Using different methods for calculating frontal alpha asymmetry to study its development from infancy to 3 years of age in a large longitudinal sample

Forming Connections: Functional Brain Connectivity is Associated With Executive Functioning Abilities in Early Childhood

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with adults provide evidence that functional brain networks, including the default mode network and frontoparietal network, underlie executive functioning (EF). However, given the challenges of using fMRI with infants and young children, little work has assessed the developmental trajectories of these networks or their associations with EF at key developmental stages. More recently, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has emerged as a promising neuroimaging tool which can provide information on cortical functional networks and can be more easily implemented with young children. Children (N = 207; n = 116 male; n = 167 White) had fNIRS data recorded at infancy, 3, 5, and 7 years of age while watching a 2-min nonsocial video. At 3, 5, and 7 years, children completed behavioral assessments and parents completed questionnaires to assess child EF abilities. Results showed that, although early functional brain network connectivity was not associated with later functional brain connectivity, EF was concurrently and longitudinally associated with functional connectivity levels in both networks. Overall, these results inform the understanding of early emerging neural underpinnings of regulatory abilities and point to considerable change in the composition of functional brain networks and a conservation of function across development.

The Effect of Evaluating Self's Emotions on Frontal Alpha Asymmetry

PURPOSE

In research to assess emotions from biometric signals, participants are asked to evaluate the emotions they subjectively experienced to confirm whether the assumed emotions were actually elicited. However, the evaluation of emotion may influence the biometric signals related to the emotion itself. While such evaluative processes may function as a form of emotion regulation, which is known to modulate emotional experiences, the neural mechanisms and effects of evaluation itself remain unclear. Specifically, the temporal dynamics of how these evaluations affect emotion-related brain activity in electroencephalography (EEG) have not been investigated. Based on theories of emotional processing and self-focused attention, we hypothesized that emotion evaluations would enhance emotional processing as reflected in frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) through both immediate attentional effects and sustained self-focused attention.

METHOD

We measured a 29-channel EEG in 40 healthy participants who were presented with unpleasant and highly arousing images. Participants were assigned to either an experimental group that performed the task with subjective evaluation followed by without subjective evaluation, or a control group that performed the task without subjective evaluation twice. This design allowed us to examine both immediate effects of evaluation and its lasting influence on subsequent emotional processing.

FINDING

The results revealed that FAA was significantly lower during emotional evaluation compared to conditions without subjective evaluation, particularly during stimulus processing (300-500 ms). This early modulation suggests that evaluation automatically engages attentional processes, may reflect enhanced negative emotional processing as well as the activation of behavioral inhibition system through self-focused attention.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that the emotional evaluation procedure itself can significantly alter early emotion-related brain activity, providing insights into how self-focused emotional evaluation engages both emotional and motivational processes. These findings suggest the need for methodological reconsiderations in EEG emotion estimation studies.

EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in childhood

BACKGROUND

Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.

METHODS

We examined the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of N = 323 mother-child dyads. Self-report maternal internalizing symptoms were evaluated at child age 3 years and 5 years, child EEG at 5 years, and parent-report child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. Mediation was evaluated via bootstrapped (N = 5,000) confidence intervals.

RESULTS

We found significant associations among maternal internalizing (anxiety, depressive) symptoms when their children were ages 3 and 5 years, child FAA at age 5 years, and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. There was a significant mediation effect, whereby greater maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms at age 3 years were significantly associated with FAA (greater relative right cortical activation) in children at age 5 years, which, in turn, was significantly associated with greater child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years (ps < .001). There was no moderating effect of FAA on the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at age 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater right frontal asymmetry may be a neurophysiological mechanism that mediates the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms.

Coupling Up: A Dynamic Investigation of Romantic Partners' Neurobiological States During Nonverbal Connection

Nonverbal connection is an important aspect of everyday communication. For romantic partners, nonverbal connection is essential for establishing and maintaining feelings of closeness. EEG hyperscanning offers a unique opportunity to examine the link between nonverbal connection and neural synchrony among romantic partners. This current study used an EEG hyperscanning paradigm to collect frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) signatures from 30 participants (15 romantic dyads) engaged in five different types of nonverbal connection that varied based on physical touch and visual contact. The results suggest that there was a lack of FAA while romantic partners were embracing and positive FAA (i.e., indicating approach) while they were holding hands, looking at each other, or doing both. Additionally, partners' FAA synchrony was greatest at a four second lag while they were holding hands and looking at each other. Finally, there was a significant association between partners' weekly negative feelings and FAA such that as they felt more negative their FAA became more positive. Taken together, this study further supports the idea that fleeting moments of interpersonal touch and gaze are important for the biological mechanisms that may underlie affiliative pair bonding in romantic relationships.

Frontal alpha asymmetry predicts subsequent social decision-making: A dynamic multilevel, neural, and developmental perspective

Social motivation, the human desire to engage with others, is likely to underlie higher levels of social cognition and the formation of interpersonal relationships. Yet, this topic has been understudied in adolescents despite the critical developmental and maturational changes that occur during this period and the relevance of social motivation to clinical and neurodevelopmental disorders. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and an implicit-association paradigm (Choose-A-Movie Task; Dubey et al., 2015), we examined how brain responses underlying socially motivated decisions informed future decisions in 54 youth (aged 10-14 years) and 50 young adults (aged 18-33 years). As the first study to use this task during EEG recording, we implemented time-frequency analyses and a trial-by-trial dynamic statistical approach. Results suggested that both age groups preferred low-effort choices and increasingly preferred nonsocial choices over time. P3 amplitude also increased over time and was sensitive to effortful decisions, particularly for adults, but not social content. Both groups showed larger leftward frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) during nonsocial feedback, and FAA predicted future decisions differently for adults than youth. The current study highlights FAA and trial-by-trial analyses as useful tools in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying socially motivated decisions, which differ across development, time, and individuals.

EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in childhood

Background

Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.

Methods

We examined the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of N = 323 mother-child dyads. Self-report maternal internalizing symptoms were evaluated at child age 3 years and 5 years, child EEG at 5 years, and parent-report child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. Mediation was evaluated via bootstrapped ( N = 5000) confidence intervals.

Results

We found significant associations among maternal internalizing (anxiety, depressive) symptoms at child ages 3 and 5 years, child FAA at age 5 years, and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. There was a significant mediation effect, whereby greater maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms at age 3 years were significantly associated with greater relative right FAA in children at age 5 years, which, in turn, was significantly associated with greater child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years ( ps <.001). There was no moderating effect of FAA on the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at age 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years.

Conclusions

Greater right frontal asymmetry may be a neurophysiological mechanism that mediates the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms.

Examining the impact of prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms and socioeconomic status on children's frontal alpha asymmetry and psychopathology

Prenatal maternal internalizing psychopathology (depression and anxiety) and socioeconomic status (SES) have been independently associated with higher risk for internalizing and externalizing problems in children. However, the pathways behind these associations are not well understood. Numerous studies have linked greater right frontal alpha asymmetry to internalizing problems; however, findings have been mixed. Several studies have also linked maternal internalizing psychopathology to children's frontal alpha asymmetry. Additionally, emerging studies have linked SES to children's frontal alpha asymmetry. To date, only a limited number of studies have examined these associations within a longitudinal design, and the majority have utilized relatively small samples. The current preregistered study utilizes data from a large prospective study of young children (N = 415; Meanage  = 7.27 years; Rangeage  = 5-11 years) to examine the association between prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms, children's frontal alpha asymmetry, and behavior problems. Prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms did not predict children's frontal alpha asymmetry, and there was no association between frontal alpha asymmetry and behavior problems. However, mothers' internalizing symptoms during pregnancy predicted children's internalizing and externalizing outcomes. Non-preregistered analyses showed that lower prenatal maternal SES predicted greater child right frontal alpha asymmetry and internalizing problems. Additional non-preregistered analyses did not find evidence for frontal alpha asymmetry as a moderator of the relation between prenatal maternal internalizing psychopathology and SES to children's behavior problems. Future research should examine the impact of SES on children's frontal alpha asymmetry in high-risk samples.

Frontal EEG alpha asymmetry in youth with autism: Sex differences and social-emotional correlates

In youth broadly, EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) associates with affective style and vulnerability to psychopathology, with relatively stronger right activity predicting risk for internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In autistic youth, FAA has been related to ASD diagnostic features and to internalizing symptoms. Among our large, rigorously characterized, sex-balanced participant group, we attempted to replicate findings suggestive of altered FAA in youth with an ASD diagnosis, examining group differences and impact of sex assigned at birth. Second, we examined relations between FAA and behavioral variables (ASD features, internalizing, and externalizing) within autistic youth, examining effects by sex. Third, we explored whether the relation between FAA, autism features, and mental health was informed by maternal depression history. In our sample, FAA did not differ by diagnosis, age, or sex. However, youth with ASD had lower total frontal alpha power than youth without ASD. For autistic females, FAA and bilateral frontal alpha power correlated with social communication features, but not with internalizing or externalizing symptoms. For autistic males, EEG markers correlated with social communication features, and with externalizing behaviors. Exploratory analyses by sex revealed further associations between youth FAA, behavioral indices, and maternal depression history. In summary, findings suggest that individual differences in FAA may correspond to social-emotional and mental health behaviors, with different patterns of association for females and males with ASD. Longitudinal consideration of individual differences across levels of analysis (e.g., biomarkers, family factors, and environmental influences) will be essential to parsing out models of risk and resilience among autistic youth.

Behavioral and neural measures of infant responsivity increase with maternal multisensory input in non-irritable infants

INTRODUCTION

Parents often use sensory stimulation during early-life interactions with infants. These interactions, including gazing, rocking, or singing, scaffold child development. Previous studies have examined infant neural processing during highly controlled sensory stimulus presentation paradigms.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we investigated infant behavioral and neural responsiveness during a mother-child social interaction during which the mother provided infant stimulation with a progressive increase in the number of sensory modalities.

METHODS

We prospectively collected and analyzed video-coded behavioral interactions and electroencephalogram (EEG) frontal asymmetry (FAS) from infants (n = 60) at 2-4 months born at ≥ 34 weeks gestation. As the number of sensory modalities progressively increased during the interaction, infant behaviors of emotional connection in facial expressiveness, sensitivity to mother, and vocal communication increased significantly. Conversely, infant FAS for the entire cohort did not change significantly. However, when we accounted for infant irritability, both video-coded behaviors and EEG FAS markers of infant responsiveness increased across the interaction in the non-irritable infants. The non-irritable infants (49%) demonstrated positive FAS, indicating readiness to engage with, rather than to withdraw from, multisensory but not unisensory interactions with their mothers.

RESULTS

These results suggest that multisensory input from mothers is associated with greater infant neural approach state and highlight the importance of infant behavioral state during neural measures of infant responsiveness.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Response to Stressor Moderates the Relation Between Parenting Hassles and Child Externalizing Problems

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and self-identified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child's externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress.