In the first year of life visual experiences play a key role in social and emotional development. The infant’s gaze evokes the mother’s gaze, forming a dyadic system of mutual influence. Mutual gaze interactions are intense interpersonal communications in which the mother must be psychobiologically attuned to the internal state of the infant.
The caregiver attunes to and resonates with the infant’s state. As this state becomes activated, she fine tunes and corrects the intensity and duration of the affective stimulation she provides the child in order to maintain the positive state of the infant. Both mother and infant become synchronised as the mother attunes to the infant during social engagement, then allowing the infant to recover quietly as he disengages. These interactions are the building blocks of the infant’s affective development.
In synchronised gaze, the dyad creates a regulatory system which moves from a neutral state and low arousal to higher arousal and positive affect. The mother’s face reflects back her baby’s aliveness. This result in a transformation of state and the emergence of vitality affects. A major task of the first year is affect tolerance for higher levels of arousal. This is facilitated by the mother modulating the infant’s states of high stimulation.