Analysing developmental role of parent-baby interactions Pioneering new methods have shone a light on the importance of early baby-parent interactions in shaping brain function. Health © Victoria/stock.adobe.com Parent-baby interactions often involve a lot of gazing, gurgling and laughing. While forming this bond is obviously critical to the physical well-being and survival of infants, it is also clear that parent-baby interactions are important for early social and emotional development. “However, we still don’t really understand the mechanisms behind what is going on here,” notes SAPIENS project coordinator Emily Jones from Birkbeck College – University of London in the United Kingdom. “For example, what elements of parent-baby interactions are critical? This is important to know if we want to support parents who are struggling or facing mental health challenges, or who have babies with difficulties. We need to know which elements of parent-child interactions we need to support.” Building a robust research network The aim of the SAPIENS project, which was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, was therefore to get beyond simply describing what happens between parent and child, and to identify key interactions. The project team also sought to develop new analytical tools for this purpose. To achieve this, SAPIENS built up a robust research network. This network was made up of early-stage researchers, who completed pioneering studies through the project. “We brought together 15 researchers from across Europe, all with different backgrounds and areas of expertise,” says Jones. Methods for measuring baby-parent interactions Key innovations developed include a computer-based method to measure gazes in both parent and baby during interactions. The goal was to try to identify coordinated patterns. Data was collected during a series of interactive and playful tasks. Another researcher gathered data on autism, a neurodevelopmental condition that impacts social skills. The idea was to see if there might be differences in early parent-baby interactions, long before the infant exhibits behavioural symptoms. “Other researchers developed AI-based algorithms to measure infant brain responses to pictures,” adds Jones. “The idea was to pick stimuli based on previous responses, to see if we could find preferences. This could help us to identify the type of interactions that are best for babies.” Identifying early brain differences in babies These collaborative efforts have produced valuable new findings, which could help to shine a light on important baby-parent interactions. For example, big data research revealed early brain differences in babies that go on to develop autism as infants. “What might be happening here are differences in visual processing,” explains Jones. “This might be affecting how babies see people around them.” A twin study also helped to clarify how much our interactions are genetically or environmentally influenced. “What we found is that early attentive behaviour can be heritable,” says Jones. “What this means is that your genes influence what you look at. You might be born into the world with a tendency to be interested in people.” Some AI-based tools, such as the method to measure gazes, are open-source and now available for other researchers to use. “This AI line of work is a new direction for us,” remarks Jones. “We currently have a new PhD student working on this, to take our findings forward.” One important area here will be moving towards personalised diagnoses. “We tend to assume that what is good for one baby will be good for all,” says Jones. “But this is not necessarily true. As the babies themselves cannot tell us what types of interaction they like, we hope to find ways of letting their brains tell us.” Keywords SAPIENS, brain, baby, mental health, AI, genes, twin, infants
