Social Co-regulation of the Autonomic Nervous System Between Infants and Their Caregivers

Infants communicate physiological needs to caregivers and are sensitive to caregivers’ cues, with both dyadic partners integrating their brain and body functions. Though the autonomic functions that coordinate physiological dynamics during social interactions are emerging in infancy, they nonetheless support rich capacities for co-regulation even early in life. In this chapter, we elaborate on threat and safety communication in infant-caregiver interventions, demonstrate the role of autonomic function in integrating brain-body social coordination in caregiver and child, and describe how early experiences of co-regulation set the stage for psychosocial development through the life course.