Autonomic profiles and self-regulation outcomes in early childhood

This study examined autonomic profiles in preschoolers (N = 278, age = 4.7 years) and their relations to self-regulation outcomes concurrently and one year later, in kindergarten. Children's sympathetic (preejection period [PEP]) and parasympathetic activity (respiratory sinus arrythmia [RSA]) were measured at rest and during cognitive and emotional tasks. Three self-regulatory competencies were assessed: executive functions, emotion regulation and behavioral regulation. Executive functioning was measured at ages 4 and 5 using laboratory tasks designed to assess updating/working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Emotion regulation was observed during emotionally distressing tasks in the laboratory, both at ages 4 and 5. Behavioral regulation and emotional reactivity were assessed via teacher ratings in kindergarten, at age 5. Latent profile analysis yielded four autonomic profiles: moderate parasympathetic inhibition (45%), reciprocal sympathetic activation (26%), coinhibition (25%), and high sympathetic activation (7%). The reciprocal sympathetic activation group showed better executive functioning in preschool and kindergarten, particularly compared to the high sympathetic activation group. The moderate parasympathetic inhibition group showed lower emotional reactivity and better behavioral regulation in kindergarten, compared to the other three groups. Findings suggest that autonomic profiles meaningfully associate with self-regulation outcomes in early childhood, such that certain profiles relate to better self-regulation than others.

Towards an understanding of neurophysiological self-regulation in early childhood: A heuristic and a new approach

Self-regulation in early childhood encompasses both "top down," volitional processes, as well as the "bottom up" activity of three neurophysiological systems: the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In this paper we briefly review the structure, function, and early development of each of these systems and then explain why neurophysiological self-regulation is most accurately defined as a function of their joint activity. We note that while there are a number of predictive models that employ this definition, the field would benefit from a straightforward heuristic and aligned methods of visualization and analysis. We then present one such heuristic, which we call neurophysiological space, and outline how it may facilitate a new, collaborative approach to building a better understanding of self-regulation in early childhood. We conclude with a presentation of early education as one setting in which our heuristic and methods could be applied.

In infancy, it's the extremes of arousal that are 'sticky': Naturalistic data challenge purely homeostatic approaches to studying self-regulation

Most theoretical models of arousal/regulatory function emphasise the maintenance of homeostasis; consistent with this, most previous research into arousal has concentrated on examining individuals' recovery following the administration of experimentally administered stressors. Here, we take a different approach: we recorded day-long spontaneous fluctuations in autonomic arousal (indexed via electrocardiogram, heart rate variability and actigraphy) in a cohort of 82 typically developing 12-month-old infants while they were at home and awake. Based on the aforementioned models, we hypothesised that extreme high or low arousal states might be more short-lived than intermediate arousal states. Our results suggested that, contrary to this, both low- and high-arousal states were more persistent than intermediate arousal states. The same pattern was present when the data were viewed over multiple epoch sizes from 1 s to 5 min; over 10-15-minute time-scales, high-arousal states were more persistent than low- and intermediate states. One possible explanation for these findings is that extreme arousal states have intrinsically greater hysteresis; another is that, through 'metastatic' processes, small initial increases and decreases in arousal can become progressively amplified over time. Rather than exclusively using experimental paradigms to study recovery, we argue that future research should also use naturalistic data to study the mechanisms through which states can be maintained or amplified over time.

Abnormal functional connectivity as neural biological substrate of trait and state characteristics in major depressive disorder

OBJECTIVE

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder associated with functional dysconnectivity in emotion regulation system. State characteristics which measure the current presence of depressive symptoms, and trait characteristics which indicate the long-term vulnerability to depression are two important features of MDD. However, the relationships between trait and state characteristics of MDD and functional connectivity (FC) within the emotion regulation system still remain unclear.

METHODS

This study aims to examine the neural biological mechanisms of trait characteristics measured by the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) and state anhedonia measured by the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) in MDD. Sixty-three patients with MDD and 63 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. A spatial pairwise clustering and the network-based analysis approaches were adopted to identify the abnormal FC networks. Support vector regression was utilized to predict the trait and state characteristics based on abnormal FCs.

RESULTS

Four disrupted subnetworks mainly involving the prefrontal-limbic-striatum system were observed in MDD. Importantly, the abnormal FC between the left amygdala (AMYG)/hippocampus (HIP) and right AMYG/HIP could predict the SADNESS scores of ANPS (trait characteristics) in MDD. While the aberrant FC between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)/anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC) and AMYG/parahippocampal gyrus could predict the state anhedonia scores (state characteristics).

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings give first insights into the neural biological basis underlying the trait and state characteristics associated with functional dysconnectivity within the emotion regulation system in MDD.

Autonomic nervous system functioning in early childhood: Responses to cognitive and negatively valenced emotional challenges

Although autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning is "context-dependent," few studies examined children's normative sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic responses to distinct challenges in early childhood years. Examining children's ANS responsivity to distinct challenges is important for understanding normative autonomic responses toward everyday life stressors and identifying paradigms that effectively elicit a "stress response." We examined children's (N = 278) sympathetic (preejection period [PEP]) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) responses to cognitive (i.e., problem-solving and cognitive control) and negatively valenced emotional (i.e., blocked goal and unfairness) challenges in preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1. Children, on average, demonstrated parasympathetic inhibition (RSA withdrawal) in response to all challenges but the magnitude of these responses depended on the task. Children showed sympathetic activation (PEP shortening) toward the problem-solving task at each assessment and there was no sample-level change in the magnitude of this response over time. Children showed greater sympathetic responsivity toward the cognitive control task over time, with evidence for a sympathetic activation response only in grade 1. Children experienced sympathetic inhibition (PEP lengthening) toward the unfairness tasks but did not experience significant sympathetic responsivity toward the blocked goal tasks. Parasympathetic responsivity to most challenges were modestly stable but there was no stability in sympathetic responsivity across time.

Feel Safe to Take More Risks? Insecure Attachment Increases Consumer Risk-Taking Behavior

Attachment styles, originated from early childhood experience, have been documented to influence human behaviors among adults. Drawing on life history theory, we examined whether or not, and how, attachment styles impact risk-taking behaviors beyond evolutionary valid domains, and explored the moderation role of parental status. In the consumer behavior context, three correlational studies provide convergent evidence that insecurely attached (vs. securely attached) consumers are more risk-taking in consumption situations like dining in a toilet-themed restaurant or buying genetically modified products. Specifically, insecurely attached consumers were more likely to take risks in two experiential purchase scenarios (Study 1) and this effect was not domain-specific (Study 2). In Study 3, we showed that safety perception mediated the relationship between attachment insecurity and risk-taking, which was manifested by purchase intentions toward genetically modified products. Specifically, insecurely attached individuals perceived genetically modified products to be safer and were more willing to make a purchase. Additionally, parental status moderates the relationship (Studies 2 and 3). We conclude with a discussion on the implications of attachment theory on consumer risk-taking behaviors from a life history perspective.