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Maternal tactile-gestural stimulation and infants' nonverbal behaviors during early mother-infant face-to-face interactions : contextual, age, and birth status effects

Title:

Maternal tactile-gestural stimulation and infants' nonverbal behaviors during early mother-infant face-to-face interactions : contextual, age, and birth status effects

Arnold, Sharon Lynne (2002) Maternal tactile-gestural stimulation and infants' nonverbal behaviors during early mother-infant face-to-face interactions : contextual, age, and birth status effects. PhD thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

The preverbal period of infancy is characterized by the absence of receptive and expressive verbal communication and substantial reliance on nonverbal forms of communication. Although nonverbal behavior is believed to be particularly salient to infants during early infancy, little is known about the nonverbal strategies that mothers employ when attempting to influence their infants' behavior or state of arousal, or about infants' nonverbal behavioral reactions to such stimulation. The two studies comprising this dissertation aimed to examine contextual, developmental, and birth status effects on the expressions of maternal and infant nonverbal behavior. In Study 1, maternal tactile-gestural stimulation and infants' gaze and affect were assessed during four brief interaction periods. Contextual variations to the interaction were introduced by: (a) providing different instructions to mothers on the behavior/state to elicit from their infants, and (b) varying the method by which mothers attempted to accomplish these goals (uni-modal touch only vs. multi-modal). Two within modality comparisons were conducted to evaluate whether the instructions to mothers to modify their infants' behavior/state of arousal actually influenced mothers' tactile-gestural behavior and infants' gaze and affect. A subsequent comparison between the uni-modal and multi-modal groups was then conducted to specifically examine whether, and in what way, mothers' and infants' nonverbal behaviors differed when these identical instructions were attempted in different ways. Within each of these comparisons, developmental differences were assessed by examining infants at 3�$1�

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Psychology
Item Type:Thesis (PhD)
Authors:Arnold, Sharon Lynne
Pagination:xiii, 381 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:Ph. D.
Program:Psychology
Date:2002
Thesis Supervisor(s):Stack, Dale M
Identification Number:BF 720 M68A76 2002
ID Code:1770
Deposited By: Concordia University Library
Deposited On:27 Aug 2009 17:22
Last Modified:13 Jul 2020 19:50
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