Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony
Caregivers and babies communicate through two patterns of behaviour. Each takes turns responding to the other (reciprocity), and they mirror each other's movements and expressions in time (interactional synchrony).
Real World
When a mother sticks out her tongue at her newborn and the baby copies the movement within seconds, they are displaying interactional synchrony — a phenomenon filmed by Meltzoff and Moore in their 1977 study of infants as young as two weeks old.
Exam Focus
Define both terms separately — examiners award one mark for reciprocity and a separate mark for interactional synchrony.
Evaluation Scaffold
A four-step framework for high-quality evaluation. Use this for 'assess', 'evaluate', and 'to what extent' questions.
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