Department of Physiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Al Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.
Infancy. 2021 May;26(3):352-368. doi: 10.1111/infa.12390. Epub 2021 Mar 1.
Physiological adaptations to external stressors can reveal socio-cognitive health in infancy. With the use of thermal imaging and behavioural analyses, the current study examined the arousal markers accompanying infants' interactions with a familiar and an unfamiliar person. To address the current research question, the mother and a complete stranger interacted with 2 to 3 month-old infants (N= 10, 2 boys)in three different conditions: Neutral, Play, and Compliment. Behavioral analyses showed that overall gaze was longer to the Stranger compared to the Mother independent of condition. Physiological findings showed that skin temperature was significantly higher with the stranger independent of condition. The regions of the face that passed the significance threshold included the maxillary area, the nose, and the forehead. Both behavioral and physiological findings emphasize the ability of the infant to distinguish between a familiar and an unfamiliar person. Most importantly, however thermal imaging has proven to be a promising tool in physiologically differentiating between variable social conditions in very young infants opening up a new experimental portal for identifying healthy physiological development.
生理适应外部应激源可以揭示婴儿期的社会认知健康。本研究使用热成像和行为分析，检查了伴随婴儿与熟悉和陌生的人互动的唤醒标记。为了解决当前的研究问题，母亲和一个完全陌生的人在三种不同的条件下与 2 到 3 个月大的婴儿（N=10，2 名男孩）进行了互动：中性、游戏和赞美。行为分析表明，无论条件如何，婴儿对陌生人的注视时间总体上都比母亲长。生理发现表明，无论条件如何，与陌生人在一起时皮肤温度明显升高。通过显著性阈值的面部区域包括上颌区域、鼻子和前额。行为和生理发现都强调了婴儿区分熟悉和陌生的人的能力。然而，最重要的是，热成像已被证明是一种很有前途的工具，可以在生理上区分非常年幼的婴儿的不同社交条件，为识别健康的生理发育开辟了一个新的实验门户。
