The communicative characteristics of musical interactions compared with play interactions between mothers and their one-year-old infants

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the communicative characteristics of musical interactions with play interactions between mothers and their one-year-old infants. The characteristics were physical proximity and eye contact, mothers’ and infants’ emotional expressions, length of communication chains, synchronisation, and maternal mediation behaviours. A 10-minute musical interaction followed by a 10-minute play interaction was videotaped at each of the 93 participants’ homes. The data were analysed using Observer5 software, which combines viewing the interaction with simultaneous coding. The analysis of variance revealed that the durations of physical contact, eye contact, and positive emotions and the length of communication chains were significantly longer during the musical interactions. The frequency of mothers’ mediation and incompatible mediation behaviours was significantly higher in the play interactions. Musical interactions were found to provide more opportunities for positive emotional arousal and synchronisation, which are the basic characteristics of quality interactions and essential for future child development.

Keywords:

• musical interaction
• play interaction
• eye contact
• positive emotion
• mediation behaviour

Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the ‘Israel Foundations Trustees (doctorate grant no. 28)’. It was also partially supported by the Lois Alberto Machado Chair for Research on Cognitive Modifiability and the Development of Intelligence and the I.B. Harris Program for Infants, Toddlers and Families in Israel (ITF), Bar-Ilan University.