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Putting the 'joy' in joint attention: affective-gestural synchrony by parents who point for their babies
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 17:54 authored by David LeavensDavid Leavens, Jo Sansone, Anna Burfield, Sian Lightfoot, Stefanie O'Hara, Brenda K ToddDespite a growing body of work examining the expression of infants' positive emotion in joint attention contexts, few studies have examined the moment-by-moment dynamics of emotional signaling by adults interacting with babies in these contexts. We invited 73 parents of infants (three fathers) to our laboratory, comprising parent-infant dyads with babies at 6 (n = 15), 9 (n = 15), 12 (n = 15), 15 (n = 14), and 18 (n = 14) months of age. Parents were asked to sit in a chair centered on the long axis of a room and to point to distant dolls (2.5 meters) when the dolls were animated, while holding their children in their laps. We found that parents displayed the highest levels of smiling at the same time that they pointed, thus demonstrating affective/referential synchrony in their infant-directed communication. There were no discernable differences in this pattern among parents with children of different ages. Thus, parents spontaneously encapsulated episodes of joint attention with positive emotion.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Journal
Frontiers in PsychologyISSN
1664-1078Publisher
Frontiers Research FoundationExternal DOI
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879Volume
5Page range
1-14Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
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- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2014-07-23First Open Access (FOA) Date
2016-03-22First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-03-12Usage metrics
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