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Li S, Müller BCN, Meinhardt J, Sodian B. Resting-state EEG alpha asymmetry predicts false belief understanding during early childhood: An exploratory longitudinal study. Brain Res 2025; 1853:149523. [PMID: 39986414 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2025.149523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2024] [Revised: 01/21/2025] [Accepted: 02/18/2025] [Indexed: 02/24/2025]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to attribute mental states to others, is fundamental to human socio-cognition. In child development, a full or explicit understanding of false beliefs (FB) and their impact on action emerges around the age of 4 years. There is evidence of functional specialization of right hemispheric activity related to FB processing in adults and children. However, it remains unclear whether this specialization is the cause or the consequence of ToM development. The present exploratory study investigates the longitudinal relationship of resting-state electroencephalogram (rsEEG) alpha asymmetry measured in infancy/toddlerhood and behavioral false belief understanding (FBU) at the age of 4 years. Employing a longitudinal design, Study 1 assessed rsEEG alpha asymmetry across frontal and parietal electrode sites (N = 43), implicit FBU at 34 months (N = 38), and explicit FBU at age 4 (N = 22). Study 2 is another independent longitudinal dataset that included rsEEG alpha asymmetry at 14 months (N = 37) and explicit FBU at age 4 (N = 32). We found that superior explicit FBU at age 4 was associated with greater right frontal activity at an earlier age, and better implicit FBU was cross-sectionally related to greater right parietal activity. Given the limited sample size, these results should be viewed as preliminary and warrant replication in future studies. Interpreted cautiously, these findings may suggest that rsEEG alpha asymmetry in frontal regions may serve as an early-appearing neural marker of children's later explicit FBU.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuting Li
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
| | - Barbara C N Müller
- Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Jörg Meinhardt
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
| | - Beate Sodian
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
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2
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Rousseau S, Avital N, Tolpyhina Y. Shaping infants' social brains through vicarious social learning: the importance of positive mother-father interactions. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1419159. [PMID: 39417029 PMCID: PMC11481335 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1419159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 08/28/2024] [Indexed: 10/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction This study is the first to assess whether infants' developing social brains may be susceptible to the vicarious social experience of interparental positivity. Specifically, we explored whether infants' exposure to interparental positivity may vicariously shape their neural substrates of social development. Methods In a sample of 45 infants (M AgeMonths = 11.01; 48.9% girls), infant left-frontal resting alpha electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry was derived as a reliable indicator of neural substrates linked to adaptive social development. Moreover, positive characteristics of the mother-father couple relationship were assessed both by means of observation and self-report by mother and father. Importantly, various relevant covariates were considered, including interparental negativity (observed and self-reported), as well as infants' direct caregiving experiences and duration of infant exposure to mother-father relationship-dynamics (parent-report). Results Results indicated that higher levels of observed interparental positivity were associated with greater infant left-frontal alpha EEG asymmetry, even after accounting for covariates (β's > 0.422). Discussion The current study's results are first to suggest that positive vicarious social experiences in infants' day-to-day lives play a significant role for early neural development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofie Rousseau
- Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- School of Education, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Nuphar Avital
- School of Education, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Yuliya Tolpyhina
- Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- School of Education, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
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3
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Cohenour T, Dickinson A, Jeste S, Gulsrud A, Kasari C. Patterns of spontaneous neural activity associated with social communication abilities among infants and toddlers showing signs of autism. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 60:3597-3613. [PMID: 38703054 PMCID: PMC12083214 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
Early disruptions to social communication development, including delays in joint attention and language, are among the earliest markers of autism spectrum disorder (autism, henceforth). Although social communication differences are a core feature of autism, there is marked heterogeneity in social communication-related development among infants and toddlers exhibiting autism symptoms. Neural markers of individual differences in joint attention and language abilities may provide important insight into heterogeneity in autism symptom expression during infancy and toddlerhood. This study examined patterns of spontaneous electroencephalography (EEG) activity associated with joint attention and language skills in 70 community-referred 12- to 23-month-olds with autism symptoms and elevated scores on an autism diagnostic instrument. Data-driven cluster-based permutation analyses revealed significant positive associations between relative alpha power (6-9 Hz) and concurrent response to joint attention skills, receptive language, and expressive language abilities. Exploratory analyses also revealed significant negative associations between relative alpha power and measures of core autism features (i.e., social communication difficulties and restricted/repetitive behaviors). These findings shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying typical and atypical social communication development in emerging autism and provide a foundation for future work examining neural predictors of social communication growth and markers of intervention response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Torrey Cohenour
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Abigail Dickinson
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Shafali Jeste
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Amanda Gulsrud
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Connie Kasari
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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4
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Söldner L, Paulus M. I help, therefore, I am? - A registered report on longitudinal inter-relations of the three-dimensional moral self-concept and prosocial behaviours in preschool children. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 42:257-284. [PMID: 38483075 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/18/2024]
Abstract
Children's moral self-concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their inter-relations are scarce. Therefore, this longitudinal study investigated the development, structure and inter-relation of prosocial behaviours and the MSC in childhood, using three measurement points at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assessed children's MSC and helping, sharing and comforting behaviours in a laboratory setting. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-dimensional MSC structure at 5 and 6 years, but not at 4 years. There was inconsistent stability across time points regarding prosocial behaviour and MSC. For the comforting domain, but not the other domains, cross-lagged relations between self-concept and behaviour were present. Moreover, helping behaviour and self-concept were inter-related at 6 years. Results provide support for reciprocal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviour, albeit only in the comforting domain. They highlight the importance of distinguishing between types of prosocial behaviour and corresponding dimensions of the self-concept, as different developmental trajectories and associations emerge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Söldner
- Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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5
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Söldner L, Paulus M. I help, therefore, I am?-longitudinal interrelations of the three-dimensional moral self-concept and prosocial behaviours in 4-6-year-old children. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 42:1-17. [PMID: 37964099 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Children's moral self-concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their interrelations are scarce. The current study examines the early development, structure, stability and interrelation of three key prosocial behaviours and the corresponding dimensions of the moral self-concept. To this end, we use a longitudinal approach with three measurement points during the preschool years at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assess three prosocial dimensions of children's MSC through a puppet-interview. In addition, behavioural measures of children's helping, sharing and comforting were administered in a laboratory setting. By examining the longitudinal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviours, this study will provide valuable insights into the complex nature of prosocial development in early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Söldner
- Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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6
