Objective: Research on the neurobiology of parenting has defined "biobehavioral synchrony," the coordination of biological and behavioral responses between parent and child, as a central process underpinning mammalian bond formation. Bi-parental rearing, typically observed in monogamous species, is similarly thought to draw on mechanisms of…

This paper discusses a series of three studies investigating the influence of infants' characteristics and signaling behavior on parents. Videotapes of either smiling/cooing/gurgling or crying infants were used to elicit parents' physiological and affective responses. Measured physiological responses included skin conductance, heart rate, and…

The development of visual interaction between mother and infant has received much attention in developmental psychology, not only in humans, but also in non-human primates. Recently, comparative developmental approaches have investigated whether the mechanisms that underlie these behaviors are common in primates. In the present study, we focused…

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from infants shown sets of familiar faces presented frequently and infrequently, and a set of novel faces presented infrequently, and correlated with infant emotional behavior and cortisol levels. Found that infants scoring higher on the normative ERP factor were more distressed during parent…

Training materials in special section include "Places for Babies: Infants and Toddlers in Groups," by Jim Greenman; "Bonding with Your Babies," by Alice S. Honig; "The Wonder of the Everyday," by Amy Laura Dombro; "The Dual Challenge: Meeting the Needs of Parents and Babies," by Karen Miller; and…

Examines the nature of mother-child bonding from the prenatal stage through early infancy, discussing how the mother's actions, even before birth, stimulate her child's senses. Explains the crucial role that physical contact, breastfeeding, and visual stimuli have on mother-child bonding in human and animal newborns. (MDM)

The present series of studies was undertaken to explore intersensory processing in the very young. In the first experiment 1-, 4- and 7-month-old infants experienced simultaneously their mothers' faces and voices. The various conditions consisted of displacing the voice from the face. The results indicated that infants as young as one month of age…