Critical processes for infant development – an interview with Professor Edward Tronick

We are delighted to front this issue of the Norland Educare Research Journal with an interview with Professor Edward Tronick, a world-class researcher and developmental and clinical psychologist. Edward Tronick is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Child Development Unit at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education and the School of Public Health at Harvard University, and Chief Faculty for the acclaimed Fellowship in Early Relational Health at UMass Chan Medical School. Professor Tronick has had an exceptional and highly distinguished career as a developmental and clinical psychologist. He has worked closely with numerous leading scholars, including Dr Barry Brazelton, and helped to develop the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale and the Touchpoints project. Professor Tronick is a world-leading researcher who created the face-to-face still-face experiment, which was a landmark in understanding infant neurophysiology and the relational dyad between infant and carer. His pioneering work, which has included numerous cross-cultural studies, has brought new insights into the effects of maternal depression on infants’ social and emotional development. His current research is focusing on infant memory for stress and the epigenetic processes affecting behaviour. He has published over 200 scientific articles and books and is internationally renowned for his trailblazing contributions to the field. In an interview with Dr Janet Rose, the Norland Principal, Professor Tronick imparted the key tenets of his groundbreaking research on dynamic systems theory for dyadic infant–adult interactions and the development of the face-to-face still-face experiment paradigm – all of which have significant messages for professional educarers. His work – like that of Penelope Leach, who was interviewed for our first edition – emphasises the significance of relationships for a child’s development, but foremost within this is how the repair–recovery process of interactions between caregiver and child appears to be a pivotal factor for building resilience.