Parent-infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions

The interaction of fine motor, gesture, and structural language skills: The case of autism spectrum disorder

Motor skill differences have been consistently reported in individuals with ASD. Associations between motor skill and social communication skills have been reported in both typical development (TD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study extends these findings to characterize performance on a fine motor imitation task, probing skills as a predictor of social and communicative functioning, and co-speech gesture use. These research questions were addressed by a secondary analysis of data collected during a previous study characterizing a cohort of individuals who were diagnosed with ASD in early childhood but lost the autism diagnosis (LAD) by the time of adolescence. Fine motor imitation skills were compared between 14 individuals with LAD, 15 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and 12 typically developing (TD) individuals. LAD and TD groups had more advanced fine motor imitation skills than the ASD group, and abilities were significantly associated with ASD symptoms and amount of gesture use (though there was a counterintuitive interaction between group and fine motor skill in the LAD and TD groups only, in which lower motor skills predicted more ASD symptoms; this relationship was of a small effect size and is likely driven by the compressed range of fine motor skills in these two groups). Findings suggest that fine motor skills normalize along with social communication skills and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests in individuals who lose the ASD diagnosis, and that individuals with better fine motor abilities produce more co-speech gesture.

Maternal depression is associated with decreased functional connectivity within semantics and phonology networks in preschool children

INTRODUCTION

Maternal depression is characterized by a lack of emotional responsiveness and engagement with their child, which may lead to the child's decreased cognitive, and language outcomes all related to the child's future reading outcomes. The relations between maternal depression and functional connectivity in neural circuits supporting language in the child was explored.

METHODS

Eleven 4-year-old girls completed language abilities assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Their mothers completed the Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) to examine maternal depression when the child was 12 months old and at the age of 4. Functional connections within the child's resting-state phonology, semantics, language networks were correlated with maternal BDI scores at the age of 4 years.

RESULTS

Higher maternal depression was associated with the child's decreased within the semantic and phonological networks connectivity during rest. Higher maternal depression at 4 years moderated the relationship between early depression scores and functional connectivity within the phonological network.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal depression in the first year of life is related to functional connections of phonological processing and enhanced by current maternal depression levels. We conclude that after a mother gives birth, resources should be provided to minimize depressive symptoms and interventions should be applied to support their child's language development for future reading acquisition.

Neurobiological Implications of Parent-Child Emotional Availability: A Review

Parental influences are important for a child's behavior, overall adjustment, as well as cognitive/language development. New research is exploring how relationships with parents can influence a child's neurobiological functioning and development. In this systematic review, our first aim is to describe how the caregiving environment influences these aspects of child development. The second and main aim is to review and recommend that the concept (and measurement) of "emotional availability" may provide a new window in this continued exploration. Emotional availability (EA) refers to the capacity of a dyad to share an emotionally healthy relationship. The EA Scales assess this construct using a multi-dimensional framework, with a method to measure the affect and behavior of both the child and adult partner (caregiver). In this review, we first provide an overview of child development research, with regards to stress physiology, neuroendocrine system, genetics and epigenetics, and brain mechanisms. We then summarize the results of specific EA research in these areas, and propose a theoretical model integrating these constructs. Finally, we offer areas for future research in this area.

How Mother-Child Interactions are Associated with a Child's Compliance

While social interaction between a mother and her child has been found to play an important role in the child's committed compliance, the underlying neurocognitive process remains unclear. To investigate this process, we simultaneously recorded and assessed brain activity in 7-year-old children and in children's mothers or strangers during a free-play task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning. The results showed that a child's committed compliance was positively associated with the child's responsiveness but was negatively associated with mutual responsiveness and was not associated with the mother's responsiveness during mother-child interactions. Moreover, interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) at the temporoparietal junction mediated the relationship between the child's responsiveness and the child's committed compliance during mother-child interactions when the child's brain activity lagged behind that of the mother. However, these effects were not found during stranger-child interactions, nor were there significant effects in the mother-child pair when no real interactions occurred. Finally, we found a transfer effect of a child's committed compliance from mother-child interactions to stranger-child interactions via the mediation of mother-child INS, but the opposite did not occur. Together, these findings suggest that a child's responsiveness during mother-child interactions can significantly facilitate her or his committed compliance by increasing mother-child INS.

Interpersonal Synchrony in the Context of Caregiver-Child Interactions: A Document Co-citation Analysis

Social interactions accompany individuals throughout their whole lives. When examining the underlying mechanisms of social processes, dynamics of synchrony, coordination or attunement emerge between individuals at multiple levels. To identify the impactful publications that studied such mechanisms and establishing the trends that dynamically originated the available literature, the current study adopted a scientometric approach. A sample of 543 documents dated from 1971 to 2021 was derived from Scopus. Subsequently, a document co-citation analysis was conducted on 29,183 cited references to examine the patterns of co-citation among the documents. The resulting network consisted of 1,759 documents connected to each other by 5,011 links. Within the network, five major clusters were identified. The analysis of the content of the three major clusters-namely, "Behavioral synchrony," "Towards bio-behavioral synchrony," and "Neural attunement"-suggests an interest in studying attunement in social interactions at multiple levels of analysis, from behavioral to neural, by passing through the level of physiological coordination. Furthermore, although initial studies on synchrony focused mostly on parent-child interactions, new hyperscanning paradigms are allowing researchers to explore the role of biobehavioral synchrony in all social processes in a real-time and ecological fashion. Future potential pathways of research were also discussed.

Maternal caregiving ameliorates the consequences of prenatal maternal psychological distress on child development

Children exposed to prenatal maternal psychological distress are at elevated risk for a range of adverse outcomes; however, it remains poorly understood whether postnatal influences can ameliorate impairments related to prenatal distress. The current study evaluated if sensitivematernal care during the first postnatal year could mitigate child cognitive and emotional impairments associated with prenatal psychological distress. Prenatal maternal psychological distress was assessed via self-reports of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress for 136 mothers at five prenatal and four postpartum time points. Quality of maternal care (sensitivity to nondistress, positive regard, and intrusiveness reverse-scored) were assessed during a mother-child play interaction at 6 and 12 months. Child cognitive function and negative emotionality were assessed at 2 years, using The Bayley Scales and the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Elevated prenatal distress was associated with poorer child cognitive function and elevated negative emotionality. Children exposed to elevated prenatal maternal distress did not, however, display these outcomes if they received high-quality caregiving. Specifically, maternal care moderated the relation between prenatal psychological distress and child cognitive function and negative emotionality. This association remained after consideration of postnatal maternal psychological distress and relevant covariates. Sensitive maternal care was associated with altered offspring developmental trajectories, supporting child resilience following prenatal distress exposure.

Into the Unknown: Examining Neural Representations of Parent-Adolescent Interactions

The parent-adolescent relationship is important for adolescents' emotion regulation (ER), yet little is known regarding the neural patterns of dyadic ER that occur during parent-adolescent interactions. A novel measure that can be used to examine such patterns is cross-brain connectivity (CBC)-concurrent and time-lagged connectivity between two individuals' brain regions. This study sought to provide evidence of CBC and explore associations between CBC, parenting, and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Thirty-five adolescents (mean age = 15 years, 69% female, 72% Non-Hispanic White, 17% Black, 11% Hispanic or Latino) and one biological parent (94% female) completed an fMRI hyperscanning conflict discussion task. Results revealed CBC between emotion-related brain regions. Exploratory analyses indicated CBC is associated with parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms.