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Zhang M, Wu YE, Jiang M, Hong W. Cortical regulation of helping behaviour towards others in pain. Nature 2024; 626:136-144. [PMID: 38267578 PMCID: PMC10925558 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06973-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Humans and animals exhibit various forms of prosocial helping behaviour towards others in need1-3. Although previous research has investigated how individuals may perceive others' states4,5, the neural mechanisms of how they respond to others' needs and goals with helping behaviour remain largely unknown. Here we show that mice engage in a form of helping behaviour towards other individuals experiencing physical pain and injury-they exhibit allolicking (social licking) behaviour specifically towards the injury site, which aids the recipients in coping with pain. Using microendoscopic imaging, we found that single-neuron and ensemble activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encodes others' state of pain and that this representation is different from that of general stress in others. Furthermore, functional manipulations demonstrate a causal role of the ACC in bidirectionally controlling targeted allolicking. Notably, this behaviour is represented in a population code in the ACC that differs from that of general allogrooming, a distinct type of prosocial behaviour elicited by others' emotional stress. These findings advance our understanding of the neural coding and regulation of helping behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingmin Zhang
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ye Emily Wu
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Mengping Jiang
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Weizhe Hong
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Bioengineering, Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Biro S. Twelve months old infants' evaluation of observed comforting behavior using a choice paradigm: The role of animacy cues and self-distress. INFANCY 2023. [PMID: 37081587 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/22/2023]
Abstract
Comforting is a prosocial behavior that children start to engage in around their second year of life. There is much less known about their ability to evaluate comforting behavior of others. The current study examined whether 12 months old infants, after having watched animated abstract characters comfort or ignore a third party in distress, would show a preference for the comforting character. Using a manual choice paradigm, we found that infants were more likely to choose the comforting character than the ignoring character (Experiment 1). When the characters however lacked human surface features (eyes) infants did not show a preference (Experiment 2). Furthermore, infants self-distress during the watching of the animations did not prevent infants to evaluate the behavior of the observed characters. These findings support the idea of an early presence of "moral sense" in infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Szilvia Biro
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Pavlenko VB, Kaida AI, Klinkov VN, Mikhailova AA, Orekhova LS, Portugalskaya AA. Features of reactivity of the EEG mu rhythm in children with autism spectrum disorders in helping behavior situations. BULLETIN OF RUSSIAN STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY 2023. [DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2023.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023]
Abstract
One of the subjects being discussed by the professional community currently is the role possibly played by the mirror neuron system (MNS) in the violation of social behavior of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The MNS is known to shape the perception of emotions of others and understanding and imitation of their actions. Mu rhythm desynchronization in EEG is considered to be the indicator of the MNS activation. The purpose of this study was to identify the features of reactivity of the EEG mu rhythm within an individually determined frequency range in preschoolers with ASD in situations requiring instrumental, emotional and altruistic helping behavior (HB). The study involved children 4–7 years old with ASD (n = 26) and their normally developing peers without the condition (n = 37). Although in most cases, HB was more pronounced in the group of normally developing children, the differences between the groups are significant only for altruistic HP (p < 0.01), and for the situation requiring complex altruistic and emotional HP it approaches significance (p = 0.09). Evaluation of the mu rhythm reactivity indices showed that the tasks invoking complex altruistic and emotional HB bring this indicator down significantly in children with ASD compared to the group of normally developing participants, as shown by the central leads of the left and right hemispheres and the parietal lead of the right hemisphere (C3: p = 0.02 ; C4: p = 0.03; P4: p = 0.03). It is assumed that the detected features stem from the impaired functioning of the MNS and the downstream regulation to the MNS from prefrontal cortex and other areas of the neocortex. The data obtained can be used in development of EEG biofeedback training protocols for children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- VB Pavlenko
- Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia
| | - AI Kaida
- Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia
| | - VN Klinkov
- Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia
| | - AA Mikhailova
- Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia
| | - LS Orekhova
- Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia
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Carpendale JIM, Wallbridge B. From action to ethics: A process-relational approach to prosocial development. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1059646. [PMID: 36865355 PMCID: PMC9970991 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1059646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Explaining how children first become active prosocial and then later moral agents requires, we argue, beginning with action and interaction with others. We take a process-relational perspective and draw on developmental systems theory in arguing that infants cannot be born knowing about prosociality or morality or anything else. Instead, they are born with emerging abilities to act and react. Their biological embodiment links them to their environment and creates the social environment in which they develop. A clear distinction between biological and social levels cannot be made in the context of ongoing development because they are thoroughly interwoven in a bidirectional system in which they mutually create each other. We focus on infants' emerging ability to interact and develop within a human developmental system, and prosociality and morality emerge at the level of interaction. Caring is a constitutive aspect of the forms of experience in which infants are embedded in the process of becoming persons. Infants are immersed in a world of mutual responsiveness within caring relationships that are infused with concern, interest, and enjoyment. In such a developmental system, infants become persons when they are treated as persons.
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Stockdale LA, Porter CL, Reschke PJ, Booth M, Coyne SM, Stephens J, Memmott-Elison MK. Infants’ physiological responses to emotionally salient media with links to parent and child, empathy, prosocial behaviors and media use. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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Paz Y, Davidov M, Orlitsky T, Hayut M, Roth-Hanania R, Zahn-Waxler C. Prosocial behavior in toddlerhood and early childhood: Consistency across subtypes and over time. Front Psychol 2023; 14:950160. [PMID: 36910831 PMCID: PMC9997644 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.950160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Young children show their capacity for compassion and their desire to enhance the welfare of others in multiple ways. The present study sought to address gaps in knowledge regarding prosociality in the early years. Specifically, the study examined whether different subtypes of prosociality are interrelated, whether they are consistent over time, as well as the meaning of young children's spontaneous versus cued prosocial behavior. Methods In a longitudinal sample (N = 151), three subtypes of prosocial behavior-instrumental helping, compassionate helping (comforting), and sharing-were assessed using behavioral tasks in toddlerhood (18 months) and early childhood (36 months). Results Consistent with hypothesis, partial convergence was found between the different prosociality subtypes at each age. There was also modest continuity over time, both within and across prosocial subtypes. Moreover, at both ages, when children helped or shared spontaneously, they also provided more assistance in the task. Children's tendency to assist spontaneously was partially consistent across situations by early childhood. Discussion The findings indicate that a moderately stable disposition toward prosociality is already evident during early ontogeny. Moreover, different subtypes of prosocial behavior are distinct yet interrelated in the early years, suggesting they have both common and unique underlying mechanisms. Lastly, young children's spontaneous (versus cued) prosocial action appears to reflect both motivational and cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yael Paz
- The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Maayan Davidov
- The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Tal Orlitsky
- The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Mor Hayut
- The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ronit Roth-Hanania
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel
| | - Carolyn Zahn-Waxler
- Center for Healthy Minds and Department of Psychology, Center for Healthy Minds and Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
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12
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Karasewich TA, Hines C, Pinheiro SGV, Buchenrieder N, Dunfield KA, Kuhlmeier VA. Examining the influence of shyness on children's helping and comforting behaviour. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1128588. [PMID: 36923150 PMCID: PMC10008939 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Shy children, who tend to feel anxious around others and withdraw from social interactions, are found to be less prosocial than their not-shy peers in some studies, though not in others. To examine the contexts in which shy children may be more or less likely to engage in prosocial behaviour, we compared children's willingness and ability to intervene during in-person tasks that differed in social engagement demands and complexity, factors that have been conflated in past research. Methods We presented 42, 3.5- to 4.5-year-old children with prosocial problems that varied, in a 2 x 2 within-subjects design, by the type of intervention required (i.e., simple helping or complex comforting) and the source of the problem (i.e., social: within the experimenter's personal space; or object: a target object distanced from her). Results Most of the children acted prosocially, with little prompting, in the two helping tasks and in the object-centered comforting task. In contrast, fewer than half of the children acted prosocially in the social-centered comforting task. Shyer children were not less likely to intervene in any of the four tasks, but they were slower to intervene in the object-centred comforting task, in which the experimenter was upset about a broken toy. Discussion Thus, providing social-centered comfort to a recently-introduced adult is challenging for young children, regardless of shyness, though shy children do show hesitancy with object-centered comforting. Further, these findings provide insights into the methodological challenges of disentangling children's prosocial motivation and understanding, and we propose solutions to these challenges for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cameron Hines
