Categorical Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis Applied to Communicative Interaction during Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

The goal of this study was to characterize the degree of structuring of verbal and motor behaviours, unfolded during the application of an procedure called the Strange Situation. This procedure is used for assessing children’s attachment quality during early stages of their development. Many studies have demonstrated that communicative interactions share features with complex dynamic systems. In such studies, estimations of degree of structure have been used to characterize the system’s synchronization. Thus, assuming that processes of communicative interaction occur in the Strange Situation procedure, it was expected to find traces of synchronization. The metrics were estimated through a Categorical Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis applied to the behaviours of individuals and dyads. Two applications of the Strange Situation were implemented and recorded. Verbal and motor interactions among children, caregivers, and strangers were transcribed, categorized, and organized as time series. From each time series of original behaviours, randomized time series were created. Measures of recurrence extracted from Recurrent Plots, such as determinism, entropy, maximum line, laminarity, and trapping time, were calculated. Original and randomized time series were compared in terms of these measures. Results indicated that communicative interaction during the Strange Situation had a structure that mimics properties observed in social interactions where synchronization emerges. In our case, verbal behaviours were more prone to synchronization than motor behaviours, in both individuals and dyads, even though this pattern was more salient among caregivers and strangers than children. The relevance of having measures that can capture synchronization during the administration of the Strange Situation is discussed. Our preliminary findings allow us to point out that the application of RQA and C-RQA to the Strange Situation could not only contribute to methodology, but also contribute to emphasizing the role of coupling in communicative interaction generated by the application of this procedure to measure attachment patterns.