Personality and Cognitive Profiles of Animal-Assisted Intervention Dogs and Pet Dogs in an Unsolvable Task

Dogs are biologically predisposed to communicate with humans in cooperative contexts. They show individual differences in dog-human communication and inhibition, potentially enhanced by life experience, e.g., Animal-Assisted Interventions. This study aimed to investigate whether dogs' personality, defined by biologically meaningful neural circuits described in the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality (RST), predicted dogs' communication, task orientation, emotional state, and approach of an unsolvable task. We also investigated the differences between dogs experienced in Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) and inexperienced dogs. The results indicated that a high sensitivity to the RST personality trait related to managing uncertainty (Behavioural Inhibition System, BIS) predicted fewer task orientations but increased referential and non-referential looking, which we interpreted as a way to obtain directions from the owner. Conversely, a high sensitivity to the traits reflecting tendencies to approach rewards (Behavioural Approach System, BAS) and avoid punishment (Fight-Flight-Freeze System, FFFS) predicted lower looking. High sensitivity to the FFFS also predicted more frequent task orientations, which we interpreted as frustration. Finally, the dogs in the AAI program looked more at their owner and were less oriented towards the task. These results provide empirical evidence of individual differences tied to the psychobiological personality traits in canine cognitive skills. Understanding such cognitive profiles may have an enormous impact on activities that rely upon dog-human collaborative interaction.

Possible Mechanisms of Hypnosis from an Interactional Perspective

In this paper, utilizing the interactional research paradigm developed by Éva Bányai, we discuss the hypnotic relationship from the viewpoint of interactional synchrony. Based on our three decades of empirical studies of an interactional paradigm, we propose the analogy between hypnosis and mother–child interaction. Hypnosis is considered as a potential corrective/reparative possibility when the real childhood experiences appear to be unfavourable. Possible neuroanatomical and neurochemical mechanisms are also suggested in the right hemispheric orbitofrontal cortex and central oxytocin system.

Within-person changes in basal cortisol and caregiving modulate executive attention across infancy

One pathway by which environments of socioeconomic risk are thought to affect cognitive development is through stress physiology. The biological systems underpinning stress and attention undergo a sensitive period of development during infancy. Psychobiological theory emphasizes a dynamic pattern of context-dependent development, however, research has yet to examine how basal cortisol and attention dynamically covary across infancy in ecologically valid contexts. Thus, to address these gaps, we leveraged longitudinal, multilevel analytic methods to disentangle between- from within-person associations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and executive attention behaviors across infancy. We use data from a large longitudinal sample (N = 1,292) of infants in predominantly low-income, nonurban communities at 7-, 15-, and 24-months of age. Using multilevel models, we investigated longitudinal associations of infant attention and basal cortisol levels and examined caregiving behaviors as moderators of this relationship. Results indicated a negative between- and within-person association between attention and cortisol across infancy and a within-person moderation by caregiver responsiveness. In other words, on the within-person level, higher levels of cortisol were concomitantly associated with lower infant attention across the first 2 years of life. However, variation in the caregiver's level of responsiveness either buffered or sensitized the executive attention system to the negative effects of physiological stress.

Change Process in Coaching: Interplay of Nonverbal Synchrony, Working Alliance, Self-Regulation, and Goal Attainment

Background: Psychological literature emphasizes that self-regulation is important as goal intentions, goal setting, or implementation intention does not automatically result in effective results in coaching. The question which coaching strategies to apply to strengthening clients' self-regulatory capacities as prerequisites of effective change outcomes remains a black box in coaching.

Method: This quantitative study explored clients' self-regulatory mechanisms by addressing how nonverbal synchrony influences clients' cognitive and emotional self-regulation across sessions. One hundred eighty-four coach–client pairs and their evolving change process were observed over 8 months. Video-recorded sessions were assessed with motion energy analysis to automatically capture coach and client nonverbal behavior and quantify nonverbal synchrony at the level of the dyad.

Results: Synchrony was differentially associated with clients' post-session questionnaires on result-oriented problem-reflection and self-reflection, affect balance, and working alliance. Network analyses suggested that the association between synchrony and other process variables did not correspond to the previously found positive association between synchrony and positive aspects of alliance or outcome. Instead, this association depended on the level of perceived outcome.

Discussion: Coaching success may be predicted by process variables assessed after each session: goal reflection, alliance, and mood all predict successful coaching. The assessment of nonverbal synchrony suggests a state-dependent effect of embodied processes on a coaching outcome that warrants further inspection.

Factors Affecting the Perception of Disability: A Developmental Perspective

Perception of disability is an important construct affecting not only the well-being of individuals with disabilities, but also the moral compass of the society. Negative attitudes toward disability disempower individuals with disabilities and lead to their social exclusion and isolation. By contrast, a healthy society encourages positive attitudes toward individuals with disabilities and promotes social inclusion. The current review explored disability perception in the light of the in-group vs. out-group dichotomy, since individuals with disabilities may be perceived as a special case of out-group. We implemented a developmental approach to study perception of disability from early age into adolescence while exploring cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of children’s attitudes. Potential factors influencing perception of disability were considered at the level of society, family and school environment, and the individual. Better understanding of factors influencing the development of disability perception would allow the design of effective interventions to improve children’s attitudes toward peers with disabilities, reduce intergroup biases, and promote social inclusion. Based on previous research in social and developmental psychology, education, and anthropology, we proposed an integrative model that provides a conceptual framework for understanding the development of disability perception.

Combining Kangaroo Care and Live-Performed Music Therapy: Effects on Physiological Stability and Neurological Functioning in Extremely and Very Preterm Infants

Interventions such as kangaroo care (KC) and live-performed music therapy (LPMT), are increasingly used to facilitate stress reduction in neonates. This study aims to investigate the effect of combining the two on physiological responses and neurological functioning in very preterm infants. Infants received six sessions of LPMT. KC was added to one LPMT session. Physiological responses included heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation. We videotaped infants for 30 min before and after two sessions to assess general movements (GMs). We included 17 infants, gestational age median 26.0 weeks (IQR 25.6–30.6 weeks), of whom six were males. Combined interventions showed a decrease in heart rate from mean 164 bpm before to 157 bpm during therapy, p = 0.001. Oxygen saturation levels increased during combination therapy from median 91.4% to 94.5%, p = 0.044. We found no effects of LPMT or combined interventions on GMs. Infants with a postnatal age (PNA) <7 days generally seem to display less optimal GMs after therapy compared with infants with a PNA >7 days. In conclusion, combining interventions is equally beneficial for physiological stability and neurological functioning as LPMT alone. Future studies should focus on the effects of this combination on parent-infant bonding.

Emotion regulation from infancy to toddlerhood: Individual and group trajectories of full-term and very-low-birthweight preterm infants

Adaptive emotion regulation begins with infants operating jointly with their parents to regulate their emotions, which fosters the development of independent regulation. Little is known about when or how this transition occurs, or the impact of factors such as parental availability or premature birth status. The current study examined the use of self-soothing, attentional distraction, and dyadic regulation in full-term and healthy very-low-birthweight (VLBW) preterm infant-mother dyads at 5 ½, 12, and 18 months of age. At 5 ½ months, dyads participated in the Still-Face procedure. At 12 and 18 months, dyads participated in two free-play interactions, a puzzle task, and an interference task. Emotion regulation behaviors were coded using two systematic, observational systems. Results indicated that infants used less self-soothing and attentional distraction and more dyadic regulation as they aged. Increased use of self-soothing at earlier ages predicted increased use of dyadic regulation at subsequent ages. Toddlers used more independent, attention-seeking, and escape behavior during periods of maternal unavailability. There were no significant differences between full-term and VLBW/preterm toddlers' emotion regulation behaviors. Results from the current study contribute to the understanding of normative development of emotion regulation and the risk associated with prematurity.

