Responses to animate and inanimate faces by infants of depressed mothers

Abstract

Forty infants (mean age 5 months) of depressed mothers and non‐depressed mothers were seated in an infant seat and were exposed to four different degrees of animation, including a still‐face Raggedy Ann doll (about two‐feet tall suspended in front of the infant), the same doll in an animated state talking and head‐nodding, an imitative mother and a spontaneously interacting mother (the more animate mother condition). The infants spent more time looking at the doll, but they smiled and laughed more at the mother. The infants of depressed versus non‐depressed mothers showed less laughing and more fussing when their mothers were spontaneously interacting, but showed more laughing and less fussing during the mother imitation condition. Paradoxically, the infants of non‐depressed mothers were negatively affected by the imitation condition, showing less smiling and laughing and more fussing than they had during the spontaneous interactions.

Keywords:

• Infants
• Depressed mothers

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the mothers and infants who participated in this study. This research was supported by an NIMH Senior Research Scientist Award (M8#00331) and an NIMH merit award (MH#46586) to Tiffany Field and funding by Johnson and Johnson.