Mother-Infant Interaction

Disruption in the Mother-Infant Interaction: The Still Face Experiment

Researchers devised this experiment to see how infants are impacted when a caregiver is non-responsive. In this experiment, mothers keep their faces blank (or still) for a few moments when interacting with their baby. The studies found that infants quickly became disturbed and distressed when adults didn’t give the anticipated reaction (Reck, 2003). The still-face experiment shows that even a brief disruption of the “dance” of mother-child interaction is upsetting for infants. The tested babies recovered quickly once their mothers resumed their normal responses. But for some babies, such as those with depressed mothers, non-responsive care is the norm.

Depressed mothers tend to be less responsive, less affectionate, more withdrawn, and more passive or intrusive. Severe postpartum depression or psychosis has also been linked with increased aggression, neglect, and infanticide (Reck, 2003). Studies have found that there are many short- and long-term developmental consequences for infants with depressed mothers. The degree of delay or damage depends on many factors, including the severity of maternal depression, the attributes of the baby, and if and when intervention happens.

Maternal depression may cause infants to:

• Be less cuddly, less attentive (score lower on face/voice orientation and alertness), and score lower on hand-to-mouth activity. In sum, they are “more aroused and less attentive” than babies whose mothers are not depressed (Diego, Field, & Hernandez-Reif, 2005).
• Appear listless and apathetic.
• Sleep more and demonstrate feeding and growth problems (see “failure to thrive” below).
• Delay vocalizations and motor development.
• Demonstrate behavioral problems such as severe tantrums and increased defiance by toddler-age.