Dyadic Neuroscience
What Research Tells Us:
- Everyday interactions that include back-and-forth exchanges, shared emotional experiences, or a young child and a caring adult being together or near each other are fundamental for fostering healthy development in young children’s brains and bodies. These interactions can include things like doing daily tasks, reading, singing, playing, babywearing, or even a parent just being around the baby.
- These experiences can also embody mutual attunement, which can be observed in the way parents and babies match each other’s vocalizations and facial expressions, and even synchronize their brains and heartbeats.
- Parents and caregivers also experience significant physical and emotional health and well-being benefits when they are able to connect emotionally with their babies and toddlers.
What Does Dyadic Neuroscience Tell Us About Early Relational Health?
Brains develop through connection:
Dyadic neuroscience in early childhood aims to understand the impact of everyday moments between young children and their caregivers on brain activity and brain development for both the children and the adults.
Early childhood is a uniquely important time for brain development:
During this period of heightened neuroplasticity, the brain is exceptionally sensitive to relational experiences. The connection among brain activities, brain development, and healthy early relationships tells us that everyday interactions between young children and their adult caregivers are bonding moments that literally shape the child’s developing brain and influence their ability to be social and to build healthy relationships now and in the future. At the same time, supported challenges or struggles also present opportunities for growth and resilience building.
Parents’ brains change, too:
Parents and caregivers also experience brain plasticity as a result of becoming a parent. Research shows that nurturing interactions with young children can help parents become more attuned to the social and emotional needs of the child, including the baby’s cues, and feel more rewarded and satisfied by their interactions with the baby. By the same token, this window of brain plasticity can also create biological responses in some adults that can hinder their ability to bond with their babies.