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. 2014 Nov;37(4):491-504.
doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.06.002. Epub 2014 Jul 12.

Mothers who are securely attached in pregnancy show more attuned infant mirroring 7 months postpartum

Sohye Kim  1 , Peter Fonagy  2 , Jon Allen  3 , Sheila Martinez  4 , Udita Iyengar  5 , Lane Strathearn  6
Affiliations

Mothers who are securely attached in pregnancy show more attuned infant mirroring 7 months postpartum

Sohye Kim et al. Infant Behav Dev. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

This study contrasted two forms of mother-infant mirroring: the mother's imitation of the infant's facial, gestural, or vocal behavior (i.e., "direct mirroring") and the mother's ostensive verbalization of the infant's internal state, marked as distinct from the infant's own experience (i.e., "intention mirroring"). Fifty mothers completed the Adult Attachment Interview (Dynamic Maturational Model) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Mothers returned with their infants 7 months postpartum and completed a modified still-face procedure. While direct mirroring did not distinguish between secure and insecure/dismissing mothers, secure mothers were observed to engage in intention mirroring more than twice as frequently as did insecure/dismissing mothers. Infants of the two mother groups also demonstrated differences, with infants of secure mothers directing their attention toward their mothers at a higher frequency than did infants of insecure/dismissing mothers. The findings underscore marked and ostensive verbalization as a distinguishing feature of secure mothers' well-attuned, affect-mirroring communication with their infants.

Keywords: Attachment; Infant attention; Maternal mirroring; Mother–infant communication.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The modified still face procedure (MSFP): (a) experimental setting and (b) still-frame examples from each of the three phases. Phases 1 and 3 provide examples of infant gaze toward mother and phase 2 provides an example of infant gaze away from mother. Adapted from “Maternal Oxytocin Response Predicts Mother-to-Infant Gaze,” by S. Kim, P. Fonagy, O. Koos, K. Dorsett, and L. Strathearn, 2013, Brain Research. Copyright 2013 by Elsevier B. V. Adapted with permission.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of maternal direct mirroring (facial/gestural and vocal) and intention mirroring during the interaction phases (i.e., phases 1 and 3) of the MSFP. Total values represent data collapsed over phases 1 and 3. y axis indicate square root transformed frequency values. The values were adjusted for the total length of time for which codable data were available in each respective phase of the MSFP. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. * p < .05, ** p < .001
Figure 3
Figure 3
Frequency of infant gaze fixations toward and away from the mother. Maternal behavior was held constant (i.e., assumed neutral face) during the still face phase when the infant gaze fixations were recorded. Frequency values were adjusted for the total frequency of gaze fixations recorded for each infant during the still-face phase. y axis indicate arcsine transformed frequency values. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. * p < .05
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