Dxc190

We used two observational tasks, a positive and a negative task, where each consisting of multiple trials to elicit a range of infants’ facial expressions. In the positive emotion task, an experimenter engaged the infant by blowing soap bubbles toward them and using her voice to build suspense and elicit positive engagement (i.e., surprise, amusement, or interest). In the negative emotion task, the experimenter presented a toy car to the infant to generate interest and then gently took back the car and covered it with a clear plastic bin to elicit negative affect (i.e., frustration, anger, or distress) [13 ]. Both observational tasks were repeated three times and were terminated if the infant became too upset or the mother became uncomfortable with the procedure. For both positive and negative emotion tasks, the experimenter sat across a table from the infant with the mother seated to the experimenter’s side (Figure 2). Both tasks were recorded using a Sony DXC190 compact camera at 60 frames per second. Infants’ faces were orientated approximately 15° from frontal, with considerable head movement.

Infants’ facial expressiveness was observed in response to 2 standardized emotion inductions, one intended to elicit positive affect (eg, smile, surprise, interest, and amusement) and the other, negative affect (eg, frustration, anger, and distress). For each task, infants were seated in a highchair in front of a table with an experimenter and their mother seated on the other side of the table. The experimenter sat to the mother’s left, out of camera view and closer to the table. In the positive emotion task (PosET), soap bubbles were blown toward the child and the center of the table, just below camera view. In the negative emotion task (NegET), the examiner first demonstrated and allowed the infant to play with an attractive toy car, followed by the toy’s removal and placement for 30 seconds under a clear plastic bin just out of the infant’s reach; this procedure followed a protocol described by Goldsmith and Rothbart (1999) . These procedures (ie, blowing bubbles or toy removal) were repeated 1 to 3 times, depending on the infant’s response. The NegET was terminated if the infant became too upset or mother became uncomfortable with the procedure. Both tasks were recorded using a Sony DXC190 compact camera at 60 frames per second (see Figure 1A). Participants’ face orientation to the cameras was approximately 15° from frontal.