Recent studies point to the importance of early mother-child interaction for affect regulation and emotional development in infants. The purpose of this study was to assess face-to-face communication between 2-3 month old infants and their mothers. The study utilized a "double video" system that enabled the mother and the infant to see a full-face, life-size image of the other. The infant and the mother were presented with live real-time video sequences of the partner, where communication was mutually responsive (Live condition), or set out of phase (Replay condition). The study consisted of five sequences: Live1 - Replay1 - Live2 - Replay2 - Live3. In Replay1 the child viewed a replay of the mother's behavior at an earlier stage while the mother was presented with live sequences of her infant. In Replay2 the mother viewed a replay of her infant's behavior at an earlier stage while the infant was present with live sequences of the mother. Video recordings were digitized with a Miro DC30+ video capture board and analyzed with The Observer Video-Pro (Noldus Information Technology).

On all three live conditions, the infants looked significantly longer at the mother's face than all other foci combined. However, during Replay1 & 2, there was no such difference: The infants looked equally much at the surroundings and their own body as at their mothers' face. This suggests that the infants identified the difference between sequences with mutually responsive communication and sequences where communication was set out of phase. The mothers looked almost exclusively at their infant's face in all sequences. However, still there was a significant reduction during the Replay2 condition compared to both the subsequent (Live2) and the following (Live3) video sequence.

The finding that infants looked more at their mother in sequences with mutually responsive communication than when communication was set out of phase suggests that infants are sensitive to social contingencies. Secondly, the fact that the mother only looked less at her infant only during Replay2, while the infant looked less at her mother during both Replay situations, suggests that the mother's looking behavior was less influenced by the responses of the child than vice versa. This may reflect the important role the mother play in regulating the infant's behavior during early mother-infant interaction.

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