Examples of infant behavior research experiments

In infancy you can observe an explosive growth. A lot of researchers focus on this age group and observe parent-infant dyads to get more insight in specific behaviors.

Published on

Tue 07 Jul. 2015

Examples of infant behavior research experiments

In infancy, you can observe an explosive growth. Many researchers focus on this age group and observe parent-infant dyads to get more insight in specific behaviors. Experiments are often set up to study looking behavior, language acquisition, attachment, or learning behavior.

Look Who's Talking

Who cannot remember ‘Look Who's Talking’ a 1989 movie with Kirstie Alley and John Travolta in which the audience was given an insight into the infant’s thoughts and behaviors? Since a talking infant is something out of a Hollywood movie, today’s researchers have developed a large number of tests or experiments to get a good impression of developmental processes in infancy.








FREE WHITE PAPER: Tools for Infant Studies

Download the free White paper to learn more about the software tools available for infant studies.

  • Video observations to capture behaviors
  • Coding behaviors accurately
  • Unobtrusive emotion analysis

Infant orientation towards their mother

For example, Parade and Leerkes examined associations between marital aggression and infant orienting towards mother when infants are faced with a fearful or frustrating context. They set up an experiment including 92 mothers with their infants.

Infant's responses to the fear task

In the fear task they placed a remote-control truck on a wooden table in front of the infant. The truck approached the infant, made a series of loud sounds with flashing lights, and then backed away from the infant. They repeated this sequence of movements three times over the first 3 minutes of the task. During the last minute of the task the truck was turned off but remained within reach of the infant.

Frustration task

In another task, the frustration task, the infant’s forearms were gently held down by the experimenter. Throughout this task the experimenter held her head down and did not interact with the infant. Infant gaze was continuously coded during each of the tasks using coding software The Observer XT. The researchers coded the following behaviors: 

  • look at stimulus
  • look away from stimulus
  • eyes closed 
  • look at mother







FREE TRIAL: Try The Observer XT yourself!

Request a free trial and see for yourself how easy behavioral research can be!

  • Work faster
  • Reduce costs
  • Get better data

Results of infant observations

So what did they find? Parade and Leerkes conclude that marital aggression was linked with less orienting toward mothers in frustrating situations, in fearful situations marital aggression was linked with less orienting among infants who were high on fear reactivity only. 

The researchers explain that it may be the case that infants’ fear cues aren’t picked up by their mothers and that the infants, therefore, rely less on their mothers for assistance in the regulation of their fear.

Reference

  • Parade, S.H.; Leerker, E.M. (2011). Marital aggression predicts infant orienting toward mother at six months. Infant Behavior and Development, 34, 235-238.

Related Posts

Adolescent Motherhood – observing mother-infant behavior
25 Jul human behavior research Psychology

Adolescent Motherhood – observing mother-infant behavior

Adolescent mothers are tackling their transition to adulthood and the transition to parenthood. This is called the double risk for mother and infant, inherent in adolescent motherhood.
Comparing two different skin-to-skin contact techniques
23 Nov human behavior research Psychology

Comparing two different skin-to-skin contact techniques

Skin-to-skin contact is essential in developing a feeling of safety, and in creating the bond between parent and child, especially with premature babies. Buil et al. compared two kangaroo positioning techniques.
The role of parent-child interaction on child development
27 Feb human behavior research Psychology

The role of parent-child interaction on child development

When children face cognitive and motor delays, they are often unable to reach developmental milestones at the expected times. Does this influence the interactive behaviors of parents and children?