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Brett BE, Stern JA, Gross JT, Cassidy J. Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Preschoolers' Helping, Sharing, and Comforting: The Moderating Role of Child Attachment. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL FOR THE SOCIETY OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, DIVISION 53 2022; 51:623-636. [PMID: 32228318 PMCID: PMC8215845 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2020.1738235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) are inconsistently associated with lower rates of child prosocial behavior. Studies typically examine prosocial behavior as a unitary construct rather than examining its multiple dimensions, and rarely consider how the quality of the parent-child relationship could influence this association.Objective: The current study examines whether the security of the parent-child attachment relationship moderates the association between MDS and children's helping, sharing, and comforting behaviors.Method: Participants were 164 low-income, majority African American mothers and their preschool-aged children recruited from Head Start centers. Mothers reported the frequency of depressive symptoms at baseline; child attachment security and helping, sharing, and comforting behavior were observationally assessed 5 to 8 months later.Results: Moderation analyses revealed a positive main effect of security (but not MDS) on children's comforting behavior, a main effect of MDS on sharing, and no main effects of MDS or security on children's helping behaviors. Significant interactions between MDS and security predicted comforting and (marginally) helping behaviors, such that MDS were associated with both more helping and more comforting behavior only when children were more secure. No such interaction was observed for sharing.Conclusions: These findings suggest that children may adapt to maternal depressive symptoms in prosocial ways, but that this depends at least in part on the quality of the parent-child relationship, underscoring the importance of examining attachment quality as a moderator of parental influences on children's social-emotional development. We discuss potential explanations for these findings, as well as their implications for intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jude Cassidy
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland
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14
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Perkins N, Smith P, Chadwick P. Young Children’s Conceptualisations of Kindness: A Thematic Analysis. Front Psychol 2022; 13:909613. [PMID: 35783797 PMCID: PMC9249386 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.909613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 05/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Although there is much interest in the development of prosocial behaviour in young children, and many interventions that attempt to cultivate kindness in children, there is a paucity of research exploring children’s lived experiences of kindness and including their voices. In this study, children’s understanding of kindness is approached through qualitative interviews using puppets. Interviews were conducted with 33 children aged 5-6 years in 3 schools in the United Kingdom. Through thematic analysis, 4 themes were developed: (a) doing things for others, (b) relating with others, (c) rules and values, and (d) kindness affects us. These themes are examined in light of current thinking on prosocial and sociomoral development, and several key insights are highlighted, including types of prosocial behaviour, social connection, kindness-by-omission and defending, in-group bias, universal kindness versus personal safety, self-image, and a desire to improve the condition of society. These findings have implications for future research on prosocial development and for the design of kindness-based interventions, as well as providing an ecologically valid method of inquiry for use with young children.
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15
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Tan E, Hamlin JK. Infants' neural responses to helping and hindering scenarios. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 54:101095. [PMID: 35276494 PMCID: PMC8908062 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing literature suggests infants prefer prosocial others over antisocial others. Although recent studies have begun to explore the neural mechanisms underlying these responses (Cowell and Decety, 2015; Gredebäck et al., 2015), these studies were based on relatively small samples and focused on distinct aspects of sociomoral responding. The current preregistered study systematically examined infants' neural responses both to prosocial/antisocial interactions and to prosocial/antisocial characters, using larger samples and two distinct age groups. We found that 6- (but not 12-) month-olds showed higher relative right frontal alpha power (indexing approach motivation) when viewing helping versus hindering scenarios. Consistent with past EEG work, infants showed no group-level manual preferences for the helper. However, analyses of infants' neural responses toward images of the helper versus hinderer revealed that both 6- and 12-month-olds showed differential event-related potential (ERP) responses in the P400 and N290 components (indexing social perception) but not in the Nc component (indexing attentional allocation), suggestive that infants' neural responses to prosocial versus antisocial characters reflect social processing. Together, these findings provide a more comprehensive account of infants' responses to prosocial/antisocial interactions and characters, and support the hypothesis that both motivational and socially relevant processes are implicated in infants' sociomoral responding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enda Tan
- University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| | - J Kiley Hamlin
- University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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16
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Norton ES, Manning BL, Harriott EM, Nikolaeva JI, Nyabingi OS, Fredian KM, Page JM, McWeeny S, Krogh-Jespersen S, MacNeill LA, Roberts MY, Wakschlag LS. Social EEG: A novel neurodevelopmental approach to studying brain-behavior links and brain-to-brain synchrony during naturalistic toddler-parent interactions. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22240. [PMID: 35312062 PMCID: PMC9867891 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Despite increasing emphasis on emergent brain-behavior patterns supporting language, cognitive, and socioemotional development in toddlerhood, methodologic challenges impede their characterization. Toddlers are notoriously difficult to engage in brain research, leaving a developmental window in which neural processes are understudied. Further, electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential paradigms at this age typically employ structured, experimental tasks that rarely reflect formative naturalistic interactions with caregivers. Here, we introduce and provide proof of concept for a new "Social EEG" paradigm, in which parent-toddler dyads interact naturally during EEG recording. Parents and toddlers sit at a table together and engage in different activities, such as book sharing or watching a movie. EEG is time locked to the video recording of their interaction. Offline, behavioral data are microcoded with mutually exclusive engagement state codes. From 216 sessions to date with 2- and 3-year-old toddlers and their parents, 72% of dyads successfully completed the full Social EEG paradigm, suggesting that it is possible to collect dual EEG from parents and toddlers during naturalistic interactions. In addition to providing naturalistic information about child neural development within the caregiving context, this paradigm holds promise for examination of emerging constructs such as brain-to-brain synchrony in parents and children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth S. Norton
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Brittany L. Manning
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Emily M. Harriott
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Julia I. Nikolaeva
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Olufemi S. Nyabingi
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Kaitlyn M. Fredian
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Jessica M. Page
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Sean McWeeny
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Sheila Krogh-Jespersen
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Leigha A. MacNeill
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Megan Y. Roberts
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Lauren S. Wakschlag
- Department of Medical Social Sciences and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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17
