The Effect of Situation Familiarity on the Establishment of Co-References Between Mother and Infant.

The authors describe their study of 12 mother-infant dyads, in which 5- and 9-month-old infants played with both familiar and unfamiliar toys. The dyads were filmed in their infant care centers with the infants seated in highchairs and the mothers sitting directly in front of them. Although the authors selected an experimental design, they placed the mother-infant social activity in a familiar environment. Such strategies tend to yield more accurate information because the relationship between the mothers and infants is genuine and the setting is emotionally comfortable.

Three familiar and three unfamiliar toys were presented to the dyads at the start of two different play sessions. Neither mothers nor infants had used comparable toys in their homes or in the care center. The authors focused their attention on verbal behavior and nonverbal cues between mothers and their infants during 5-minute play sessions. For more accurate findings, longer and more sessions may be employed. Also, time of day should be considered. The authors concluded that in a familiar toy situation, mothers' verbal and nonverbal interventions were more effective at initiating and maintaining co-reference because infants were more frequently receptive. Conversely, infants were more often the initiators during unfamiliar toy situations. Infants may pay as close attention to unfamiliar objects, which appear more interesting and attractive, as to their mothers. These findings suggest that using a balanced variety of familiar and unfamiliar objects is likely to stimulate appropriate play between mothers and infants.