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Constructing Interaction: The Development of Gaze Dynamics
Author(s) -
Nomikou Iris,
Leonardi Giuseppe,
Rohlfing Karharina J.,
RączaszekLeonardi Joanna
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
infant and child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1522-7219
pISSN - 1522-7227
DOI - 10.1002/icd.1975
Subject(s) - gaze , psychology , dynamics (music) , interdependence , social relation , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , joint attention , social psychology , autism , psychoanalysis , pedagogy , political science , law
Gaze is one of the first and most important means of communication and coordination in parent–infant dyads. In the present paper we used a novel method, designed to discover patterns in time‐series, to investigate the dynamics of gaze in dyads and its developmental change. Using a longitudinal corpus of natural interactions, mutual mother–infant gaze was coded when the infants were 3, 6, and 8 months old and subjected to recurrence analysis. The cross‐recurrence profiles obtained for the three time points show systematic differences: While the engagement in mutual gaze decreases with age, the behaviour becomes more tightly coupled as a more regular temporal structure emerges. We suggest that this stronger interdependency of gaze behaviour may indicate the development of a social feedback loop enabling engagement in interaction. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.