Studying caregiver-infant co-regulation in dynamic, diverse cultural contexts: A call to action

Caregivers and infants co-regulate their physiology, emotions, and behavior in a way that is dynamically responsive to each other and the contexts in which they live. This paper is an introduction and call to action for researchers interested in understanding how to study caregiver-infant interactions in the home and diverse cultural contexts, including marginalized communities. We argue that research will be more valid, culturally relevant, and tapped-in to the daily lives of caregivers and infants if there is partnership and collaboration with the caregivers in the design of the questions, data collection and analysis, and distribution of the findings. We recommend dynamically assessing emotions, behaviors, and physiology using repeated sampling methods including ecological momentary assessments (EMA), salivary bioscience, and actigraphy. We aim to extend current practices of studying caregiver-infant co-regulation by measuring fluctuations of daily life and considering sociocultural factors that shape naturalistic caregiver-infant interactions. Using methodological advancements and community-based participatory research approaches can enable developmental scientists to measure life as it is actually lived.

Patterns of regulatory behavior in the still-face paradigm at 3 months: A comparison of Brazilian and Portuguese infants

Three infant regulatory behavior patterns have been identified during the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF) in prior research samples: a Social-Positive Oriented pattern (i.e., infants exhibit predominantly positive social engagement), a Distressed-Inconsolable pattern (i.e., infants display conspicuous negative affect that persists or increases across FFSF episodes), and a Self-Comfort Oriented pattern (e.g., infants primarily engage in self-comforting behaviors such as thumb-sucking). However, few studies have examined these patterns outside US and European countries or evaluated potential cross-country differences in these patterns. In this study, we compared the regulatory behavior patterns of 74 Brazilian and 124 Portuguese infants in the FFSF at 3 months of age, and evaluated their links to demographic and birth variables. The prevalence of the three regulatory patterns varied by country. The most frequent pattern in the Portuguese sample was the Social-Positive Oriented, followed by the Distressed-Inconsolable and the Self-Comfort Oriented. However, in the Brazilian sample, the Distressed-Inconsolable pattern was the most prevalent, followed by the Social-Positive Oriented and the Self-Comfort Oriented. Moreover, in the Brazilian sample, familial SES was higher among infants with a Social-Positive pattern whereas 1^st-minute Apgar scores were lower among Portuguese infants with a Distressed-Inconsolable Oriented pattern of regulatory behavior. In each sample, Social Positive pattern of regulatory behavior was associated with maternal sensitivity, Self-Comfort Oriented pattern of regulatory behavior with maternal control, and Distressed-Inconsolable pattern with maternal unresponsivity.

Mother-child interactions during feeding: A study on maternal sensitivity in dyads with underweight and normal weight toddlers

During the second year of life, mother's sensitivity in encouraging child autonomy supports children's emotional-affective individuation. In the feeding context, there is a clear transition from dependence on the mother to an emerging autonomy. Several studies have found an association between children's poor growth which is not related to organic pathologies, and maladaptive mother-child interactions that are characterized by poor maternal sensitivity. Despite this evidence, no studies have investigated maternal sensitivity to specific child's cues, such as demands for autonomy, during feeding interactions between mothers and their underweight children. This study aimed to assess how mothers' psychopathological risk and toddler's dysregulation profile are associated with mother-toddler interactional quality during feeding, with particular attention to mothers' sensitivity to child's specific cues (e.g. need of autonomy, requests for cooperation, request to stop the interaction, etc.). One hundred fifty mother-toddler dyads (N = 73 with underweight children and N = 77 with normal weight children) with children aged between 18 and 30 months, were recruited. Mother-toddlers feeding interactions were assessed through specific rating scales applied to the video-recorded interactions and mothers filled out questionnaires on children's emotional-behavioral functioning and their own psychopathological risk. Results showed a significant association between the quality of mother-toddler feeding interaction and children's weight. Underweight children showed less demand for autonomy and request for cooperation than normal weight children. Moreover, mothers of underweight children were less sensitive to toddler's cues of wanting to stop the interaction and demands for autonomy compared to mothers of normal weight children. Lower facilitations were associated with toddler's more dysregulated profile and with mother's higher psychopathological risk, and high toddler's dysregulation profile was associated with lower maternal sensitivity to child's cues of wanting to interrupt interactions and with worse mother's mood. Assessing maternal sensitivity in relation to toddler's specific cues might be particularly relevant in the feeding context. It might help to detect some dysfunctional interactive patterns and allow the implementation of prevention and treatment programs.

Peek-a-who? Exploring the dynamics of early communication with an interactive partner swap paradigm and state space grid visualization

Effective caregiver-infant communication occurs when interactive partners successfully coordinate multiple modalities (e.g., body movements, affect, eye gaze). The complex interplay of multiple modalities during caregiver-infant interactions is difficult to capture, which has made a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of caregiver-infant communication difficult to achieve. We present a novel methodological approach to address this challenge by combining an Interactive Partner Swap (IPS) paradigm with a longitudinal design, detailed multimodal coding, and data visualization via state space grids (SSGs). We demonstrate the utility of our approach by presenting three sets of SSGs which reveal both dyadic flexibility and stability in caregiver-infant peek-a-boo interactions across three levels: micro (moment-to-moment), meso (interactive context), and macro (infant development). By using SSGs to explore the patterns that hold and others that differ systematically across interactive partner and infant development, our novel approach promises to offer critical first steps to creating a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of early multimodal communication.

Longitudinal association between emotion-related parenting behavior and child aggression: The moderating role of parent-child physiological synchrony

Considering the high prevalence of aggressive problems found in middle childhood and their negative impacts on children's overall adjustment, it is important to explore factors that may give rise to childhood aggression, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved within the family context. Applying a biopsychosocial approach, the aim of our study was to examine the relations between emotion-related parenting behavior (ERPB, e.g., parental psychological control and parental emotion dysregulation) and childhood aggression with a focus on the potential moderating effects of parent-child physiological synchrony on these relations. Eighty-nine parent-child dyads (total N = 178) participated in the study (child M age = 8.76 years, SD = 1.81 years, 49 boys). At T1, ERPB was observed and coded from dyadic interaction and parent-child physiological synchrony was assessed using interbeat interval (IBI) calculated from the participant's heart rate (HR) during an interaction task. Parents also reported their child's aggressive behavior at T1 and 9 months later (T2). The results showed that for children demonstrating stronger physiological synchrony with their parents, higher levels of parental psychological control and parental emotion dysregulation predicted their more aggressive behavior. Our findings suggest that for certain negative types of ERPB, parent-child physiological synchrony seems to be a risk factor for the development of children's aggressive behavior.

