Abstract
Conversations are an essential form of communication in daily family life. Specific patterns of caregiver–child conversations have been linked to children’s socio-cognitive development and child-relationship quality beyond the immediate family environment. Recently, interpersonal neural synchronization has been proposed as a neural mechanism supporting conversation. Here, we present a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning study looking at the temporal dynamics of neural synchrony during mother–child conversation. Preschoolers (20 boys and 20 girls, M age 5;07 years) and their mothers (M age 36.37 years) were tested simultaneously with fNIRS hyperscanning while engaging in a free verbal conversation lasting for 4 min. Neural synchrony (using wavelet transform coherence analysis) was assessed over time. Furthermore, each conversational turn was coded for conversation patterns comprising turn-taking, relevance, contingency and intrusiveness. Results from linear mixed-effects modeling revealed that turn-taking, but not relevance, contingency or intrusiveness predicted neural synchronization during the conversation over time. Results are discussed to point out possible variables affecting parent–child conversation quality and the potential functional role of interpersonal neural synchronization for parent–child conversation.
Highlights
Preschool age is a critical time for children as they start to expand their daily interactions with family members and establish peer relationships outside the immediate family context (Harrist and Waugh, 2002)
We investigated whether mother–child dyads show neural synchronization in temporo-parietal and dorsolateral areas when the dyads engage in a free verbal conversation
We explored the temporal dynamics of neural synchronization throughout the observation and whether certain conversation patterns are associated with increases or decreases in neural synchronization
Summary
Preschool age is a critical time for children as they start to expand their daily interactions with family members and establish peer relationships outside the immediate family context (Harrist and Waugh, 2002). In this transitional phase, communicative abilities play a crucial role. Previous studies reported that if such communicative patterns are lacking during parent–child dyadic conversations— i.e. the dyad is unable to coordinate and does not exhibit verbal turn-taking—atypical language development and the risk for developmental disorders more generally may arise in children (Moseley, 1990; Malin et al, 2011). We propose neural synchronization as a neurobiological underpinning to successful communication and turn-taking during parent–child conversations
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