Table 1.
Experimental studies on interpersonal motor alignment on infants. Systematic search of studies on interpersonal motor alignment in infants (age <30 months) The table shows references with authors and year of publication, the type of interpersonal motor alignment (IMA), main findings and method used; * denotes studies mentioned in the text, EEG = electroencephalography, (f)NIRS = (functional) near-infrared spectroscopy, EMG = electromyography, n = number of participants (in the final sample of analyzed data).
| Authors | IMA | Main finding | Method | Age in months, sample size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Cannon et al., 2015 | Action observation | Mu suppression (posterior sites) correlated with motor skills. | EEG | 8−10 months, n = 21 |
| *Carpenter et al., 2013 | Mimicry | Being mimicked increases help to experimenter and stranger | Behavior | 18 months, n = 48 |
| * Cirelli et al., 2014 | Synchrony | More helping towards an adult moving in synchrony than asynchronously or a stranger | Behavior | 14 months, n = 48 |
| *Cirelli et al. (2016) | Synchrony | Prosocial effect of synchrony transfers to affiliate | Behavior | 14 months, n = 48 |
| *Debnath et al., 2019 | Action observation | Mu suppression at central location and connectivity central-occipital | EEG | 9 months, n = 46 |
| de Klerk et al., 2015 | Action observation | Mu suppression independent of experience (walking) | EEG | 7−9 months, n = 31 |
| *de Klerk et al., 2019a | Mimicry (face and hand) | More facial mimicry in infants whose mother imitate more; no correlation for hand mimicry | Behavior, EMG | 4 months, n = 27 |
| de Klerk et al., 2019b | Mimicry (face) | More mimicry and temporal cortex activity for videos of same-language (compared to foreign) speaking actor | fNIRS, EMG | 11 months, n = 55 |
| de Klerk et al., 2018 | Mimicry | Facial mimicry increases with direct gaze; associated with superior temporal activity. | fNIRS, EMG | 4 months, n = 60 |
| Fawcett and Liszkowski, 2012 | Mimicry | Being mimicked or mimicking spontaneously increases play initiation with adults | Behavior | 18 months, n = 32 |
| Filippi et al., 2016 | Action observation | Mu suppression predicts subsequent goal imitation | EEG | 6−8 months, n = 36 |
| *Grossmann et al., 2013 | Action observation | Premotor and temporal cortex activation when watching human and robot-like movements | fNIRS | 4 months, n = 15 |
| Isomura and Nakano, 2016 | Mimicry | Mimicry only for audio-visual (but not unimodal) stimuli (emotional face) | Behavior, EMG | 4−5 months, n = 15 |
| *Jones, 2007 | Mimicry – Automatic imitation | Encouraged imitation of parents actions appears slowly with age, dependent on behavior | Behavior | 6−20 months, n = 162 |
| Kaiser et al., 2017 | Mimicry | Face mimicry dependent on emotion in 7 m. old; likely to include evaluative processes | Behavior, EMG | 4 months, n = 27; 7 months, n = 24) |
| *Langeloh et al., 2018 | Action observation | Mu suppression stronger for unusual than usual actions | EEG | 12 months, n = 42 |
| *Lloyd-Fox et al., 2015 | Action observation | Temporal cortex activation correlates with fine motor skills (grasp and lift) | fNIRS | 4−6 months, n = 24 |
| *Marshall and Meltzoff, 2011 | Action observation | Mu suppression(fronto central) when watching live actions | EEG | 14 months, n = 38 |
| *Montirosso et al., 2019 | Action observation | Mu suppression (frontal parietal) when watching live actions | EEG | 14 months, n = 33 |
| *Oostenbroek et al., 2016 | Imitation | No spontaneous imitation face and hand movements | Behavior | Newborn – 2months, n = 106 |
| Pratt et al., 2015 | Synchrony | Mother child synchrony in face to face interaction associated with stress reduction depending on temperament. | Behavior | 4−6 months, n = 132 |
| *Rayson et al., 2016 | Action observation | Mu suppression (central; bilateral) when watching videos of facial movements | EEG | 30 months, n = 17 |
| *Reid et al., 2011 | Action observation | Mu suppression only when observing actions that engage the child. | EEG | 14 months, n = 10 |
| Ruysschaert et al., 2013 | Action observation | Mu suppression for live but not video stimuli. | EEG | 18−36 months, n = 34 |
| *Saby et al., 2012 | Action observation | Mu suppression greater for actions that match action just executed by the infant | EEG | 14 months, n = 16 |
| Saby et al., 2013 | Action observation | Mu suppression during observation with somatotopic pattern (hand, foot) | EEG | 14 months, n = 32 |
| *Shimada and Hiraki, 2006 | Action observation | Motor activity during execution and observation, more in live setting than video | fNIRS | 6−7 months, n = 13 |
| *Somogyi and Esseily, 2014 | Mimicry | Being mimicked increases tool-use learning by observation. | Behavior | 16 months, n = 48 |
| *Southgate et al., 2009 | Action observation | Mu suppression starting before onset of observed movement. | EEG | 9 months, n = 15 |
| *Stapel et al., 2010 | Action observation | Mu suppression stronger for extraordinary actions | EEG | 12 months, n = 12 |
| *Tunçgenç et al., 2015 | Synchrony | 12 months-old but not 9 months old prefer social character (but not object(that have moved synchronously with them | Behavior | 9 months, n = 41; 12 months, n = 40 |
| Upshaw et al., 2016 | Action observation | Mu suppression during observation related to grip strength | EEG | 12 months, n = 12 |
| Vacaru et al., 2019 | Mimicry (face) | Spontaneous mimicry of face pictures. Effect of attachment style, not inhibitory control | Behavior, EMG | 3 months, n = 42 |
| *Virji‐Babul et al., 2012 | Action observation | Mu suppression when watching videos of reaching, walking or object motion | EEG | 4−11 months, n = 14 |
| *Warreyn et al., 2013 | Action observation | Mu suppression for object-directed and mimicked actions | EEG | 18−30, n = 17 |
| *Yoo et al., 2015 | Action observation | Mu suppression during observation of grasp-with-tool actions. | EEG | 9 months, n = 26; 12 months, n = 34 |
| *Zmyj et al., 2012 | Imitation | Spontaneous imitation more likely when watching peers than older children or adults | Behavior | 14 months, n = 36 |