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Synchrony through gaze :
Mapping the neural social network of infants
Dr Victoria Leong
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
1
2
• Synchrony creates social connectedness
(see Marsh et al, 2009 for review)
• Infants are more helpful to synchronous strangers
(Cirelli et al, 2014)
Synchrony : An affiliative mechanism
3
• Parents and infants synchronise on multiple levels
– Gaze
– Behaviour
– Emotions
– Physiology (heartrate, arousal)
(Kaye & Fogel, 1980; Cohn & Tronick, 1988;
Feldman et al, 2011; Waters et al, 2014)
Do brains also synchronise? (YES)
How and for what purpose?
Parent-child synchrony
Behaviour states =
Protest, disengage, attend, play
Research Areas
Neuro-Social Mechanisms of Learning
Adult-Infant Neural
Synchronicity
• Eye contact
• Joint
attention
• Name use
SYNCHRONY
CUES
• Learning
• Communication
• Interpersonal
trust
SUPPORT FOR
5
• From birth, infants prefer
Direct gaze (Farroni et al, 2002)
• Gaze supports infant
communication (Bloom, 1975)
• Gaze-following ability
predicts language learning
(Brooks & Meltzoff, 2008)
Gaze : An early communication signal
Vocalisations
/min
(smile/touch)
Does gaze act as a
“synchronising cue”
for interacting brains?
6
Gaze and adult-infant neural synchrony
• Adult-infant dyads (9 months old)
• General Partial Directed Coherence (GPDC)
– Directed measure of (Granger)-causality
• Theta and Alpha bands only (no speech artifacts)
• Significance thresholding with surrogate shuffled data
(N=17) (N=19)
7
Predictions
• E1 : Uni-directional influences A  I
E2 : Bi-directional influences A  I & I  A
• Direct = Direct-Oblique >> Indirect gaze
• More vocalisations with Direct gaze
Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique
8
Expt 1 (vid) : Neurosocial network
✓
9
Expt 2 (live) : Neurosocial network
✓ ✓
• Gaze triggers phase-resetting so that adults’
and infants’ oscillation patterns align ( sync)
• In this aligned state, information is optimally
transmitted from speaker to listener
(i.e. Adult is ready to speak when Infant is ready to listen)
10
What’s going on?
Are infants really more receptive during Direct gaze?
Indirect Direct
11
Infants’ internal networks during gaze
Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique
Direct
Indirect
Direct-Oblique
Theta Alpha
THETA
Expt 1 (Vid) Expt 2 (Live)
*p<.05
12
Infants’ vocalisations
Direct
Indirect
Direct-Oblique
• Infants who make a greater effort to communicate
(vocalise longer) influence the adult more
– Caveat : this only works if the adult is looking and live..
• Infants help to maintain dyadic synchronicity! 13
Infants’ vocalisations
14
Do other auditory signals work too?
“Tom”
*
*
* p<.05
15
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Time (s)
Amplitude
• Infants can connect to and help
maintain neural social networks
with adults
• Social signals like gaze and name-
calling are neural “synchronising
cues”
• A high-synchrony, joint-networked
state may support communication
and learning
Sync with me!
Conclusions : Synchrony through gaze
Dr Sam Wass (UEL)
Co-investigator
16
Dr Kaili Clackson
Post-doc
Tardis tamer &
Baby charmer
Stani Georgieva
EEG specialist
Brainwave guru
Thanks to the research team…
Elizabeth Byrne
(MRC-CBU)
Experimental material
Most consistent singing
• Our kind volunteers who assisted with hours of video
coding and baby distraction
• Our brave mums and babies
• Friends and family for supporting and believing in us!
Thanks for support from
ESRC UK
Nanyang Technological University
Rosetrees Trust
Isaac Newton Trust
British Academy
Leverhulme Trust
Keep up with us at:
• @Baby_LINC
• @DrVLeong
• http://www.baby-linc.psychol.cam.ac.uk/
Bye bye!