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Alotaibi N, Bakheet D, Konn D, Vollmer B, Maharatna K. Cognitive Outcome Prediction in Infants With Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Based on Functional Connectivity and Complexity of the Electroencephalography Signal. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 15:795006. [PMID: 35153702 PMCID: PMC8830486 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.795006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Impaired neurodevelopmental outcome, in particular cognitive impairment, after neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is a major concern for parents, clinicians, and society. This study aims to investigate the potential benefits of using advanced quantitative electroencephalography analysis (qEEG) for early prediction of cognitive outcomes, assessed here at 2 years of age. EEG data were recorded within the first week after birth from a cohort of twenty infants with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). A proposed regression framework was based on two different sets of features, namely graph-theoretical features derived from the weighted phase-lag index (WPLI) and entropies metrics represented by sample entropy (SampEn), permutation entropy (PEn), and spectral entropy (SpEn). Both sets of features were calculated within the noise-assisted multivariate empirical mode decomposition (NA-MEMD) domain. Correlation analysis showed a significant association in the delta band between the proposed features, graph attributes (radius, transitivity, global efficiency, and characteristic path length) and entropy features (Pen and SpEn) from the neonatal EEG data and the cognitive development at age two years. These features were used to train and test the tree ensemble (boosted and bagged) regression models. The highest prediction performance was reached to 14.27 root mean square error (RMSE), 12.07 mean absolute error (MAE), and 0.45 R-squared using the entropy features with a boosted tree regression model. Thus, the results demonstrate that the proposed qEEG features show the state of brain function at an early stage; hence, they could serve as predictive biomarkers of later cognitive impairment, which could facilitate identifying those who might benefit from early targeted intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noura Alotaibi
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
- Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Dalal Bakheet
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
- Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Daniel Konn
- Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Brigitte Vollmer
- Clinical Neurosciences, Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
- Paediatric Neurology, Southampton Children’s Hospital, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Koushik Maharatna
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
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18
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Zietlow AL, Woll CFJ, Nonnenmacher N, Müller M, Labonte V, Ditzen B, Paulus M, Sodian B, Nater UM, Herpertz SC, Reck C. Study protocol of the COMPARE-Interaction study: the impact of maternal comorbid depression and anxiety disorders in the peripartum period on child development. BMJ Open 2022; 12:e050437. [PMID: 35058257 PMCID: PMC8783832 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION To date, there are only few studies that compare the consequences of peripartum maternal depressive disorders (PD) versus depressive with comorbid anxiety disorders (PDCA) for infant and child development. As comorbidity is associated with greater impairment and symptom severity related to the primary diagnosis, comorbidity in mothers might raise their offspring's risk of developing internalising or externalising disorders even more than has been noted in conjunction with PD alone. METHODS AND ANALYSIS This study aims to analyse the impact of parental psychopathology, particularly peripartum depression in mothers with and without comorbid anxiety disorders according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) on child cognitive and socioemotional development. Maternal/paternal psychopathology, mother-infant/father-infant interaction and child development are assessed at four measurement points over the first 2 years (T1: 3-4 months postpartum, T2: 12 months postpartum, T3: 18 months postpartum and T4: 24 months postpartum). The mediating role of mother-infant/father-infant interaction and infant stress reactivity in the relationship between PD/PDCA and infant cognitive and socioemotional development will be analysed. In the ongoing study, 174 families (n=58 mothers with PD, n=58 mothers with PDCA and n=58 healthy controls) will be recruited in inpatient and outpatient centres as well as maternity hospitals in Munich and Heidelberg. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION This study is implemented in accordance with the current guidelines of the World Medical Association (revised Declaration of Helsinki) and the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. The study procedures were approved by the independent ethics committees of the Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (74_Reck_b) and of the Medical Faculty, University Heidelberg (S-446/2017). Participation is voluntary. A signed written informed consent form must be obtained from each study subject prior to any study-specific procedure. Participants can withdraw from the study at any point in time without giving a reason or being subjected to any future disadvantages. In case of withdrawal from the study, the subject's data and material will be kept unless the participant asks for data removal. Results will be published and disseminated to further the discussion on the effects of maternal PD and PDCA on parent-infant interaction, infant stress reactivity and child development. Furthermore, study results will be presented at international congresses and expert conferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Lena Zietlow
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Christian Franz Josef Woll
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology of Children and Adolescents, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Nora Nonnenmacher
- Institute of Medical Psychology, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mitho Müller
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology of Children and Adolescents, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Verena Labonte
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology of Children and Adolescents, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Beate Ditzen
- Institute of Medical Psychology, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Beate Sodian
- Department of Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Urs M Nater
- Department of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Corinna Reck
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology of Children and Adolescents, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
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19
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Decety J, Holvoet C. The emergence of empathy: A developmental neuroscience perspective. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2021.100999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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20
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Sohail S, Dunfield KA, Chernyak N. Dissociable Mechanisms for Diverse Prosocial Behaviors: Counting Skills Predict Sharing Behavior, but Not Instrumental Helping. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2021.1998064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sifana Sohail
- University of California, California, USA
- Yale University, Connecticut, USA
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21
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Geraci A, Franchin L. Do toddlers prefer that agents help similar or dissimilar needy agents? INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Geraci
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science University of Trento Rovereto Italy
| | - Laura Franchin
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science University of Trento Rovereto Italy
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22
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Hay DF, Paine AL, Perra O, Cook KV, Hashmi S, Robinson C, Kairis V, Slade R. Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior: A Longitudinal Study. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 2021; 86:7-103. [PMID: 33973244 PMCID: PMC9943493 DOI: 10.1111/mono.12427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Developmental theorists have made strong claims about the fundamental prosocial or aggressive nature of the human infant. However, only rarely have prosocial behavior and aggression been studied together in the same sample. We charted the parallel development of both behaviors from infancy to childhood in a British community sample, using a two-construct, multimethod longitudinal design. Data were drawn from the Cardiff Child Development Study (CCDS), a prospective longitudinal study of a volunteer sample of parents and their firstborn children. A sample of 332 mothers was recruited from National Health Service (NHS) prenatal clinics and general practice clinics in Wales, UK, between Fall of 2005 and Summer of 2007. Potential participants represented the full range of sociodemographic classifications of neighborhoods. Participating families were divided about equally between middle- and working-class families, were somewhat more likely to have sons than daughters, and the majority (90%) were in a stable partnership. In response to standard categories recommended for use in Wales at the time, the majority (93%) of mothers reported themselves as Welsh, Scottish, English, or Irish; most others named a European or South Asian nationality. Of the 332 families agreeing to participate, 321 mothers (Mage = 28 years) and 285 partners (Mage = 31 years) were interviewed during the pregnancy and 321 of the families contributed data at least once after the child's birth. After an initial home visit at 6 months, data collection occurred in four additional waves of testing when children's mean ages were approximately 1, 1.5, 2.5, and 7 years. Data collection alternated between family homes and Cardiff University. Of those families seen after the child's birth, 89% were assessed at the final wave of testing. Data collection ended in 2015. Methods included direct observation, experimental tasks, and collection of reports from mothers, fathers, other relatives or family friends, and classroom teachers. Interactions with a familiar peer were observed at 1.5 years. Interactions with unfamiliar peers took place during experimental birthday parties at 1 and 2.5 years. At 7 years, parents were interviewed, parents and teachers completed questionnaires, and the children engaged in cognitive and social decision-making tasks. Based on reports from parents and other informants who knew the children well, individual differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression were evident in children. Both types of behavior showed stability across the second and third years. The