joint attention.
  • Understanding parent-infant interaction dynamics is crucial for early development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the moment-by-moment emotional expressions of parents during joint attention with infants.
  • To examine affective/referential synchrony in parent-infant communication.

Main Methods:

  • 73 parent-infant dyads (infants aged 6-18 months) participated.
  • Parents pointed to animated dolls while holding their infants.
  • Parental smiling and pointing were analyzed for temporal synchrony.

Main Results:

  • Parents exhibited peak smiling concurrently with pointing, indicating affective/referential synchrony.
  • This synchronized emotional signaling was consistent across all infant age groups studied.
  • Parents spontaneously infused joint attention episodes with positive emotion.

Conclusions:

  • Parents naturally synchronize positive emotions with referential gestures during joint attention.
  • This synchronized signaling is a consistent feature of infant-directed communication, regardless of infant age.
  • Findings highlight the role of parental emotional expression in early social development.

Keywords:
affective -gestural synchronyembodied cognitionintersubjectivitypointingsmiling

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