Neurophysiological Synchrony Between Children With Severe Physical Disabilities and Their Parents During Music Therapy

Although physiological synchronization has been associated with the level of empathy in emotionally meaningful relationships, little is known about the interbrain synchrony between non-speaking children with severe disabilities and their familial caregivers. In a repeated measures observational study, we ascertained the degree of interbrain synchrony during music therapy in 10 child-parent dyads, where the children were non-speaking and living with severe motor impairments. Interbrain synchrony was quantified via measurements of spectral coherence and Granger causality between child and parent electroencephalographic (EEG) signals collected during ten 15-min music therapy sessions per dyad, where parents were present as non-participating, covert observers. Using cluster-based permutation tests, we found significant child-parent interbrain synchrony, manifesting most prominently across dyads in frontal brain regions within β and low γ frequencies. Specifically, significant dyadic coherence was observed contra-laterally, between child frontal right and parental frontal left regions at β and lower γ bands in empathy-related brain areas. Furthermore, significant Granger influences were detected bidirectionally (from child to parent and vice versa) in the same frequency bands. In all dyads, significant increases in session-specific coherence and Granger influences were observed over the time course of a music therapy session. The observed interbrain synchrony suggests a cognitive-emotional coupling during music therapy between child and parent that is responsive to change. These findings encourage further study of the socio-empathic capacity and interpersonal relationships formed between caregivers and non-speaking children with severe physical impairments.

Empathy and Hormonal Changes as Predictors of Sensitive Responsiveness towards Infant Crying: A Study Protocol

Sensitive responsiveness refers to parents' ability to recognize and respond to infants' cues and has been linked to parental empathy. Additionally, oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are hormones important for sensitivity and empathy. The aim of this study is to test the links between dispositional empathy along with changing OT and AVP levels and responsiveness to a life-like doll in couples and to verify whether these factors are predictors of responsiveness to a child's cues. Exploratory analyses include predictors of sensitive responsiveness: polymorphisms of OXTR, AVPR1a and CD38 genes, personal characteristics and relational factors. The project employs standardized experimental settings that can be used with non-parents and the assessment of parental sensitive responsiveness towards their child. The participants are couples expecting their first child (111) and childless couples (110). The procedure involves caretaking of a life-like doll. Salivary samples and questionnaire data are collected in a planned manner. In the second part, the expectant couples are invited for the assessment of their sensitivity to their own child (Free Play episodes). Parental sensitivity is assessed using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale. This paper presents an interdisciplinary research project that reaches beyond the questionnaire measurement, considering many factors influencing the dynamics of adult-infant interaction.

Autonomic Nervous System Maturation and Emotional Coordination in Interactions of Preterm and Full-Term Infants With Their Parents: Protocol for a Multimethod Study

Background

There is limited knowledge on the physiological and behavioral pathways that may affect the developmental outcomes of preterm infants and particularly on the link between autonomic nervous system maturation and early social human behavior. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the way heart rate variability (HRV) parameters are related to emotional coordination in interactions of preterm and full-term infants with their parents in the first year of life and the possible correlation with the developmental outcomes of infants at 18 months.

Objective

The first objective is to investigate the relationship between emotional coordination and HRV in dyadic full-term infant–parent (group 1) and preterm infant–parent (group 2) interactions during the first postpartum year. The second objective is to examine the relationship of emotional coordination and HRV in groups 1 and 2 in the first postpartum year with the developmental outcomes of infants at 18 months. The third objective is to investigate the effect of maternal and paternal postnatal depression on the relation between emotional coordination and HRV in the two groups and on developmental outcomes at 18 months. The fourth objective is to examine the effect of family cohesion and coping on the relation between emotional coordination and HRV in the two groups and on developmental outcomes at 18 months.

Methods

This is an observational, naturalistic, and longitudinal study applying a mixed method design that includes the following: (1) video recordings of mother-infant and father-infant interactions at the hospital, in the neonatal period, and at home at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of the infants’ life; (2) self-report questionnaires of parents on depressive symptoms, family cohesion, and dyadic coping of stress; (3) infants’ HRV parameters in the neonatal period and at each of the above age points during and after infant-parent video recordings; and (4) assessment of toddlers’ social and cognitive development at 18 months through an observational instrument.

Results

The study protocol has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Crete (number/date: 170/September 18, 2020). This work is supported by the Special Account for Research Funds of the University of Crete (grant number: 10792-668/08.02.2021). All mothers (with their partners) of full-term and preterm infants who give birth between March 2021 and January 2022 at the General University Hospital of Crete (northern Crete, Greece) will be invited to participate. The researcher will invite the parents of infants to participate in the study 1 to 2 days after birth. Data collection is expected to be completed by March 2023, and the first results will be published by the end of 2023.

Conclusions

Investigating the regulatory role of HRV and social reciprocity in preterm infants may have implications for both medicine and psychology.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/28089

A Dynamic Systems Framework for Gender/Sex Development: From Sensory Input in Infancy to Subjective Certainty in Toddlerhood

From birth to 15 months infants and caregivers form a fundamentally intersubjective, dyadic unit within which the infant's ability to recognize gender/sex in the world develops. Between about 18 and 36 months the infant accumulates an increasingly clear and subjective sense of self as female or male. We know little about how the precursors to gender/sex identity form during the intersubjective period, nor how they transform into an independent sense of self by 3 years of age. In this Theory and Hypothesis article I offer a general framework for thinking about this problem. I propose that through repetition and patterning, the dyadic interactions in which infants and caregivers engage imbue the infant with an embodied, i.e., sensori-motor understanding of gender/sex. During this developmental period (which I label Phase 1) gender/sex is primarily an intersubjective project. From 15 to 18 months (which I label Phase 2) there are few reports of newly appearing gender/sex behavioral differences, and I hypothesize that this absence reflects a period of developmental instability during which there is a transition from gender/sex as primarily inter-subjective to gender/sex as primarily subjective. Beginning at 18 months (i.e., the start of Phase 3), a toddler's subjective sense of self as having a gender/sex emerges, and it solidifies by 3 years of age. I propose a dynamic systems perspective to track how infants first assimilate gender/sex information during the intersubjective period (birth to 15 months); then explore what changes might occur during a hypothesized phase transition (15 to 18 months), and finally, review the emergence and initial stabilization of individual subjectivity-the period from 18 to 36 months. The critical questions explored focus on how to model and translate data from very different experimental disciplines, especially neuroscience, physiology, developmental psychology and cognitive development. I close by proposing the formation of a research consortium on gender/sex development during the first 3 years after birth.

Synchronous caregiving from birth to adulthood tunes humans' social brain

A birth-to-adulthood study tested the effects of maternal–newborn contact and synchronous caregiving on the social processing brain in human adults. For two decades, we followed preterm and full-term neonates, who received or lacked initial maternal bodily contact, repeatedly observing mother–child social synchrony. We measured the brain basis of affect-specific empathy in young adulthood to pinpoint regions sensitive to others’ distinct emotions. Maternal–newborn contact enhanced social synchrony across development, which, in turn, predicted amygdalar and insular sensitivity to emotion-specific empathy. Findings demonstrate the long-term effects of maternal caregiving in humans, similar to their role in other mammals, particularly in tuning core regions implicated in salience detection, simulation, and interoception that sustain empathy and human attachment.

Mammalian young are born with immature brain and rely on the mother’s body and caregiving behavior for maturation of neurobiological systems that sustain adult sociality. While research in animal models indicated the long-term effects of maternal contact and caregiving on the adult brain, little is known about the effects of maternal–newborn contact and parenting behavior on social brain functioning in human adults. We followed human neonates, including premature infants who initially lacked or received maternal–newborn skin-to-skin contact and full-term controls, from birth to adulthood, repeatedly observing mother–child social synchrony at key developmental nodes. We tested the brain basis of affect-specific empathy in young adulthood and utilized multivariate techniques to distinguish brain regions sensitive to others’ distinct emotions from those globally activated by the empathy task. The amygdala, insula, temporal pole (TP), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) showed high sensitivity to others’ distinct emotions. Provision of maternal–newborn contact enhanced social synchrony across development from infancy and up until adulthood. The experience of synchrony, in turn, predicted the brain’s sensitivity to emotion-specific empathy in the amygdala and insula, core structures of the social brain. Social synchrony linked with greater empathic understanding in adolescence, which was longitudinally associated with higher neural sensitivity to emotion-specific empathy in TP and VMPFC. Findings demonstrate the centrality of synchronous caregiving, by which infants practice the detection and sharing of others’ affective states, for tuning the human social brain, particularly in regions implicated in salience detection, interoception, and mentalization that underpin affect sharing and human attachment.