association between prosocial behavior and aggression changed over time: at 1.5 years, they were not significantly related (the association approached zero), but they became negatively correlated by 3 years. Different patterns were seen when children played with familiar versus unfamiliar peers. At 1.5 years, when children were observed at home with a familiar peer, prosocial behavior and aggression were unrelated, thus showing a pattern of results like that seen in the analysis of informants' reports. However, a different pattern emerged during the experimental birthday parties with unfamiliar peers: prosocial behavior and aggression were positively correlated at both 1 and 2.5 years, contributing to a general sociability factor at both ages. Gender differences in prosocial behavior were evident in informants' reports and were also evident at the 1-year (though not the 2.5-year) birthday parties. In contrast, gender differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression were evident by 7 years, both in children's aggressive decision-making and in their parents' and teachers' reports of children's aggressive behavior at home and school. By age 7, children's aggressive decision-making and behavior were inversely associated with their verbal skills, working memory, and emotional understanding. Some children had developed aggressive behavioral problems and callous-unemotional traits. A few (12%) met diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder or oppositional-defiant disorders, which had been predicted by early angry aggressiveness and lack of empathy for other people. Taken together, the findings revealed a gradual disaggregation of two ways in which children interact with other people. Individual differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression revealed continuity over time, with gender differences emerging first in prosocial behavior, then in aggression. Restrictions in the participant sample and the catchment area (e.g., all were first-time parents; all were drawn from a single region in the United Kingdom) mean that it is not possible to generalize findings broadly. It will be important to expand the study of prosocial behavior and aggression in other family and environmental contexts in future work. Learning more about early appearing individual differences in children's approaches to the social world may be useful for both educational and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Oliver Perra
- School of Nursing and Midwifery, Centre for Evidence and Social InnovationQueen's University Belfast
| | | | - Salim Hashmi
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and NeuroscienceKing's College London
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23
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Luo M, Meehan AJ, Walton E, Röder S, Herberth G, Zenclussen AC, Cosín-Tomás M, Sunyer J, Mulder RH, Cortes Hidalgo AP, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Felix JF, Relton C, Suderman M, Pappa I, Kok R, Tiemeier H, van IJzendoorn MH, Barker ED, Cecil CAM. Neonatal DNA methylation and childhood low prosocial behavior: An epigenome-wide association meta-analysis. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2021; 186:228-241. [PMID: 34170065 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Low prosocial behavior in childhood has been consistently linked to later psychopathology, with evidence supporting the influence of both genetic and environmental factors on its development. Although neonatal DNA methylation (DNAm) has been found to prospectively associate with a range of psychological traits in childhood, its potential role in prosocial development has yet to be investigated. This study investigated prospective associations between cord blood DNAm at birth and low prosocial behavior within and across four longitudinal birth cohorts from the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) Consortium. We examined (a) developmental trajectories of "chronic-low" versus "typical" prosocial behavior across childhood in a case-control design (N = 2,095), and (b) continuous "low prosocial" scores at comparable cross-cohort time-points (N = 2,121). Meta-analyses were performed to examine differentially methylated positions and regions. At the cohort-specific level, three CpGs were found to associate with chronic low prosocial behavior; however, none of these associations was replicated in another cohort. Meta-analysis revealed no epigenome-wide significant CpGs or regions. Overall, we found no evidence for associations between DNAm patterns at birth and low prosocial behavior across childhood. Findings highlight the importance of employing multi-cohort approaches to replicate epigenetic associations and reduce the risk of false positive discoveries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mannan Luo
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Alan J Meehan
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.,Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA
| | - Esther Walton
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Stefan Röder
- Department for Environmental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gunda Herberth
- Department for Environmental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ana C Zenclussen
- Department for Environmental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marta Cosín-Tomás
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jordi Sunyer
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.,IMIM Parc Salut Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Rosa H Mulder
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea P Cortes Hidalgo
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Janine F Felix
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Caroline Relton
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Matthew Suderman
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Irene Pappa
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rianne Kok
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Edward D Barker
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Charlotte A M Cecil
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.,Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.,Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
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24
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Bucher B, Kuroshima H, Anderson JR, Fujita K. On experimental tests for studying altruism in capuchin monkeys. Behav Processes 2021; 189:104424. [PMID: 34015376 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Altruism is often considered as the ultimate form of prosociality and is defined as any act that benefits others without direct benefit to the actor. Many nonhuman species have been reported to express different forms of altruism, although their expression in experimental studies is highly dependent on the paradigm used. Tufted capuchin monkeys are one of the most studied species; however, the evidence for altruism in this species remains inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate whether two paradigms, adapted from those in which great apes have shown altruism, could be useful for revealing signs of altruistic capabilities in capuchins. Pairs of monkeys were tested in two experiments involving a similar mechanism but with different costs to acting altruistically. The first used a more costly operant sharing task in which an operator could unlock a door to allow a recipient to enter the room and share his food. The second consisted of a less costly helping task, in which the operator's food was secured but he could help the recipient to get other food that was in a locked container. The results suggest that capuchins, although apparently unwilling to share their food in a costly operant situation, might altruistically help selected recipients, in response to requesting by the latter. While our small sample size along with procedural limitations preclude firm conclusions, we discuss how further ameliorations of our tasks could further contribute to the study of altruistic capacities in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoit Bucher
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
| | - Hika Kuroshima
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | - James R Anderson
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | - Kazuo Fujita
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
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25
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Hao J, Li W, Li J, Liu Y. Why are we unwilling to help sometimes? Reconsideration and integration of the attribution-affect model and the arousal: cost-reward model. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-01634-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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26
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Biro S, Peltola MJ, Huffmeijer R, Alink LRA, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van IJzendoorn MH. Frontal EEG asymmetry in infants observing separation and comforting events: The role of infants' attachment relationship. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 48:100941. [PMID: 33714057 PMCID: PMC7966976 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of social-cognitive abilities in infancy is subject to an intricate interaction between maturation of neural systems and environmental input. We investigated the role of infants’ attachment relationship quality in shaping infants’ neural responses to observed social interactions. One-hundred thirty 10-month-old infants participated in an EEG session while they watched animations involving a distressing separation event that ended with either comforting or ignoring behavior. Frontal asymmetry (FA) in the alpha range - which is indicative of approach-withdrawal tendencies - was measured with EEG. Attachment quality was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure at 12 months. Overall, infants with disorganized attachment showed a lack of right-sided – withdrawal related – FA compared to secure and insecure infants. Furthermore, only avoidant infants exhibited reduced right-sided FA responses following the separation. Contrary to our expectations, the type of response (comforting vs. ignoring) did not elicit differences in FA patterns, and attachment quality did not moderate the effects of the type of response on frontal asymmetry. Implications for research on attachment-related biases in social information processing and on the neural underpinnings of prosocial behaviors are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Szilvia Biro
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands.
