Project Grant K99HD115784

This federal Project Grant award, with ID K99HD115784, was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865). The award, totaling $131,333.00, supports research aimed at understanding the emotional and biobehavioral mechanisms underlying parent-infant emotional synchrony and its impact on child socioemotional development. The key objectives are to: 1) Identify the biobehavioral correlates of mother-infant emotional synchrony (Aim 1); 2) Determine the emotional correlates of mother-infant emotional synchrony (Aim 2); and 3) Expand the study to examine both mother-infant and father-infant dyads, linking emotional and biobehavioral synchrony to later child socioemotional functioning (Aim 3). The research will be conducted by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York over the award period from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2026. This work aims to uncover the origins of social cognition through the lens of parent-infant dyadic emotional synchrony, with the goal of informing the development of targeted interventions to promote early relational health and optimal child socioemotional functioning.