The Potential Role of Dopamine in Mediating Motor Function and Interpersonal Synchrony

Motor functions in general and motor planning in particular are crucial for our ability to synchronize our movements with those of others. To date, these co-occurring functions have been studied separately, and as yet it is unclear whether they share a common biological mechanism. Here, we synthesize disparate recent findings on motor functioning and interpersonal synchrony and propose that these two functions share a common neurobiological mechanism and adhere to the same principles of predictive coding. Critically, we describe the pivotal role of the dopaminergic system in modulating these two distinct functions. We present attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as an example of a disorder that involves the dopaminergic system and describe deficits in motor and interpersonal synchrony. Finally, we suggest possible directions for future studies emphasizing the role of dopamine modulation as a link between social and motor functioning.

Monogamy in a Moment: How do Brief Social Interactions Change Over Time in Pair-Bonded Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata)?

Research on monogamy has largely focused on marked behaviors that are unique to pair bonded partners. However, these marked behaviors represent only a subset of the pair-directed behaviors that partners engage in; the influence of pair bonding on mundane or subtle social interactions among partners remains largely unknown. In this study, we describe the changes that occur during brief social reunions (or greets) over the course of pair bonding in zebra finches. We quantified pair-directed behavior during 5-min reunions from three stages of pair bonding: initial pairing (between 4 and 72 h), early pairing (1–2 weeks), and late pairing (>1 month). These social interactions were operationalized in multiple ways. First, we quantified the overall activity levels (call and movement rates) for both the male and female. Overall, females were more active than males, but for both males and females calling activity was highest at initial pairing. We quantified behavioral coordination between partners in two ways: (1) similarity in call and movement rates between partners and (2) temporal synchrony of calls and movements between partners (via sliding correlation coefficients of time-stamped calls and movements). Overall, there were no effects of pairing stage on behavioral coordination. Finally, we used principal component analyses to disentangle behavioral coordination from the activity levels of the male and female. These results contribute to a growing line of evidence that male and female zebra finches differentially contribute to social dynamics and highlight the influence of pair bonding on the development of social dynamics. Furthermore, our preliminary analyses raise the hypothesis that behavioral coordination during the earliest phases of pairing is modulated by the extent and nature of prior experience. Overall, while behavioral coordination is clearly important for many salient interactions such as duetting, courtship displays, and biparental care, the significance of mundane social interactions for monogamous partnerships remains largely unknown.

Adversity is Linked with Decreased Parent-Child Behavioral and Neural Synchrony

Parent-child synchrony-parent-child interaction patterns characterized by contingent social responding, mutual responsivity, and co-regulation-has been robustly associated with adaptive child outcomes. Synchrony has been investigated in both behavioral and biological frameworks. While it has been demonstrated that adversity can influence behavioral parent-child synchrony, the neural mechanisms by which this disruption occurs are understudied. The current study examined the association between adversity, parent-child behavioral synchrony, and parent-child neural synchrony across lateral prefrontal cortical regions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning during a parent-child interaction task that included a mild stress induction followed by a recovery period. Participants included 115 children (ages 4-5) and their primary caregivers. Parent-child behavioral synchrony was quantified as the amount time the dyad was synchronous (e.g., reciprocal communication, coordinated behaviors) during the interaction task. Parent-child neural synchrony was examined as the hemodynamic concordance between parent and child lateral PFC activation. Adversity was examined across two, empirically-derived domains: sociodemographic risk (e.g., family income) and familial risk (e.g., household chaos). Adversity, across domains, was associated with decreased parent-child behavioral synchrony across task conditions. Sociodemographic risk was associated with decreased parent-child neural synchrony in the context of experimentally-induced stress. These findings link adversity to decreased parent-child behavioral and neural synchrony.

Commentary: Dimensionality in environmental adversity, mechanisms of emotional socialization, and children's characteristics and cognitive growth - a reflection on Miller et al. (2020)

Disentangling the dimensionality in environmental adversity offers nuanced insights at both theoretical and practical levels, such as the ways that disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances during childhood development may contribute to adolescent psychopathology. Miller and colleagues (2020) provide evidence into how early deprivation and threat may exacerbate later psychopathology. Yet, how certain factors in this early environment differentially facilitate children's cognitive and socioemotional growth may modulate the severity of later psychopathology. In this commentary, we reflect on the promising evidence offered by Miller and colleagues and extend additional considerations regarding academic growth, cognitive abilities, and protective environmental factors.

Mother brain is wired for social moments

Reorganization of the maternal brain upon childbirth triggers the species-typical maternal social behavior. These brief social moments carry profound effects on the infant's brain and likely have a distinct signature in the maternal brain. Utilizing a double-blind, within-subject oxytocin/placebo administration crossover design, mothers' brain was imaged twice using fMRI while observing three naturalistic maternal-infant contexts in the home ecology; 'unavailable', 'unresponsive', and 'social', when mothers engaged in synchronous peek-a-boo play. The social condition elicited greater neural response across the human caregiving network, including amygdala, VTA, hippocampus, insula, ACC, and temporal cortex. Oxytocin impacted neural response primarily to the social condition and attenuated differences between social and non-social stimuli. Greater temporal consistency emerged in the 'social' condition across the two imaging sessions, particularly in insula, amygdala, and TP. Findings describe how mother's brain varies by caregiving experiences and gives salience to moments of social synchrony that support infant development and brain maturation.

Neurocognitive processing of infant stimuli in mothers and non-mothers: psychophysiological, cognitive and neuroimaging evidence

Emerging evidence indicates that mothers and non-mothers show different neurocognitive responses to infant stimuli. This study investigated mothers' psychophysiological, cognitive and neuronal responses to emotional infant stimuli. A total of 35 mothers with 4-month-old infants and 18 control women without young children underwent computerized tests assessing neurocognitive processing of infant stimuli. Their eye gazes and eye fixations, galvanic skin responses (GSRs) and facial expressions towards infant emotional stimuli were recorded during the tasks. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during which they viewed pictures of an unknown infant and, for mothers, their own infants. Mothers gazed more and had increased GSR towards infant stimuli and displayed more positive facial expressions to infant laughter, and self-reported more positive ratings of infant vocalizations than control women. At a neural level, mothers showed greater neural response in insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and occipital brain regions within a predefined 'maternal neural network' while watching images of their own vs unknown infants. This specific neural response to own infants correlated with less negative ratings of own vs unknown infants' signals of distress. Differences between mothers and control women without young children could be interpreted as neurocognitive adaptation to motherhood in the mothers.