| | - Mikko J Peltola
- Human Information Processing Laboratory, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland
| | - Rens Huffmeijer
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
| | - Lenneke R A Alink
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
| | - Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands; Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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27
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Levy B, Sabato H, Bereby-Meyer Y, Kogut T. Who's more generous than me? Children's self-evaluation of their prosociality in normative social comparisons. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 201:104996. [PMID: 33011385 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Revised: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
We examined the development of children's self-evaluation of their prosociality in normative social comparisons (with an average peer). Results suggest that when comparing themselves with an average other in the abstract (i.e., without reference to actual behavior), elementary school children (aged 6-12 years) demonstrated the better than average (BTA) effect of perceiving themselves as more prosocial than their average peer (Study 1). However, when they evaluated other children's prosociality (sharing), after experiencing an actual opportunity to share their endowment with others (Studies 2 and 3), the younger children (at first-grade level) exhibited the worse than average (WTA) effect in that they assumed that their peers would act more generously than themselves. Task difficulty predicted relative self-evaluations across all examined ages, such that greater difficulty was related to a lower BTA effect (or a greater WTA effect). However, whereas the older children used abstract difficulty perceptions to evaluate themselves relative to others, the younger children's evaluations were affected only by the difficulty that they themselves experienced. In all age groups, the BTA effect was driven mostly by participants who were above the mean in the extent of their sharing, whereas the WTA effect was driven by those who shared below the mean of their age group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bar Levy
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
| | | | | | - Tehila Kogut
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel.
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Tan E, Mikami AY, Luzhanska A, Hamlin JK. The Homogeneity and Heterogeneity of Moral Functioning in Preschool. Child Dev 2020; 92:959-975. [PMID: 32827447 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined relations between distinct aspects of moral functioning, and their cognitive and emotional correlates, in preschool age children. Participants were 171 typically developing 3- to 6-year-olds. Each child completed several tasks, including (a) moral tasks assessing both performance of various moral actions and evaluations of moral scenarios presented both verbally and nonverbally; and (b) non-moral tasks assessing general cognitive skill, executive functioning, theory-of-mind, and emotion recognition. Shyness and empathic concern were assessed from video acquired during participation. Results demonstrated positive associations among distinct moral actions, as well as among distinct moral evaluation tasks, but few associations between tasks assessing moral actions and moral evaluation. Empathic concern and inhibitory control each emerged as important predictors of preschoolers' moral functioning.
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29
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Walle EA, Reschke PJ, Main A, Shannon RM. The effect of emotional communication on infants' distinct prosocial behaviors. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eric A. Walle
- Psychological Sciences University of California Merced CA USA
| | | | - Alexandra Main
- Psychological Sciences University of California Merced CA USA
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30
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Adriaense JEC, Koski SE, Huber L, Lamm C. Challenges in the comparative study of empathy and related phenomena in animals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 112:62-82. [PMID: 32001272 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 01/18/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this review is to discuss recent arguments and findings in the comparative study of empathy. Based on a multidisciplinary approach including psychology and ethology, we review the non-human animal literature concerning theoretical frameworks, methodology, and research outcomes. One specific objective is to highlight discrepancies between theory and empirical findings, and to discuss ambiguities present in current data and their interpretation. In particular, we focus on emotional contagion and its experimental investigation, and on consolation and targeted helping as measures for sympathy. Additionally, we address the feasibility of comparing across species with behavioural data alone. One main conclusion of our review is that animal research on empathy still faces the challenge of closing the gap between theoretical concepts and empirical evidence. To advance our knowledge, we propose to focus more on the emotional basis of empathy, rather than on possibly ambiguous behavioural indicators, and we provide suggestions to overcome the limitations of previous research .
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Affiliation(s)
- J E C Adriaense
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - S E Koski
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - L Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - C Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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31
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Hepach R, Herrmann E. The Development of Prosocial Attention Across Two Cultures. Front Psychol 2019; 10:138. [PMID: 30804839 PMCID: PMC6370673 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 01/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the significance of prosocial attention for understanding variability in children's prosociality little is known about its expression beyond infancy and outside the Western cultural context. In the current study we asked whether children's sensitivity to others' needs varies across ages and between a Western and Non-Western cultural group. We carried out a cross-cultural and cross-sectional eye tracking study in Kenya (n = 128) and Germany (n = 83) with children between the ages of 3 to 9 years old. Half the children were presented with videos depicting an instrumental helping situation in which one adult reached for an object while a second adult resolved or did not resolve the need. The second half of children watched perceptually controlled non-social control videos in which objects moved without any adults present. German children looked longer at the videos than Kenyan children who in turn looked longer at the non-social compared to the social videos. At the same time, children in both cultures and across all age groups anticipated the relevant solution to the instrumental problem in the social but not in the non-social control condition. We did not find systematic changes in children's pupil dilation in response to seeing the problem occur or in response to the resolution of the situation. These findings suggest that children's anticipation of how others' needs are best resolved is a cross-cultural phenomenon that persists throughout childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Esther Herrmann
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Minerva Research Group on the Origins of Human Self-Regulation, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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32
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Dunfield KA, Best LJ, Kelley EA, Kuhlmeier VA. Motivating Moral Behavior: Helping, Sharing, and Comforting in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Psychol 2019; 10:25. [PMID: 30728793 PMCID: PMC6351476 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This exploratory study examined the role of social-cognitive development in the production of moral behavior. Specifically, we explored the propensity of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to engage in helping, sharing, and comforting acts, addressing two specific questions: (1) Compared to their typically developing (TD) peers, how do young children with ASD perform on three prosocial tasks that require the recognition of different kinds of need (instrumental, material, and emotional), and (2) are children with ASD adept at distinguishing situations in which an adult needs assistance from perceptually similar situations in which the need is absent? Children with ASD demonstrated low levels of helping and sharing but provided comfort at levels consistent with their TD peers. Children with ASD also tended to differentiate situations where a need was present from situations in which it was absent. Together, these results provided an initial demonstration that young children with ASD have the ability to take another's perspective and represent their internal need states. However, when the cost of engaging in prosocial behavior is high (e.g., helping and sharing), children with ASD may be less inclined to engage in the behavior, suggesting that both the capacity to recognize another's need and the motivation to act on behalf of another appear to play important roles in the production of prosocial behavior. Further, differential responding on the helping, sharing, and comforting tasks lend support to current proposals that the domain of moral behavior is comprised of a variety of distinct subtypes of prosocial behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laura J. Best
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
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Auné SE, Abal FJP, F Attorresi H. Application of the Graded Response Model to a Scale of Empathic Behavior. Int J Psychol Res (Medellin) 2019; 12:49-56. [PMID: 32612787 PMCID: PMC7110165 DOI: 10.21500/20112084.3753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The results obtained from the application of the Graded Response Model (GRM) to the items of the Scale of Empathic Behavior whose authors are Auné, Abal and Attorresi (2017) are presented. The sample was obtained by accessibility and consisted of Argentine university students (80% Women). None of the items presented uniform or non-uniform gender differential item functioning. The GRM assumptions of local independence and unidimensionality were successfully corroborated. Threshold parameters tended to be located at low levels of the trait scale, whereas discrimination parameters were high. The analysis of the information function showed acceptable precision in low and middle empathic behavior level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofía E Auné
- . Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires Argentina.,. National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - Facundo J P Abal
- . Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires Argentina.,. National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - Horacio F Attorresi
- . Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires Argentina
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Christiansen H, Reck C, Zietlow AL, Otto K, Steinmayr R, Wirthwein L, Weigelt S, Stark R, Ebert DD, Buntrock C, Krisam J, Klose C, Kieser M, Schwenck C. Children of Mentally III Parents at Risk Evaluation (COMPARE): Design and Methods of a Randomized Controlled Multicenter Study-Part I. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:128. [PMID: 30971958 PMCID: PMC6443700 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2018] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives: Mental disorders are frequent, associated with disability-adjusted life years, societal, and economic costs. Children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) are at an increased risk to develop disorders themselves. The transgenerational transmission of mental disorders has been conceptualized in a model that takes parental and family factors, the social environment (i.e., school, work, and social support), parent-child-interaction and possible child outcomes into account. The goal of the "Children of Mentally Ill Parents At Risk Evaluation" (COMPARE) study will thus be twofold: (1) to establish the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a high-quality randomized controlled trial (RCT) with the aim of interrupting the intergenerational transmission of mental disorders in COPMI, (2) to test the components of the trans-generational transmission model of mental disorders. Methods: To implement a randomized controlled trial (RCT: comparison of parental cognitive behavioral therapy/CBT with CBT + Positive Parenting Program) that is flanked by four add-on projects that apply behavioral, psychophysiological, and neuro-imaging methods to examine potential moderators and mediators of risk transmission (projects COMPARE-emotion/-interaction/-work/-school). COMPARE-emotion targets emotion processing and regulation and its impact on the transgenerational disorder transmission; COMPARE-interaction focuses especially on the impact of maternal comorbid diagnoses of depression and anxiety disorders and will concentrate on different pathways of the impact of maternal disorders on socio-emotional and cognitive infant development, such as parent-infant interaction and the infant's stress regulation skills. COMPARE-work analyzes the transmission of strains a person experiences in one area of life to another (i.e., from family to work; spill-over), and how stress and strain are transmitted between individuals (i.e., from parent to child; cross-over). COMPARE-school focuses on the psychosocial adjustment, school performance, and subjective well-being in COPMI compared to an adequate control group of healthy children. Results: This study protocol reports on the interdisciplinary approach of COMPARE testing the model of the transgenerational transmission of mental disorders. Conclusion: The combination of applied basic with clinical research will facilitate the examination of specific risk transmission mechanisms, promotion, dissemination and implementation of results into a highly important but largely neglected field. Clinical Trial Registration: DRKS-ID: DRKS00013516 (German Clinical Trials Register, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00013516).
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Christiansen
- Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Corinna Reck
- Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University München, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna-Lena Zietlow
- Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Institute of Medical Psychology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Kathleen Otto
- Department of Social Psychology, Business and Methods, Faculty of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Ricarda Steinmayr
- Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Psychology, and Sociology, Institute of Psychology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Linda Wirthwein
- Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Psychology, and Sociology, Institute of Psychology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Sarah Weigelt
- Department of Vision, Visual Impairment & Blindness, Faculty of Rehabilitation Science, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Rudolf Stark
- Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Gießen, Germany
| | - David D Ebert
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Claudia Buntrock
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Johannes Krisam
- Department of Medical Biometry, Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Klose
- Department of Medical Biometry, Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Meinhard Kieser
- Department of Medical Biometry, Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Schwenck
- Department of Special Needs Educational and Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Gießen, Germany
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35
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Sommerville JA. Infants' Understanding of Distributive Fairness as a Test Case for Identifying the Extents and Limits of Infants' Sociomoral Cognition and Behavior. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2018; 12:141-145. [PMID: 30140305 PMCID: PMC6101045 DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In this article, I use infants' sensitivity to distributive fairness as a test case to identify the extents and limits of infants' sociomoral cognition and behavior. Infants' sensitivity to distributive fairness is in some ways commensurate with this understanding in older children and adults; infants expect fair distributions of resources and evaluate others based on their adherence to or violation of fairness norms. Yet these sensitivities also differ in important ways, including that infants do not spontaneously punish unfair individuals. I address questions about the role of experience in infants' development of sociomoral cognition and behavior, and whether infants' moral cognition and behavior are differentiated appropriately (from their social knowledge and behavior) and integrated (across subaspects of morality). I suggest two approaches to move the field forward: investigating processes that contribute to developing sociomoral cognition and behavior, and considering infants' successes and failures in this domain.
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36
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Grossmann T, Missana M, Krol KM. The neurodevelopmental precursors of altruistic behavior in infancy. PLoS Biol 2018; 16:e2005281. [PMID: 30252842 PMCID: PMC6155440 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2005281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 08/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Altruistic behavior is considered a key feature of the human cooperative makeup, with deep ontogenetic roots. The tendency to engage in altruistic behavior varies between individuals and has been linked to differences in responding to fearful faces. The current study tests the hypothesis that this link exists from early in human ontogeny. Using eye tracking, we examined whether attentional responses to fear in others at 7 months of age predict altruistic behavior at 14 months of age. Our analysis revealed that altruistic behavior in toddlerhood was predicted by infants' attention to fearful faces but not happy or angry faces. Specifically, infants who showed heightened initial attention to (i.e., prolonged first look) followed by greater disengagement (i.e., reduced attentional bias over 15 seconds) from fearful faces at 7 months displayed greater prosocial behavior at 14 months of age. Our data further show that infants' attentional bias to fearful faces and their altruistic behavior was predicted by brain responses in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), measured through functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). This suggests that, from early in ontogeny, variability in altruistic helping behavior is linked to our responsiveness to seeing others in distress and brain processes implicated in attentional control. These findings critically advance our understanding of the emergence of altruism in humans by identifying responsiveness to fear in others as an early precursor contributing to variability in prosocial behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Grossmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Manuela Missana
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Educational Sciences, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kathleen M. Krol
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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37
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Developmental Social Neuroscience of Morality. MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/9781119461746.ch5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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38
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Beier JS, Gross JT, Brett BE, Stern JA, Martin DR, Cassidy J. Helping, Sharing, and Comforting in Young Children: Links to Individual Differences in Attachment. Child Dev 2018; 90:e273-e289. [PMID: 29873084 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Although attachment theory has long posited a link between early experiences of care and children's prosocial behavior, investigations of this association have not embraced the multifaceted nature of prosociality. This study is the first to assess associations between child attachment and independent observations of helping, sharing, and comforting. Attachment quality in 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 137) was linked to all three prosocial behaviors. Additionally, bifactor analyses revealed distinct associations between attachment and children's general prosocial dispositions and their specific abilities to meet the unique challenges of helping and, marginally, comforting. These findings underscore the importance of considering multiple explanations for links between attachment and prosocial behavior and provide novel insights into sources of variation in children's prosociality.
