Still Face Experiment: Dr. Edward Tronick

Dr. Ed Tronick, director of UMass Boston's new Infant-Parent Mental Health Program and Distinguished Professor of Psychology, discusses the cognitive abilities of infants to read and react to their social surroundings.

Using the "Still Face" Experiment, in which a mother denies her baby attention for a short period of time, Dr. Tronick describes how prolonged lack of attention can move an infant from good socialization, to periods of bad but repairable socialization.

In "ugly" situations the child does not receive any chance to return to the good, and may become stuck.