Selecting optimal wearables for measuring physiological arousal in robot-delivered mindfulness-based exercises.

While social robots show promise for therapeutic interventions, accurate assessments of (vulnerable) participants' affective outcomes require attention. The careful selection of devices for recording autonomic processes in response to stress-inducing and relaxing exercises is essential to ensure data quality recordings and participants' comfort. This foundational study assessed two commonly utilized devices to record electrodermal activity (EDA), indexed through skin conductance, concerning their sensitivity to stress-relaxation manipulations and social validity during a robot intervention: a sock with a Shimmer device and a wrist-worn Empatica E4.

Infant Care: Predictors of Outdoor Walking, Infant Carrying and Infant Outdoor Sleeping.

Background: Although spending time outdoors is beneficial for development, little is known about outdoor time during infancy. The aim of this study was to assess frequencies and durations of (1a) outdoor walking and carrying in mother-infant dyads and (1b) infant outdoor sleeping in a stationary cot or pram. We furthermore aimed to identify associations of (2a) outdoor walking and carrying and (2b) infant outdoor sleeping, with infant, maternal and environmental sample characteristics.

Adolescents' hair cortisol concentrations during COVID-19: Evidence from two longitudinal studies in the Netherlands and the United States.

Background: Prolonged stress exposure is associated with alterations in cortisol output. The COVID-19 pandemic represented a stressor for many, including children. However, a high-quality caregiving environment may protect against psychological problems and possibly against elevations in cortisol.

Determinants of maternal breast milk cortisol increase: Examining dispositional and situational factors.

Background: Breast milk is a rich nutritional source, containing numerous proteins, carbohydrates, and hormones that impact long-term offspring development. Strikingly, predictors and correlates of breast milk composition remain largely unknown. Building on a previously discovered increase in breast milk cortisol concentration from 2 to 12 weeks postpartum, we investigated potential predictors of maternal breast milk cortisol in the first three months post-delivery by examining a suite of maternal dispositional (e.

Breastfeeding and room-sharing during COVID-19 in the Netherlands: The impact of perinatal healthcare support.

Aim: The recommendations of 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and parent-infant room-sharing (RS) are often not followed. As these early caregiving practices may have been affected by the COVID-19-related restrictions, we documented BF and RS practices in the Netherlands (2020-2021) and the effects of perceived perinatal healthcare support.

Methods: Pregnant women and mothers of an infant younger than 6 months (N = 784) completed online questionnaires (e.

Infants' sensitivity to emotional expressions in actions: The contributions of parental expressivity and motor experience.

Actions can convey information about the affective state of an actor. By the end of the first year, infants show sensitivity to such emotional information in actions. Here, we examined the mechanisms contributing to infants' developing sensitivity to emotional action kinematics.

Prenatal hair cortisol concentrations during the COVID-19 outbreak: Associations with maternal psychological stress and infant temperament.

Background: Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy, including stress resulting from disasters and trauma, has been linked to temperamental difficulties in offspring. Although heightened cortisol concentrations are often hypothesized as an underlying mechanism, evidence supporting this mechanism is not consistent, potentially because of methodological issues and low stress in the population.

Aim: To address these issues, this preregistered study investigated the following associations between: 1) prenatal psychological stress and hair cortisol, as a biomarker for chronic stress, during the COVID-19 outbreak (i.

Parents of young infants report poor mental health and more insensitive parenting during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an unprecedented pressure on families with children. How parents were affected by the first Covid-19 lockdown during the early postpartum period, an already challenging period for many, is unknown.

Aim: To investigate the associations between Covid-19 related stress, mental health, and insensitive parenting practices in mothers and fathers with young infants during the first Dutch Covid-19 lockdown.

Internalizing symptoms and family functioning predict adolescent depressive symptoms during COVID-19: A longitudinal study in a community sample.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown pose a threat for adolescents' mental health, especially for those with an earlier vulnerability. Accordingly, these adolescents may need increased support from family and friends. This study investigated whether family functioning and peer connectedness protects adolescents with earlier internalizing or externalizing symptoms from increased depressive symptoms during the first Dutch COVID-19 lockdown in a low-risk community sample.

No evidence for modulation of facial mimicry by attachment tendencies in adulthood: an EMG investigation.

Mimicking another individual functions as a social glue: it smoothens the interaction and fosters affiliation. Here, we investigated whether the intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others, stemming from attachment relationships, modulates individuals' engagement in facial mimicry (FM). Participants (N = 100;  = 24.

Five-year-olds' facial mimicry following social ostracism is modulated by attachment security.

Social ostracism triggers an increase in affiliative behaviours. One such behaviour is the rapid copying of others' facial expressions, called facial mimicry. Insofar, it remains unknown how individual differences in intrinsic affiliation motivation regulate responses to social ostracism during early development.

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

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

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

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.

'Something in the way you move': Infants are sensitive to emotions conveyed in action kinematics.

Body movements, as well as faces, communicate emotions. Research in adults has shown that the perception of action kinematics has a crucial role in understanding others' emotional experiences. Still, little is known about infants' sensitivity to body emotional expressions, since most of the research in infancy focused on faces.