Beebe and Gerstman (1984) chose as the unit of maternal behavior
the one and a half to three-second repetitive run of kinesic patterns.This
unit allows a looser temporal coupling or a higher order of synchro-
nization between mother and infant,and does not require exact syn-
chronization of onsets and offsets of behaviors (subsequently questioned
on logical and methodological grounds by other researchers) claimed by
Condon and Sander (1974).In their study,Beebe and Gerstman docu-
mented covariation between maternal “package”changes and infant
facial-visual changes,and thereby retained Condon and Sander’s concept
of shared organizational forms.Feldstein et al.(1993) and Jaffe et al.(in
preparation) studied coordinated interpersonal timing of vocalizations
with comparable results.Development of Early Interactions
From birth to age two and a half months,mothers touch and hold babies,
cuddle,rock and pat them,look at their faces,and smile and speak softly
to them in an undulant or melodic,high-pitched breathy voice called by
researchers motherese (or parentese).Movements and utterances are
simplified,repetitive,and regular.The general encounter is soothing,
gently playful,and “protoconversational”(Bateson 1975),asking ques-
tions of or commenting on the infant’s looks,digestion,and events in the
vicinity.
For its part,a baby intently looks at its mother’s face,whether or
not she is regarding the child,and by six to eight weeks begins to
produce a social smile,initially elicited most effectively by high-pitched
vocalizations,nods with eye contact,touches,and smiles.Prolonged
mutual gaze,which in humans as in other animals is usually avoided,is
a notable component of early engagement in Western and many other
cultures.
When the child is between two and a half and five and a half months
the mother subtly adjusts her sounds and movements to the baby’s
changing needs and abilities,moving gradually from gentle cooing reas-
surance to animated play.Her utterances and facial expressions become
more exaggerated,both in time and space.They are formed more slowly,
held longer,given more dynamic intensity and variety,and punctuated
with behavioral rests or silences.The baby responds to these positively
with larger smiles,more active movements,and a range of sounds of
delight,and the mother reacts in turn with greater exaggeration of mood,
movement,and tempo.
Within a bout,the underlying temporal pattern,whose optimal beat is
one fourth to one third of a second (Beebe 1986),may be varied with
dynamic fasts and slows,louds and softs,and changes in vocal timbre.
The baby may cut off arousal by looking away,thereby maintaining some
control over the amount of information it takes in (Schore 1994:85).The392 Ellen Dissanayake