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Vacaru SV, van Schaik JE, Spiess L, Hunnius S. No evidence for modulation of facial mimicry by attachment tendencies in adulthood: an EMG investigation. THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 164:12-26. [PMID: 34590534 DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2021.1973946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Mimicking another individual functions as a social glue: it smoothens the interaction and fosters affiliation. Here, we investigated whether the intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others, stemming from attachment relationships, modulates individuals' engagement in facial mimicry (FM). Participants (N = 100; MAge = 24.54 years, SDAge = 3.90 years) observed faces with happy, sad, and neutral expressions, while their facial muscle activity was recorded with electromyography. Attachment was measured with the Attachment Styles Questionnaire, which provides a multidimensional profile for preoccupied and dismissing styles. It was proposed that the preoccupied and dismissing styles are characterized by high and low intrinsic affiliation motivation, respectively, and these were hypothesized to manifest in enhanced and diminished FM. Participants showed happy and sad FM, yet attachment styles did not significantly predict FM. Bayes Factor analyses lend evidence favoring the null hypothesis, suggesting that adult attachment do not contribute to FM.
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Quadrelli E, Mermier J, Nazzari S, Bulf H, Turati C. You can't play with us: First-person ostracism affects infants' behavioral reactivity. Child Dev 2023; 94:e403-e412. [PMID: 37424333 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Revised: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Ostracism negatively affects fundamental psychological needs, induces physiological and behavioral changes, and modulates the processing of social information in adults. Yet little is known about children and preverbal infants' responses to first-person experiences of ostracism. The current study aimed to explore the efficacy of a triadic ball-tossing game in manipulating social inclusion and ostracism with 13-month-old infants (N = 84; 44% males; mostly White; tested from 2019 to 2022) by developing an observational coding system. Infants' behaviors were recorded while participating in a ball-tossing game where they were either included or ostracized from the game. Ostracized, but not included, infants showed an increase in negative emotionality and involvement behaviors, thus suggesting that behavioral responses to being ostracized emerge early in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Quadrelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
| | - J Mermier
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - S Nazzari
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - H Bulf
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
| | - C Turati
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
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Mermier J, Quadrelli E, Bulf H, Turati C. Ostracism modulates children's recognition of emotional facial expressions. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287106. [PMID: 37319141 PMCID: PMC10270353 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Ostracism has been shown to induce considerable physiological, behavioral and cognitive changes in adults. Previous research demonstrated its effects on children's cognitive and behavioral abilities, but less is known about its impact on their capacity to recognize subtle variations in social cues. The present study aimed at investigating whether social manipulations of inclusion and ostracism modulate emotion recognition abilities in children, and whether this modulation varies across childhood. To do so, 5- and 10-year-old children participated in a computer-based ball tossing game called Cyberball during which they were either included or ostracized. Then, they completed a facial emotion recognition task in which they were required to identify neutral facial expressions, or varying levels of intensity of angry and fearful facial expressions. Results indicated lower misidentification rates for children who were previously ostracized as compared to children who were previously included, both at 5 and 10 years of age. Moreover, when looking at children's accuracy and sensitivity to facial expressions, 5-year-olds' decoding abilities were affected by the social manipulation, while no difference between included and ostracized participants was observed for 10-year-olds. In particular, included and ostracized 10-year-old children as well as ostracized 5-year-olds showed higher accuracy and sensitivity for expressions of fear as compared to anger, while no such difference was observed for included 5-year-olds. Overall, the current study presents evidence that Cyberball-induced inclusion and ostracism modulate children's recognition of emotional faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Mermier
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Ermanno Quadrelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
| | - Hermann Bulf
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Turati
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
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Infants' sensitivity to emotional expressions in actions: The contributions of parental expressivity and motor experience. Infant Behav Dev 2022; 68:101751. [PMID: 35914367 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Actions can convey information about the affective state of an actor. By the end of the first year, infants show sensitivity to such emotional information in actions. Here, we examined the mechanisms contributing to infants' developing sensitivity to emotional action kinematics. We hypothesized that this sensitivity might rely on two factors: a stable motor representation of the observed action to be able to detect deviations from how it would typically be performed and experience with emotional expressions. The sensitivity of 12- to 13-month-old infants to happy and angry emotional cues in a manual transport action was examined using facial EMG. Infants' own movements when performing an object transport task were assessed using optical motion capture. The infants' caregivers' emotional expressivity was measured using a questionnaire. Negative emotional expressivity of the primary caregiver was significantly related to infants' sensitivity to observed angry actions. There was no evidence for such an association with infants' own motor skill. Overall, our results show that infants' experience with emotions, measured as caregivers' emotional expressivity, may aid infants' discrimination of others' emotions expressed in action kinematics.
