Article2009

Relational psychophysiology: Lessons from mother–infant physiology research on dyadically expanded states of consciousness

168 citations0/0 files storedPsychotherapy Research

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Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications Action Observation and Synchronization

Abstract

The authors illustrate how their work on mother-infant "relational psychophysiology" might inform psychotherapy research. They examined psychophysiology in 18 mother-infant dyads (infants' age: 5 months) during normal interaction and a still-face perturbation. They measured respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as an index of emotion regulation and explored whether skin conductance (SC) concordance, previously linked to therapist empathy, occurs in mothers and infants. During the still-face episode, SC concordance correlated to infant negative engagement. Upon reengagement, when mothers often soothe their infants, concordance instead correlated to behavioral synchrony, an index of maternal sensitivity. Furthermore, maternal RSA became correlated to infant negative engagement. These findings suggest that a mother trying to calm her infant calms herself physiologically and her sensitivity on a behavioral level becomes coherent physiologically. Implications for psychotherapy research are discussed.

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References

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Cited by

2018A systematic review of parent–child synchrony: It is more than skin deep 2018Maternal sensitivity, its relationship with child outcomes, and interventions that address it: a systematic literature review 2018Parental neural responsivity to infants’ visual attention: How mature brains influence immature brains during social interaction 2018Disentangling the Dyadic Dance: Theoretical, Methodological and Outcomes Systematic Review of Mother-Infant Dyadic Processes 2017Measuring physiological influence in dyads: A guide to designing, implementing, and analyzing dyadic physiological studies.

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