Individual differences in parent and child average RSA and parent psychological distress influence parent-child RSA synchrony

Parent-child synchrony of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) varies by risk, but novel approaches are needed to capture individual contributions to synchrony. Multilevel state-trait modeling was applied to examine how parental psychological distress and parent and child average RSA during challenge (reflecting individual regulatory capacities) shaped RSA synchrony in mother-child (n = 71) and father-child (n = 47) interactions. RSA synchrony was curvilinear such that greater in-the-moment RSA reactivity in one partner prompted greater reactivity in the other. Higher risk (lower average RSA; higher distress) predicted in-the-moment RSA withdrawal to partner RSA changes, whereas lower risk (higher average RSA; lower distress) predicted in-the-moment RSA augmentation. In some models, one's higher average RSA prompted the partner's greater reactivity and thus synchrony when parental distress was higher. However, the presence and direction of synchrony was not consistently adaptive nor maladaptive across models, suggesting its meaning relies on theory and the parent and risk factors in question.

Factors affecting psychosocial development of very low birth weight infants at 18 and 36 months of age

AIM

To identify relationships between neonatal factors including conditions and treatments, nurturing environment, and psychosocial development of children born at very low birth weight (VLBW).

METHODS

In this longitudinal study, the medical records of 113 VLBW infants were examined, and the children were then followed up at 18 and 36 months of age. Their developmental quotient (DQ) was assessed using the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD), and their parents were asked about their own health, financial situation, education, and family support. Pearson's correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to explore relationships between DQ, potentially significant predictors on the KSPD, and nurturing environment.

RESULTS

DQ at 18 months was associated with the following neonatal factors: mechanical ventilation days (β = -.241, p = .020), Apgar score at 5 min (β = .278, p = .005), periventricular leukomalacia (β = -.218, p = .006), and treatment for retinopathy of prematurity (β = -.171, p = .048) (adjusted R2 = .32). DQ at 36 months was associated with the following neonatal and parenting factors: mechanical ventilation days (β = -.354, p < .001), periventricular leukomalacia (β = -.207, p = .009), sex (β = -.199, p = .011), mother's educational background (β = -.304, p < .001), mother's health status (β = -.159, p = .042) (adjusted R2 = .35).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that in addition to neonatal clinical parameters including conditions and treatments, the nurturing environment after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit influences the psychosocial development of VLBW infants.

Investigating infant development through an interprofessional research collaboration: case report

Background/aims

From a dynamic systems perspective of infant development, several systems (eg sensorimotor, perceptual, and reasoning, among others, may self-organise and change behavioural responses over time following experience. These changes in infant behaviour are often measured through the achievement of age-adjusted developmental milestones. However, the majority of research guiding the understanding of typical infant developmental trajectories rarely depicts collaborations across more than one or two disciplines. The purpose of this case report was to describe an interprofessional research collaboration among researchers and clinicians in clinical and experimental psychology, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and physical therapy to establish methods and procedures that describe different developmental domains in infancy for a single participant.

Methods

One infant who was typically developing was video and audio recorded during 60 minutes of free play at ages 8, 12, and 16 months. Four research labs scored the middle 20 minutes of recorded time for infant and caregiver utterances, touch and motor behaviours, play participation and performance, co-occupation, and caregiver sensitivity to infant affect. The combined data from the four labs captured and revealed a rich description of the infant's development from 8 to 16 months of age.

Results

The data for this single infant indicated that important developmental changes occurred leading to greater independence in communication, mobility and co-occupation, while reducing some of the requirements for attention from the caregiver.

Conclusions

The procedures used within research labs by principal investigators from four disciplines to describe development in a single infant between 8 and 16 months of age yielded a rich example of development, consistent with published milestones. Future studies with larger sample sizes using the interdisciplinary research methods applied in this case study may improve the understanding of, influences on, and relationships between, infant developmental trajectories.

Child-parent cardiac transference is decreased following disrupted/absent early care

Parental input shapes youth self-regulation development, and a lack of sensitive caregiving is a risk factor for youth mental health problems. Parents may shape youth regulation through their influence over biological (including neural) and behavioral development during childhood at both micro (moment-to-moment) and macro (global) levels. Prior studies have shown that micro-level parent-child interactions shape youth's biology contributing to youth mental health. However, it remains unclear whether prior disrupted/absent care affects those moment-to-moment parent-youth interactions in ways that increase risk for youth psychopathology. In the current study, we calculated transfer entropy on cardiac data from parent-youth dyads where the youth had either been exposed to disrupted care prior to adoption or not. Transfer Entropy (TE) tracks information flow between two signals, enhancing quantification of directional coupling, allowing for the examination of parent-child and child-parent influences. Using this novel approach, we identified lower cardiac information transfer from youth-to-parents in dyads where the youth had been exposed to disrupted/absent early care. Moreover we showed that the degree to which the parent's physiology changed in response to youth's physiology was negatively related to the youth's mental health, representing a potential pathway for elevated mental health risk in populations exposed to disrupted/absent early care.

Movement Synchrony and Facial Synchrony as Diagnostic Features of Depression: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

The pilot study investigated with a matched-subjects design whether nonverbal synchrony is a diagnostic feature for depression and whether it mediates between depression and postsession ratings of the interviewer behavior. The sample includes n = 15 patients with major depression and n = 15 healthy controls (aged 20-30 years, 40% female). We conducted structured diagnostic interviews for somatic complaints to standardize the recording setting, issue, and course of conversation. Body movements and facial expressions were coded automatically frame by frame using computer vision methods. Ratings of the interviewers' professional behavior and positive affect were assessed using questionnaires. Patients with depression showed less movement synchrony and less synchronous positive facial expressions. Only synchronous positive expressions mediated between depression and less perceived positive affect. We conclude that the applied methodology is well suited to examine nonverbal processes under naturalistic but widely standardized conditions and that depression affects the nonverbal communication in medical conversations.

"Dancing" Together: Infant-Mother Locomotor Synchrony

Pre-mobile infants and caregivers spontaneously engage in a sequence of contingent facial expressions and vocalizations that researchers have referred to as a social "dance." Does this dance continue when both partners are free to move across the floor? Locomotor synchrony was assessed in 13- to 19-month-old infant-mother dyads (N = 30) by tracking each partner's step-to-step location during free play. Although infants moved more than mothers, dyads spontaneously synchronized their locomotor activity. For 27 dyads, the spatiotemporal path of one partner uniquely identified the path of the other. Clustering analyses revealed two patterns of synchrony (mother-follow and yo-yo), and infants were more likely than mothers to lead the dance. Like face-to-face synchrony, locomotor synchrony scaffolds infants' interactions with the outside world.

Interactional synchrony: signals, mechanisms and benefits

Many group-living animals, humans included, occasionally synchronize their behavior with that of conspecifics. Social psychology and neuroscience have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Here we sought to integrate results around three themes: the stimuli, the mechanisms and the benefits of interactional synchrony. As regards stimuli, we asked what characteristics, apart from temporal regularity, prompt synchronization and found that stimulus modality and complexity are important. The high temporal resolution of the auditory system and the relevance of socio-emotional information endow auditory, multimodal, emotional and somewhat variable and adaptive sequences with particular synchronizing power. Looking at the mechanisms revealed that traditional perspectives emphasizing beat-based representations of others' signals conflict with more recent work investigating the perception of temporal regularity. Timing processes supported by striato-cortical loops represent any kind of repetitive interval sequence fairly automatically. Additionally, socio-emotional processes supported by posterior superior temporal cortex help endow such sequences with value motivating the extent of synchronizing. Synchronizing benefits arise from an increased predictability of incoming signals and include many positive outcomes ranging from basic information processing at the individual level to the bonding of dyads and larger groups.