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Vacaru VS, Alfaro AU, Hoffman N, Wittich W, Stern M, Zar HJ, Stein DJ, Sterkenburg PS. Applicability of a Novel Attunement Instrument and Its Relationship to Parental Sensitivity in Infants With and Without Visual Impairments. Front Psychol 2022; 13:872114. [PMID: 35592146 PMCID: PMC9113196 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigated the applicability of a novel instrument to assess parent–child attunement in free play interactions, in dyads with an infant with and without visual impairments (VI). We here report the findings on the reliability and applicability of the newly developed Attune & Stimulate Mother–Infant 56-items Instrument (A&S M-I) in two separate samples: one with infants with VI (N = 20) and one with typically sighted infants (N = 24). In addition, we assessed the contribution of parental sensitivity to attunement in dyadic interactions. The A&S M-I is an observational comprehensive instrument of behaviors that captures different body parts and their motility (i.e., finger movements, arm waving, and foot kicking), and different senses (i.e., audio, tactile, and visual). The appropriate responding of a parent to the child’s signal (i.e., matching and containing) reflects the ability to attune in the dyad as well as parent’s ability to stimulate the child to become engaged in the contact or activity. Consistency assessments revealed good reliability for maternal and infant behaviors, acceptable internal consistency and good test–retest reliability. Furthermore, both samples scored significantly above chance level on attunement, suggesting that the instrument captures parent–infant behavioral coordination, and VI was not related to parent–infant attunement. Lastly, a relation between parental sensitivity and attunement was found only in the TS sample. Altogether, these findings provide promising initial evidence of the applicability of the A&S M-I instrument for assessing dyadic attunement across different populations and ages. Having assessed the applicability of this observational instrument, future work should corroborate these findings in larger samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victorita Stefania Vacaru
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Andrea Urqueta Alfaro
- Nazareth and Louis-Braille Institute, Integrated Health and Social Services Centres (CISSS), Longueuil, QC, Canada.,School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Nadia Hoffman
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Walter Wittich
- School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille du CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre, Longueuil, QC, Canada
| | - Micky Stern
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Heather J Zar
- MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Dan J Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
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Farrera A, Ramos-Fernández G. Collective Rhythm as an Emergent Property During Human Social Coordination. Front Psychol 2022; 12:772262. [PMID: 35222144 PMCID: PMC8868940 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The literature on social interactions has shown that participants coordinate not only at the behavioral but also at the physiological and neural levels, and that this coordination gives a temporal structure to the individual and social dynamics. However, it has not been fully explored whether such temporal patterns emerge during interpersonal coordination beyond dyads, whether this phenomenon arises from complex cognitive mechanisms or from relatively simple rules of behavior, or which are the sociocultural processes that underlie this phenomenon. We review the evidence for the existence of group-level rhythmic patterns that result from social interactions and argue that the complexity of group dynamics can lead to temporal regularities that cannot be predicted from the individual periodicities: an emergent collective rhythm. Moreover, we use this interpretation of the literature to discuss how taking into account the sociocultural niche in which individuals develop can help explain the seemingly divergent results that have been reported on the social influences and consequences of interpersonal coordination. We make recommendations on further research to test these arguments and their relationship to the feeling of belonging and assimilation experienced during group dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arodi Farrera
- Mathematical Modeling of Social Systems Department, Institute for Research on Applied Mathematics and Systems, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Gabriel Ramos-Fernández
- Mathematical Modeling of Social Systems Department, Institute for Research on Applied Mathematics and Systems, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
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Vacaru SV, Ma S, van Schie HT, Hunnius S. Eating in Synch: An investigation of parent-infant behaviour coordination during feeding interactions. Infant Behav Dev 2021; 66:101669. [PMID: 34871829 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
During feeding, parents have been described to move their mouth as if they were eating themselves. Such matching of behaviours between parents and their infants during face-to-face interactions represents an example of behavioural synchrony. To date, however, the function of these synchronous eating-like mouth movements by the caregiver remains unexplored. To address this question, two competing hypotheses were tested: 1) the instructional hypothesis proposing that parents make eating-like mouth movements, such as opening and closing their mouth, to demonstrate to their infants what they need to do; 2) the mimicry hypothesis suggesting that parents imitate their infant's mouth actions to enhance affiliation. To test these hypotheses, we examined the temporal dependencies between parents' and infants' mouth movements. We reasoned that parents' mouth movements would occur before their infants' if they serve an instructional purpose, but that they would happen after, if parents mimic their infants. Additionally, we expected that parents' matching mouth movements would be more likely when their infants looked at them in both cases. To examine these hypotheses, fifteen caregivers were observed as they were feeding their six-month-old infants. Time-window sequential analysis was conducted to quantify how likely parents were to display mouth opening and closing before or after their infants did. The results revealed that parents' mouth movements were more likely to follow infants' movements and are thus in line with the mimicry hypothesis. Interestingly, these mouth movements of parents were independent of infant's gaze.
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Affiliation(s)
- S V Vacaru
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - S Ma
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Behavioural Sciences Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - H T van Schie
- Behavioural Sciences Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - S Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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