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39
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The multidimensional nature of early prosocial behavior: a motivational perspective. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:111-116. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2017] [Revised: 08/28/2017] [Accepted: 09/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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40
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Cowell JM, Calma-Birling D, Decety J. Domain-general neural computations underlying prosociality during infancy and early childhood. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:66-71. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2017] [Revised: 06/30/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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41
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Waugh WE, Brownell CA. "Help Yourself!" What Can Toddlers' Helping Failures Tell Us About the Development of Prosocial Behavior? INFANCY 2017; 22:665-680. [PMID: 33158336 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2016] [Revised: 03/17/2017] [Accepted: 03/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Prosocial behavior emerges in the second year of life, yet it is typical for children in this period not to share, comfort, or help. We compared toddlers (18, 30 months) who helped with those who did not help on two tasks (instrumental helping; empathic helping). More than half of children failed to help on one or both tasks. Nonhelpers engaged in more hypothesis testing on the instrumental helping task, but more security-seeking, wariness, and playing on the empathic helping task. Across tasks, children who tended to engage in nonhelping behaviors associated with negative emotional arousal also tended to seek comfort from a parent. In contrast, children who tended to play instead of helping were less likely to exhibit negative emotional arousal or hypothesis testing, suggesting a focus on their own interests. Parents of 18-month-old nonhelpers on the instrumental task were less engaged in socializing prosocial behavior in their toddlers than were the parents of helpers. On the empathic helping task, 18-month-old nonhelpers had less mature self-other understanding than did helpers. By examining how the predominant reasons for failing to help vary with age and task, we gain a fuller perspective on the factors involved in the early development of prosocial behavior.
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42
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Wildeboer A, Thijssen S, Muetzel RL, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Tiemeier H, White T, van IJzendoorn MH. Neuroanatomical correlates of donating behavior in middle childhood. Soc Neurosci 2017; 13:541-552. [PMID: 28756739 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1361864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The neurobiological correlates of prosocial behavior are largely unknown. We examined brain structure and functional connectivity correlates of donating to a charity, a specific, costly, form of prosocial behavior. In 163 children, donating was measured using a promotional clip for a charity including a call for donations. Children could decide privately whether and how much they wanted to donate from money they had received earlier. Whole brain structural MRI scans were obtained to study associations between cortical thickness and donating behavior. In addition, resting state functional MRI scans were obtained to study whole brain functional connectivity and to examine functional connectivity between regions identified using structural MRI. In the lateral orbitofrontal cortex/pars orbitalis and pre-/postcentral cortex, a thicker cortex was associated with higher donations. Functional connectivity with these regions was not associated with donating behavior. These results suggest that donating behavior is not only situationally driven, but is also related brain morphology. The absence of functional connectivity correlates might imply that the associations with cortical thickness are involved in different underlying mechanisms of donating.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Wildeboer
- a Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.,b The Generation R Study Group , Erasmus University Medical Center , Leiden , The Netherlands.,c Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology , Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children's Hospital , Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Sandra Thijssen
- a Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.,b The Generation R Study Group , Erasmus University Medical Center , Leiden , The Netherlands.,d Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies , Erasmus University , Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Ryan L Muetzel
- b The Generation R Study Group , Erasmus University Medical Center , Leiden , The Netherlands.,c Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology , Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children's Hospital , Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg
- a Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.,e Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- c Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology , Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children's Hospital , Leiden , The Netherlands.,f Department of Epidemiology , Erasmus University Medical Center , Rotterdam , The Netherlands.,g Department of Psychiatry , Erasmus University Medical Center , Rotterdam , The Netherlands
| | - Tonya White
- b The Generation R Study Group , Erasmus University Medical Center , Leiden , The Netherlands.,c Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology , Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children's Hospital , Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- a Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.,d Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies , Erasmus University , Leiden , The Netherlands.,e Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands
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Drummond JDK, Hammond SI, Satlof-Bedrick E, Waugh WE, Brownell CA. Helping the One You Hurt: Toddlers' Rudimentary Guilt, Shame, and Prosocial Behavior After Harming Another. Child Dev 2017; 88:1382-1397. [PMID: 27797103 PMCID: PMC5411344 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This study explored the role of guilt and shame in early prosocial behavior by extending previous findings that guilt- and shame-like responses can be distinguished in toddlers and, for the first time, examining their associations with helping. Toddlers (n = 32; Mage = 28.9 months) were led to believe they broke an adult's toy, after which they exhibited either a guilt-like response that included frequently confessing their behavior and trying to repair the toy; or a shame-like response that included frequently avoiding the adult and seldom confessing or attempting to repair the toy. In subsequent prosocial tasks, children showing a guilt-like response helped an adult in emotional distress significantly faster and more frequently than did children showing a shame-like response.
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44
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Gross JT, Stern JA, Brett BE, Cassidy J. The multifaceted nature of prosocial behavior in children: Links with attachment theory and research. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Müller BCN, Meinhardt J, Paulus M. Embodied Simulation of Others Being Touched in 1-Year-Old Infants. Dev Neuropsychol 2017; 42:198-206. [DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2017.1303702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Barbara C. N. Müller
- Department of Communication Science, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jörg Meinhardt
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, München, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, München, Germany
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Paulus M, Rosal-Grifoll B. Helping and sharing in preschool children with autism. Exp Brain Res 2017; 235:2081-2088. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-017-4947-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Accepted: 03/22/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Paulus M, Jung N, O'Driscoll K, Moore C. Toddlers Involve Their Caregiver to Help Another Person in Need. INFANCY 2016; 22:645-664. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2016] [Revised: 10/04/2016] [Accepted: 10/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Davidov M, Vaish A, Knafo-Noam A, Hastings PD. The Motivational Foundations of Prosocial Behavior From A Developmental Perspective-Evolutionary Roots and Key Psychological Mechanisms: Introduction to the Special Section. Child Dev 2016; 87:1655-1667. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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Eisenberg N, VanSchyndel SK, Spinrad TL. Prosocial Motivation: Inferences From an Opaque Body of Work. Child Dev 2016; 87:1668-1678. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Ictal verbal help-seeking: Occurrence and the underlying etiology. Epilepsy Behav 2016; 64:15-17. [PMID: 27723496 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2016] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Ictal verbal help-seeking has never been systematically studied before. In this study, we evaluated a series of patients with ictal verbal help-seeking to characterize its frequency and underlying etiology. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed all the long-term video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004-2015) for the occurrence of the term "help" in the text body. All the extracted reports were reviewed and patients with at least one episode of documented ictal verbal help-seeking in epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) were studied. For each patient, the data were reviewed from the electronic medical records, EMU report, and neuroimaging records. RESULTS During the study period, 5133 patients were investigated in our EMU. Twelve patients (0.23%) had at least one episode of documented ictal verbal help-seeking. Nine patients (six women and three men) had epilepsy and three patients (two women and one man) had psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Seven out of nine patients with epilepsy had temporal lobe epilepsy; six patients had right temporal lobe epilepsy. CONCLUSION Ictal verbal help-seeking is a rare finding among patients evaluated in epilepsy monitoring units. Ictal verbal help-seeking may suggest that seizures arise in or propagate to the right temporal lobe.
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