Elevated infant cortisol is necessary but not sufficient for transmission of environmental risk to infant social development: Cross-species evidence of mother-infant physiological social transmission

Environmental adversity increases child susceptibility to disrupted developmental outcomes, but the mechanisms by which adversity can shape development remain unclear. A translational cross-species approach was used to examine stress-mediated pathways by which poverty-related adversity can influence infant social development. Findings from a longitudinal sample of low-income mother-infant dyads indicated that infant cortisol (CORT) on its own did not mediate relations between early-life scarcity-adversity exposure and later infant behavior in a mother-child interaction task. However, maternal CORT through infant CORT served as a mediating pathway, even when controlling for parenting behavior. Findings using a rodent "scarcity-adversity" model indicated that pharmacologically blocking pup corticosterone (CORT, rodent equivalent to cortisol) in the presence of a stressed mother causally prevented social transmission of scarcity-adversity effects on pup social behavior. Furthermore, pharmacologically increasing pup CORT without the mother present was not sufficient to disrupt pup social behavior. Integration of our cross-species results suggests that elevated infant CORT may be necessary, but without elevated caregiver CORT, may not be sufficient in mediating the effects of environmental adversity on development. These findings underscore the importance of considering infant stress physiology in relation to the broader social context, including caregiver stress physiology, in research and interventional efforts.

Neural meaning making, prediction, and prefrontal-subcortical development following early adverse caregiving

Early adversities that are caregiving-related (crEAs) are associated with a significantly increased risk for mental health problems. Recent neuroscientific advances have revealed alterations in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-subcortical circuitry following crEAs. While this work has identified alterations in affective operations (e.g., perceiving, reacting, controlling, learning) associated with mPFC-subcortical circuitry, this circuitry has a much broader function extending beyond operations. It plays a primary role in affective meaning making, involving conceptual-level, schematized knowledge to generate predictions about the current environment. This function of mPFC-subcortical circuitry motivates asking whether mPFC-subcortical phenotypes following crEAs support semanticized knowledge content (or the concept-level knowledge) and generate predictive models. I present a hypothesis motivated by research findings across four different lines of work that converge on mPFC-subcortical neuroanatomy, including (a) the neurobiology supporting emotion regulation processes in adulthood, (b) the neurobiology that is activated by caregiving cues during development, (c) the neurobiology that is altered by crEAs, and (d) the neurobiology of semantic-based meaning making. I hypothesize that the affective behaviors following crEAs result in part from affective semantic memory processes supported by mPFC-subcortical circuitry that over the course of development, construct affective schemas that generate meaning making and guide predictions. I use this opportunity to review some of the literature on mPFC-subcortical circuit development following crEAs to illustrate the motivation behind this hypothesis. Long recognized by clinical science and cognitive neuroscience, studying schema-based processes may be particularly helpful for understanding how affective meaning making arises from developmental trajectories of mPFC-subcortical circuitry.

Early maternal and paternal caregiving moderates the links between preschoolers' reactivity and regulation and maturation of the HPA-immune axis

While early caregiving and child's temperamental dispositions work in concert to shape social-emotional outcomes, their unique and joint contribution to the maturation of the child's stress and immune systems remain unclear. We followed children longitudinally from infancy to preschool to address the buffering effect of early parenting on the link between temperamental dysregulation and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-immune axis in preschool-aged children. Participants included 47 typically developing children and their 94 parents in both mother-father and two-father families followed across the first 4-years of family formation. In infancy, we observed parent-infant synchrony and measured parental oxytocin; in preschool, we observed temperamental reactivity and self-regulation and assessed children's cortisol and secretory Immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), biomarkers of the stress and immune systems. Greater self-regulation and lower negative emotionality were associated with lower baseline s-IgA and cortisol, respectively. However, these links were defined by interactive effects so that preschoolers with low self-regulation displayed higher s-IgA levels only in cases of low parent-infant synchrony and negative emotionality linked with greater baseline cortisol levels only when parental oxytocin levels were low. Results emphasize the long-term stress-buffering role of the neurobiology of parental care, demonstrate comparable developmental paths for mothers and fathers, and delineate the complex developmental cascades to the maturation of children's stress-management systems.

Differences in mother-child and father-child RSA synchrony: Moderation by child self-regulation and dyadic affect

Parents and preschoolers show respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony, but it is unclear how child self-regulation and the dyadic affective climate shape RSA synchrony and how synchrony differs for mothers and fathers. We examined child average RSA, externalizing problems, and dyadic positive affect as moderators of the synchrony of dynamic, within-epoch child and parent RSA reactivity during a challenging task. Mothers (N = 82) and fathers (N = 60) oversampled for familial risk participated with their 3-year-olds. For mothers, when children showed either higher externalizing or lower average RSA, negative RSA synchrony was observed as dynamic coupling of maternal RSA augmentation and child RSA withdrawal, suggesting inadequate support of the child during challenge. However, when children showed both higher externalizing and lower average RSA, indicating greater regulatory difficulties overall, positive synchrony was observed as joint RSA withdrawal. The same patterns were found for father-child RSA synchrony but instead with respect to the moderators of higher externalizing and lower dyadic positive affect. Findings suggest moderators of RSA synchrony differ by parent and shared positive affect plays a robust role in fathers' RSA reactivity and synchrony. Mothers may be more attuned to children's regulatory capacities, whereas fathers may be more influenced by the immediate behavioral context.

Physiological and social synchrony as markers of PTSD and resilience following chronic early trauma

OBJECTIVE

Although resilience is a key topic in clinical theory and research, few studies focused on biobehavioral mechanisms that underpin resilience. Guided by the biobehavioral synchrony frame, we examined the dynamic interplay of physiological and behavioral synchrony as marker of risk and resilience in trauma-exposed youth.

METHODS

A unique cohort of war-exposed versus control children was followed at four time-points from early childhood to preadolescence and child posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) repeatedly assessed. At preadolescence (11-13 years), mother and child were observed in several social and nonsocial tasks while cardiac data collected and measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA synchrony computed. The social interactive task was microcoded for behavioral synchrony and the second-by-second balance of behavioral and physiological synchrony was calculated. War-exposed preadolescents were divided into those diagnosed with PTSD at any time-point across childhood versus resilient children.

RESULTS

Group differences in behavioral synchrony, RSA synchrony, and their interplay emerged. PTSD dyads exhibited the tightest autonomic synchrony combined with the lowest behavioral synchrony, whereas resilient dyads displayed the highest behavioral and lowest autonomic synchrony. Hierarchical Linear Model analysis pinpointed two resilience-promoting mechanisms. First, for resilient and control dyads, moments of behavioral synchrony were coupled with decreased RSA synchrony. Second, only among resilient dyads, moments of behavioral synchrony increased child RSA levels.

CONCLUSION

Findings specify mechanisms by which biobehavioral synchrony promotes resilience. As children grow, the tightly coupled mother-child physiology must be replaced by loosely coordinated behavioral attunement that buttresses maturation of the child's allostatic self-regulation. Our findings highlight the need for synchrony-based interventions to trauma-exposed mothers.

Developmental patterns of emotion regulation in toddlerhood: Examining predictors of change and long-term resilience

Emotion regulation is critical for optimal functioning across a wide range of domains and may be even more important for individuals in high-risk environments. While evidence suggests that childhood is generally a period of emotion regulation growth and development, research is needed to examine factors that may contribute to deviations from a typical trajectory. In a prospective study of 1,905 children, latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify trajectory groups of emotion regulation across toddlerhood (age 14-36 months), examine predictors of those trajectory groups from child temperament, parenting behaviors, and environmental risk, and explore predictions of resilience in 5th grade from the identified groups. LGCA supported a three-class model, with a Stable Incline group, a Decline group, and a Catch-Up group. Child negative emotionality, positive and negative parenting, and environmental risk predicted group membership. These trajectory groups in toddlerhood were predictive of child resilient functioning in the 5th grade. Our findings highlight the importance of utilizing developmental models of emotion regulation and provide implications for prevention and early intervention services to enhance emotion regulation development in early childhood.

