Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains
When infants and adults communicate, they exchange social signals of availability and communicative intention such as eye gaze. Previous research indicates that when communication is successful, close temporal dependencies arise between adult speakers’ and listeners’ neural activity. However, it is...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105461 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702493114 |
| _version_ | 1811679131198291968 |
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| author | Leong, Victoria Byrne, Elizabeth Clackson, Kaili Georgieva, Stanimira Lam, Sarah Wass, Sam |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences Leong, Victoria Byrne, Elizabeth Clackson, Kaili Georgieva, Stanimira Lam, Sarah Wass, Sam |
| author_sort | Leong, Victoria |
| collection | NTU |
| description | When infants and adults communicate, they exchange social signals of availability and communicative intention such as eye gaze. Previous research indicates that when communication is successful, close temporal dependencies arise between adult speakers’ and listeners’ neural activity. However, it is not known whether similar neural contingencies exist within adult–infant dyads. Here, we used dual-electroencephalography to assess whether direct gaze increases neural coupling between adults and infants during screen-based and live interactions. In experiment 1 (n = 17), infants viewed videos of an adult who was singing nursery rhymes with (i) direct gaze (looking forward), (ii) indirect gaze (head and eyes averted by 20°), or (iii) direct-oblique gaze (head averted but eyes orientated forward). In experiment 2 (n = 19), infants viewed the same adult in a live context, singing with direct or indirect gaze. Gaze-related changes in adult–infant neural network connectivity were measured using partial directed coherence. Across both experiments, the adult had a significant (Granger) causal influence on infants’ neural activity, which was stronger during direct and direct-oblique gaze relative to indirect gaze. During live interactions, infants also influenced the adult more during direct than indirect gaze. Further, infants vocalized more frequently during live direct gaze, and individual infants who vocalized longer also elicited stronger synchronization from the adult. These results demonstrate that direct gaze strengthens bidirectional adult–infant neural connectivity during communication. Thus, ostensive social signals could act to bring brains into mutual temporal alignment, creating a joint-networked state that is structured to facilitate information transfer during early communication and learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:04:16Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/105461 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:04:16Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1054612019-12-10T14:37:15Z Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains Leong, Victoria Byrne, Elizabeth Clackson, Kaili Georgieva, Stanimira Lam, Sarah Wass, Sam School of Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology Neural Synchronization Dyadic Interaction When infants and adults communicate, they exchange social signals of availability and communicative intention such as eye gaze. Previous research indicates that when communication is successful, close temporal dependencies arise between adult speakers’ and listeners’ neural activity. However, it is not known whether similar neural contingencies exist within adult–infant dyads. Here, we used dual-electroencephalography to assess whether direct gaze increases neural coupling between adults and infants during screen-based and live interactions. In experiment 1 (n = 17), infants viewed videos of an adult who was singing nursery rhymes with (i) direct gaze (looking forward), (ii) indirect gaze (head and eyes averted by 20°), or (iii) direct-oblique gaze (head averted but eyes orientated forward). In experiment 2 (n = 19), infants viewed the same adult in a live context, singing with direct or indirect gaze. Gaze-related changes in adult–infant neural network connectivity were measured using partial directed coherence. Across both experiments, the adult had a significant (Granger) causal influence on infants’ neural activity, which was stronger during direct and direct-oblique gaze relative to indirect gaze. During live interactions, infants also influenced the adult more during direct than indirect gaze. Further, infants vocalized more frequently during live direct gaze, and individual infants who vocalized longer also elicited stronger synchronization from the adult. These results demonstrate that direct gaze strengthens bidirectional adult–infant neural connectivity during communication. Thus, ostensive social signals could act to bring brains into mutual temporal alignment, creating a joint-networked state that is structured to facilitate information transfer during early communication and learning. Accepted version 2019-06-13T02:45:09Z 2019-12-06T21:51:46Z 2019-06-13T02:45:09Z 2019-12-06T21:51:46Z 2017 Journal Article Leong, V., Byrne, E., Clackson, K., Georgieva, S., Lam, S., & Wass, S. (2017). Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(50), 13290-13295. doi:10.1073/pnas.1702493114 0027-8424 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105461 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702493114 en Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America © 2017 The Author(s). All rights reserved. This paper was published by PNAS in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is made available with permission of The Author(s). 26 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology Neural Synchronization Dyadic Interaction Leong, Victoria Byrne, Elizabeth Clackson, Kaili Georgieva, Stanimira Lam, Sarah Wass, Sam Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title | Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title_full | Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title_fullStr | Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title_short | Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| title_sort | speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains |
| topic | DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology Neural Synchronization Dyadic Interaction |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105461 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702493114 |
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