Journal of Psycholinguistic Research

, Volume 37, Issue 5, pp 293–307 | Cite as

Distressed Mothers and Their Infants Use a Less Efficient Timing Mechanism in Creating Expectancies of Each Other’s Looking Patterns

  • Beatrice Beebe
  • Anthony Badalamenti
  • Joseph Jaffe
  • Stanley Feldstein
  • Lisa Marquette
  • Elizabeth Helbraun
  • Donna Demetri-Friedman
  • Caroline Flaster
  • Patricia Goodman
  • Tammy Kaminer
  • Limor Kaufman-Balamuth
  • Jill Putterman
  • Shanee Stepakoff
  • Lauren Ellman
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

The prediction of events and the creation of expectancies about their time course is a crucial aspect of an infant’s mental life, but temporal mechanisms underlying these predictions are obscure. Scalar timing, in which the ratio of mean durations to their standard deviations is held constant, enables a person to use an estimate of the mean for its standard deviation. It is one efficient mechanism that may facilitate predictability and the creation of expectancies in mother–infant interaction. We illustrate this mechanism with the dyadic gaze rhythm of mother and infant looking at and looking away from each other’s faces. Two groups of Hi- and Lo-Distress mothers were created using self-reported depression, anxiety, self-criticism and childhood experiences. Lo-Distress infants (controls) used scalar timing 100% of the time, about double that of Hi-Distress infants. Lo-Distress mothers used scalar timing about nine times as much as Hi-Distress mothers. The diminished use of scalar timing patterns in Hi-Distress mothers and infants may make the anticipation of each other’s gaze patterns more difficult for both partners.

Keywords

Maternal depression Mother-infant looking patterns Communication timing mechanisms 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  • Beatrice Beebe
    • 1
  • Anthony Badalamenti
    • 2
  • Joseph Jaffe
    • 1
  • Stanley Feldstein
    • 3
  • Lisa Marquette
    • 4
  • Elizabeth Helbraun
    • 5
  • Donna Demetri-Friedman
    • 1
  • Caroline Flaster
    • 1
  • Patricia Goodman
    • 6
  • Tammy Kaminer
    • 6
  • Limor Kaufman-Balamuth
    • 7
  • Jill Putterman
    • 6
  • Shanee Stepakoff
    • 6
  • Lauren Ellman
    • 1
  1. 1.NYS Psychiatric InstituteColumbia UniversityNew YorkUSA
  2. 2.Scientific SupportWestwoodUSA
  3. 3.University of Maryland Baltimore CountyBaltimore CountyUSA
  4. 4.Franklin Township SchoolsSomersetUSA
  5. 5.The Little Room, Brooklyn Heights MontessoriBrooklynUSA
  6. 6.Private PracticeNew YorkUSA
  7. 7.Post Doctoral Program in Psychotherapy and PsychoanalysisNew York UniversityNew YorkUSA

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