Maternal Shared Pleasure, Infant Withdrawal, and Developmental Outcomes in a High Risk Setting in South Africa

Background: Infants in lower middle income countries are often exposed to early adversities which may lead to suboptimal caregiving environments and place them at risk of not achieving their developmental potential. Synchrony and positive engagement in the mother-infant relationship plays a critical role in buffering the impact of early adversity. Shared Pleasure (SP) is considered a marker of high intensity positive interaction and may hold a promise of improving developmental outcomes. Methods: This study was part of a prospective observational study of mothers with and without mental illness in South Africa. Dyadic videos were assessed for SP and infant withdrawal (using the Alarm Distress Baby Scale) at 6 months. Infant developmental outcomes were assessed using the Bayley's Scales for Infant and Toddler Development, third edition at 18 months. Results: Ninety-one dyads were assessed for SP. The occurrence of SP was low (20%). There was no significant association with an EPDS measure of maternal depression (p = 0.571) and SP moments. Infant withdrawal was high (72%) and associated with male infant gender (p = 0.025). There was a significant association between the occurrence of SP and a lower score of infant withdrawal (estimate = -1.29; SE = 0.4; p = 0.0002). The number of SP moments at 6 months was significantly associated with motor (estimate = 2.4; SE = 0.9; p = 0.007) and marginally significant with cognitive scores (estimate = 1.9; SE = 1.0; p = 0.052) at 18 months. Regression modelling differential outcomes showed a greater improvement in cognitive scores at 18 months in infants with an SP moment compared to those without an SP moment [SP average difference (AD) = 7.4 (2.4), no SP AD = 10.4 (1.2); p = 0.012]. Infants without an SP moment experienced a larger decrease in motor scores at 18 months compared to those with an SP moment [SP AD = -3 (3.0); no SP AD = -10.6 (1.5), p = 0.027]. Conclusion: While the occurrence of SP in this sample was low and the rates of infant withdrawal were high, there were promising results suggesting early positive SP interactions may contribute to improvements in subsequent developmental outcomes.

Initial Evidence for Symptoms of Postpartum Parent-Infant Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (PI-ROCD) and Associated Risk for Perturbed Maternal Behavior and Infant Social Disengagement From Mother

Infant socioemotional development and underlying brain maturation occur primarily within the context of early caregiver-infant relationships. Perinatal research demonstrates detrimental impact of postpartum pathology, including postnatal onset of maternal OCD-on the mother-infant relationship. The present study is the first to examine postnatal onset of a particular dimension of OCD symptoms focusing on close interpersonal relationships (relationship-OCD, i.e., ROCD) within a general population sample. Specifically, we assessed whether symptoms of Parent-Child ROCD (PC-ROCD), may onset postnatally, thus yielding symptoms of Parent-Infant ROCD (PI-ROCD). We adapted the previously validated Parent-Child ROCD measure for use during infancy to assess symptoms of PI-ROCD. The adapted measure, Parent-Infant Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms Inventory (PI-PROCSI), was administered to 143 mothers from the general population at 4-months postpartum. We investigated concurrent associations between postnatal onset of PI-ROCD, maternal depression and bonding, as well as longitudinal predictive associations with observed maternal and infant behaviors in dyadic interactions at 10 months. Due to dropout across the 1st year postpartum, the subsample with longitudinal data was substantially reduced compared to the full sample. PI-PROCSI scores explained unique variance in concurrent maternal depression over and above concurrent anxiety. PI-PROCSI scores also associated with concurrent impairments of maternal bonding. Moreover, unique associations emerged between maternal PI-ROCD scores and perturbations in both maternal and infant observable behaviors at 10-months. Specifically, observable perturbations in maternal behaviors mediated associations between symptoms of PI-ROCD at 4-months and observable infant avoidance of social engagement behaviors at 10-months. Findings suggest that parent-child ROCD symptoms may onset during the postnatal period, and that such symptoms may play a significant role in shaping quality of reciprocal caregiver-infant interactions. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Impairments of interpersonal synchrony evident in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

In addition to well-known attention deficiencies, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accompanied by deficiencies in social cognition. Both intentional and spontaneous interpersonal synchrony have been found to be an essential part of successful human interaction. Here, we used a novel paradigm to assess intentional and spontaneous interpersonal synchrony in adults with and without ADHD. Our data indicate that intentional interpersonal synchrony is reduced in ADHD, whereas spontaneous interpersonal synchrony remains intact. These results suggest that a dysfunctional pattern of interpersonal synchrony may account for interpersonal difficulties in ADHD.

Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17-44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.

Effects of maternal and paternal postnatal depressive symptoms on infants' parasympathetic regulation in low-income, Mexican American families

Mothers and fathers are at elevated risk for developing depression during the first postnatal year, especially among families from marginalized communities. Although a number of studies demonstrate that exposure to maternal depressive symptoms can undermine infants' regulatory development, less is known about the extent to which paternal depressive symptoms may also contribute. The current study investigated whether maternal and paternal depressive symptoms were uniquely associated with infants' physiological regulation, and whether associations varied depending on infant sex. Participants included 90 low-income Mexican American families. Fathers and mothers self-reported their depressive symptoms when infants were 15 weeks old, and infants' resting parasympathetic activity (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) was assessed at 6 and 24 weeks. Results indicated that, after controlling for infant 6-week RSA and depressive symptoms in the other parent, paternal depressive symptoms were associated with lower 24-week RSA for both girls and boys, but maternal depressive symptoms were only associated with lower 24-week RSA for boys. Findings highlight a potential mechanism through which the consequences of parent depressive symptoms may reverberate across generations, and suggest that considerations of both infants' and parents' sex may lend insight into how best to intervene.

Maternal Anxiety Symptoms and Self-Regulation Capacity Are Associated With the Unpredictability of Maternal Sensory Signals in Caregiving Behavior

The unpredictability of maternal sensory signals in caregiving behavior has been recently found to be linked with infant neurodevelopment. The research area is new, and very little is yet known, how maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms and specific parental characteristics relate to the unpredictable maternal care. The aims of the current study were to explore how pre- and postnatal maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms and self-regulation capacity associate with the unpredictability of maternal sensory signals. The study population consisted of 177 mother-infant dyads. The unpredictability of the maternal sensory signals was explored from the video-recorded mother-infant free play situation when the infant was 8 months of age. Pre- and postnatal anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured by questionnaires prenatally at gwks 14, 24, 34, and 3 and 6 months postpartum. Maternal self-regulation capacity, a trait considered to be stable in adulthood, was assessed using adult temperament questionnaire when the infant was 12 months of age. We found that elevated prenatal maternal anxiety symptoms associated with higher unpredictability in the maternal care while depressive symptoms were unrelated to the unpredictability of maternal care. Moreover, the association was moderated by maternal self-regulation capacity, as higher anxiety symptoms during pre-and postnatal period were associated more unpredictability among the mothers with low self-regulation capacity. The combination of higher amount of maternal anxiety symptoms and lower self-regulation capacity seems to constitute specific risk for the unpredictable maternal care.