The modulation of facial mimicry by attachment tendencies and their underlying affiliation motives in 3-year-olds: An EMG study.

Stefania V Vacaru,Johanna E Van Schaik,Sabine Hunnius

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0218676

Abstract

From early in life, facial mimicry represents an important example of implicit non-verbal communication. Facial mimicry is conceived of as the automatic tendency to mimic another person’s facial expressions and is thought to serve as a social glue among interaction partners. Although in adults mimicry has been shown to be moderated by the social context and one’s needs to affiliate with others, evidence from behavioural mimicry studies suggest that 3-year-olds do not yet show sensitivity to social dynamics. Here, we examined whether attachment tendencies, as a proxy for interindividual differences in affiliation motivation, modulates facial mimicry in 3-year-olds. Resistant and avoidant insecure attachment tendencies are characterized by high and low affiliation motivation, respectively, and these were hypothesized to lead to either enhancement or suppression of mimicry. Additionally, we hypothesized that these effects will be moderated by inhibitory control skills. Facial mimicry of happy and sad expressions was recorded with electromyography (EMG), attachment tendencies were assessed with a parent-report questionnaire and inhibitory control with the gift delay task. The final sample consisted of 42 children, with overall scores suggesting secure attachment. Our findings revealed that 3-year-olds mimicked happy and sad facial expressions. Moreover, resistant tendencies predicted enhanced sad but not happy facial mimicry, whereas avoidant tendencies were not significantly related to mimicry. These effects were not moderated by inhibitory control skills. In conclusion, these findings provide the first evidence for the modulation of mimicry by attachment tendencies and their underlying motivation for affiliation in young children, specifically for negatively-valenced emotional expressions.

Highlights

Throughout development, children experience a myriad of social interactions which form the basis for their affective ties
We investigated whether avoidant and resistant attachment tendencies, underlying low and high motivation for affiliation, respectively, modulate facial mimicry responses in young children, and whether these responses are moderated by inhibitory control
We expected that 3-year-old children would display facial mimicry in response to happy and sad facial expressions, and that attachment tendencies would modulate children’s facial mimicry responses

Summary

Introduction

Throughout development, children experience a myriad of social interactions which form the basis for their affective ties. Despite their ambivalence between seeking contact, clinging and over-dependency on the one hand and refusing comfort during distress on the other, resistant-ambivalent children show a clear strategy to increase proximity to others Consistent with this portrayal of insecure attachment, evidence shows that the resistant and the avoidant type are characterized by low and high affiliation motivation, respectively [57]. In this study we examined whether attachment tendencies underlying different affiliation motives modulate facial mimicry and whether this relationship is moderated by inhibitory control To this end, we measured facial mimicry in a group of 3-year-old children in response to happy and sad emotional facial expressions by means of subtle facial electromyographic (EMG) activation [60]. We investigated whether avoidant and resistant insecure attachment tendencies, underlying low and high motivation for affiliation, respectively, modulate facial mimicry responses to facial emotional expressions. We hypothesized that the effect of attachment tendencies on facial mimicry would be moderated by inhibitory control

Participants

Results

Discussion