The psychology of the neonate: Analysis of sequential-temporal patterns in neonatal behaviour

Although human development is a continuous process of growth from conception to death, distinct developmental stages, such as infancy, childhood and adolescence, are recognised.
This stage view of development has had a practical impact on the organisation of social, educational, mental health and medical services. However, the stage for neonates (infants in the first four weeks of life) is absent from the field of psychology. Unlike psychologists, medical professionals demarcated this stage in the mid-twentieth century, although they considered newborns as being reactive, not responsive, social beings. Whether or not newborns are 'social' continues to be debated and the debates might prevent the field from recognising the stage of neonatal, and from exploring the behaviour of the neonate.
The proposed project uses the databases of two previously completed projects for secondary analysis. ESRC RES-000-22-1887 investigated imitation in 133 newborn infants, while ESRC RES-062-23-1779 investigated responses to the still face paradigm in 322 neonates. Both projects used a block-designed, statistical approach to analyse the behavioural changes in groups of newborns. However, a temporally sensitive approach is needed to address the current debates on 'intentionality' and 'sociality'. The temporal relationship between the behavioural elements and events are ignored in such block-designed analysis, therefore it is not known how individual responses evolve over time, how they appear in the context of the behaviour of the experimenter and the other responses of the neonate. Such temporal analyses of the behaviour of newborns have not been performed before because of the issues regarding access to a large number of newborns, the experimental-statistical difficulties of the descriptive analytic methods, the conflict between a large sample and the need of individual descriptive analysis, and the expertise that state-of-art time-series work requires.
The secondary analysis of data from these already collected datasets-which represent probably the largest neonatal behavioural database to date-provides a unique opportunity to explore the temporal and structural patterns and sequencing rules of the newborns' behaviours.
The project aims to analyse video and, in part, heart rate recordings from 205 newborns. Stage 1 of the project employs descriptive, frame-by-frame behavioural analysis of the arm, finger, facial, mouth, eye movements, postural positions and the states of the newborn (n=40), then visualizes the changes of these behaviours and interprets the emerging patterns. Stages 2 and 3 involve learning and employing lag-sequential analytic techniques in 75 newborns using the Observer and the Theme systems (Noldus, 2009; Magnusson, 2000) and the General Sequential Querier (GSEQ) programs (Bakeman & Quera,1995). Computerized algorithms will help detect patterns in the behaviour that are repeated sets of events that occur repeatedly in the same order and in which the temporal distance between the consecutive parts is similar over the repetitions. Stage 4 co-analyses the behavioural and the psychophysiological changes, displaying the psychophysiological data along the behavioural responses to the still face (n=30), the imitation (n=30) paradigms and a control condition (n=30). Such analysis could also address the possible role of 'arousal' mechanisms in the responses of the neonates to social situations. Stage 5 involves integrating the quantitative, qualitative, behavioural and psychophysiological results and evaluating them using multiple frameworks. The resulting wealth of data and the emerging patterns could transform our understanding of the neonate and the neonatal stage of development and have a significant effect on how we treat newborns and how we advise the parents of newborns. The knowledge on patterns of neonatal behaviour and responses might facilitate the emergence of a 'neonatal psychology' with a sound empirical foundation.

The interdisciplinary nature of the project has the potential to bring benefit across a broad range of settings.
1. The scientific community would gain from the wealth of data on neonatal behaviour, including how very young newborn infants respond to social situations and whether or not they engage in reciprocal dialogues from birth. Given the renewed debate regarding the existence and validity of neonatal imitation and inborn intersubjectivity, the work hopes to substantially advance knowledge in the field. Academic beneficiaries are researchers investigating neonatal, infant imitation and using imitation in applied areas, such as understanding learning processes, or researchers using it as a tool such as in intensive interaction.
2. Psychologists and researchers in the fields of cognitive, developmental, comparative, language and motor-perception areas will also find the data useful. Potentially, the data on the motor, social and communicative competence of newborns could influence the views about the neonate held by neonatologists, paediatricians, obstetricians, mental health professionals and infant mental health professionals. The data will also will be of interest to neuroscientists.
3. Methodological impact on academic research and teaching: Advanced methods for behavioural analysis will hopefully gain popularity and revive observational research in psychology and related disciplines. The combination and the integration of behavioural and psychophysiological, heart rate data from Stage 4 will further benefit the field.
4. Research students, undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates will benefit from the data and the techniques. Methodologies for complex behavioural analysis will be taught to undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in advanced modules as well as those taking part in research projects.
5. The research project might also have a longer term impact through the career pathways of the research assistants and the undergraduate, postgraduate and research students who will be learning from the project.
6. Mental health professionals would benefit by gaining a deeper understanding of the interpersonal abilities of neonates. These results could underline the importance of sensitive parenting, not only in later infancy but from the very first moments of life. Psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapists will find the data and its implications particularly useful.
7. The result of dissemination of knowledge about the earliest developmental stage in life could inform policy makers and could be used when planning changes in early years development and healthcare as well as policies related to improving parent-infant mental health. Organizations and foundations involved in improving early years communication could also benefit from and use the knowledge gained from the project.
8. Support groups and parents would gain from the research by learning about the socio-emotional responses of their newborns. They will be able to see cases that demonstrate these responses and that analyse the first interactions in detail. Therefore, the results could enhance parental competence, facilitate and reinforce the earliest interactions, and help in securing early attachment.
9. The research could lead to further research towards primary and secondary prevention studies. Furthermore, in collaboration with practicing midwives and physicians, training programs for professionals and parents could be developed that focus on understanding newborn behaviour and newborns' typical and atypical behavioural responses to social stimuli, which could also enhance the efficiency of intervention programs. These programs could even be extended to high risk and ill neonates. The knowledge about neonatal behaviour and responsivity could inform and educate professionals and parents, could improve infant feeding, decrease maternal anxiety, improve perinatal mental health and result in better later quality of life.