Mother–infant interaction and contingency learning in pre-term infants

Abstract

Contingency learning was assessed in 12-month-old pre-term infants and related to neonatal factors, and mother±infant interaction. Measures of speed of contingency detection and motivation to control stimulus-feedback were derived from behavioural observation and individual response patterns. The findings indicated that speed of contingency detection was related negatively to neonatal risk factors. Furthermore, motivation to control stimulus-feedback was related to maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness and the infant's positive behaviour and responsiveness. The results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of distinguishing between perception of the contingent relationship and motivation to control reinforcement. Further research is needed to examine the generalization of our results to samples of normal and healthy infants.

Does the development of executive functioning in infants born preterm benefit from maternal directiveness?

“…Mothers were asked to play with their infant as they would normally do. Video-observations were rated on a nine-point 'sensitivity' scale and 5 five-point scales measuring 'quality of handling', 'timing', 'nondirectiveness', 'noninterference', and 'responsiveness' (ELO scales) [21,31]. The maternal behaviors observed with these scales have shown to be related to maternal anxiety and predictive of contingency learning in preterm infants [31][32][33], supporting criterion validity.…”

Maternal responsiveness and search for hidden objects and contingency learning by infants

“…Over the first few months of life, experiences with contingencies occur most often in social situations, particularly during interactions with the mother. Some authors (Riksen-Walraven, 1978;Dunham, 1990, 1994;Brighi, 1997;Wijnroks, 1997) suggest that maternal responsiveness, defined as contingent, regular and adequate maternal reactions to the infants signals, creates the optimal environment to detect and control contingency, with a high level of maternal responsiveness associated with better performance on a contingency task. While the links between maternal responsiveness and the child's ability to detect and control contingent stimulations are extensively documented, the effects of such a learning on various aspects of cognitive development is unclear.…”

“…On each trial the location of the green square changed. The task requires the infant to detect a contingency (pressing a square activates a cartoon), similar to Millar and Schaffer (1973), Wijnroks (1997) and Brighi (1997). In these studies, however, the infant had to detect a relation between moving a lever and some reinforcement.…”

Behavior Problems in Relation to Sustained Selective Attention Skills of Moderately Preterm Children

“…The unique structural brain abnormalities that may be related to behavioral problems and sustained selective attention difficulties, and that have also been found in moderately preterm children, are also important (Kinney 2006 ). Parents of moderately preterm children may also interact more intrusively with their children, as compared to parents of term children, which may affect the children’s learning processes and outcomes (Wijnroks 1997 ). Future studies should try to incorporate both structural and functional analyses of the brain, in order to gain a better understanding of the relationships between preterm birth and developmental outcomes (Conrad et al 2009 ), as well as the roles of parenting and parent-child interaction quality.…”