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Synchrony Through Gaze_Breaking Barriers

  • 1. Synchrony through gaze : Mapping the neural social network of infants Dr Victoria Leong Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 1
  • 2. 2 • Synchrony creates social connectedness (see Marsh et al, 2009 for review) • Infants are more helpful to synchronous strangers (Cirelli et al, 2014) Synchrony : An affiliative mechanism
  • 3. 3 • Parents and infants synchronise on multiple levels – Gaze – Behaviour – Emotions – Physiology (heartrate, arousal) (Kaye & Fogel, 1980; Cohn & Tronick, 1988; Feldman et al, 2011; Waters et al, 2014) Do brains also synchronise? (YES) How and for what purpose? Parent-child synchrony Behaviour states = Protest, disengage, attend, play
  • 4. Research Areas Neuro-Social Mechanisms of Learning Adult-Infant Neural Synchronicity • Eye contact • Joint attention • Name use SYNCHRONY CUES • Learning • Communication • Interpersonal trust SUPPORT FOR
  • 5. 5 • From birth, infants prefer Direct gaze (Farroni et al, 2002) • Gaze supports infant communication (Bloom, 1975) • Gaze-following ability predicts language learning (Brooks & Meltzoff, 2008) Gaze : An early communication signal Vocalisations /min (smile/touch) Does gaze act as a “synchronising cue” for interacting brains?
  • 6. 6 Gaze and adult-infant neural synchrony • Adult-infant dyads (9 months old) • General Partial Directed Coherence (GPDC) – Directed measure of (Granger)-causality • Theta and Alpha bands only (no speech artifacts) • Significance thresholding with surrogate shuffled data (N=17) (N=19)
  • 7. 7 Predictions • E1 : Uni-directional influences A  I E2 : Bi-directional influences A  I & I  A • Direct = Direct-Oblique >> Indirect gaze • More vocalisations with Direct gaze Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique
  • 8. 8 Expt 1 (vid) : Neurosocial network ✓
  • 9. 9 Expt 2 (live) : Neurosocial network ✓ ✓
  • 10. • Gaze triggers phase-resetting so that adults’ and infants’ oscillation patterns align ( sync) • In this aligned state, information is optimally transmitted from speaker to listener (i.e. Adult is ready to speak when Infant is ready to listen) 10 What’s going on? Are infants really more receptive during Direct gaze? Indirect Direct
  • 11. 11 Infants’ internal networks during gaze Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique Theta Alpha THETA
  • 12. Expt 1 (Vid) Expt 2 (Live) *p<.05 12 Infants’ vocalisations Direct Indirect Direct-Oblique
  • 13. • Infants who make a greater effort to communicate (vocalise longer) influence the adult more – Caveat : this only works if the adult is looking and live.. • Infants help to maintain dyadic synchronicity! 13 Infants’ vocalisations
  • 14. 14 Do other auditory signals work too? “Tom” * * * p<.05
  • 15. 15 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Time (s) Amplitude • Infants can connect to and help maintain neural social networks with adults • Social signals like gaze and name- calling are neural “synchronising cues” • A high-synchrony, joint-networked state may support communication and learning Sync with me! Conclusions : Synchrony through gaze
  • 16. Dr Sam Wass (UEL) Co-investigator 16 Dr Kaili Clackson Post-doc Tardis tamer & Baby charmer Stani Georgieva EEG specialist Brainwave guru Thanks to the research team… Elizabeth Byrne (MRC-CBU) Experimental material Most consistent singing • Our kind volunteers who assisted with hours of video coding and baby distraction • Our brave mums and babies • Friends and family for supporting and believing in us!
  • 17. Thanks for support from ESRC UK Nanyang Technological University Rosetrees Trust Isaac Newton Trust British Academy Leverhulme Trust Keep up with us at: • @Baby_LINC • @DrVLeong • http://www.baby-linc.psychol.cam.ac.uk/ Bye bye!