Brain dynamics in young infants' recognition of faces: EEG oscillatory activity in response to mother and stranger

Coregulation: A Multilevel Approach via Biology and Behavior

In this article, we explore the concept of coregulation, which encompasses the mutual adaptation between partners in response to one another's biology and behavior. Coregulation operates at both biological (hormonal and nervous system) and behavioral (affective and cognitive) levels and plays a crucial role in the development of self-regulation. Coregulation extends beyond the actions of individuals in a dyad and involves interactive contributions of both partners. We use as an example parent-child coregulation, which is pervasive and expected, as it emerges from shared genetic relatedness, cohabitation, continuous interaction, and the influence of common factors like culture, which facilitate interpersonal coregulation. We also highlight the emerging field of neural attunement, which investigates the coordination of brain-based neural activities between individuals, particularly in social interactions. Understanding the mechanisms and significance of neural attunement adds a new dimension to our understanding of coregulation and its implications for parent-child relationships and child development.

Electrophysiological Evidence for Interhemispheric Connectivity and Communication in Young Human Infants

Little is known empirically about connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life, and what theoretical opinion exists appears to be at variance with the meager extant anatomical evidence. To shed initial light on the question of interhemispheric connectivity and communication, this study investigated brain correlates of interhemispheric transmission of information in young human infants. We analyzed EEG data from 12 4-month-olds undergoing a face-related oddball ERP protocol. The activity in the contralateral hemisphere differed between odd-same and odd-difference trials, with the odd-different response being weaker than the response during odd-same trials. The infants' contralateral hemisphere "recognized" the odd familiar stimulus and "discriminated" the odd-different one. These findings demonstrate connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life and lead to a better understanding of the functional integrity of the developing human infant brain.

Superior neural individuation of mother's than stranger's faces by five months of age

Human adults are better at recognizing different views of a given face as belonging to the same person when that person is familiar rather than unfamiliar. To clarify the developmental origin of this well-established phenomenon, one group of five-month-olds (N = 22) was presented with pictures of four different unfamiliar female faces at a fixed rate (6 Hz, 166 msec stimulus onset asynchrony), interrupted every 5th stimulus (1.2 Hz) by either their mother's face (mother oddball condition) or, in different stimulation sequences, a stranger's face (stranger oddball condition). In another group of five-month-olds (N = 17), stimulation sequences were reversed such that their mothers' or a given stranger's face were repeated at 6 Hz and interrupted every 5 stimuli by pictures of different female faces (mother standard, stranger standard conditions, respectively). Twelve variable images of each identity served as stimulus material. Besides clear frequency-tagged EEG responses at the 6 Hz stimulation rate over the medial occipital region in all conditions, significant activity at 1.2 Hz and harmonics (2.4 Hz, etc.) was observed in this region, reflecting selective responses to facial identity across changes of views. This effect was strongest when the mother's face was immediately repeated at every stimulation cycle (mother standard). Overall, these observations point to an early developmental advantage of identifying a familiar face presented from different views during immediate stimulus repetition.

Face perception: computational insights from phylogeny

Studies of face perception in primates elucidate the psychological and neural mechanisms that support this critical and complex ability. Recent progress in characterizing face perception across species, for example in insects and reptiles, has highlighted the ubiquity over phylogeny of this key ability for social interactions and survival. Here, we review the competence in face perception across species and the types of computation that support this behavior. We conclude that the computational complexity of face perception evinced by a species is not related to phylogenetic status and is, instead, largely a product of environmental context and social and adaptive pressures. Integrating findings across evolutionary data permits the derivation of computational principles that shed further light on primate face perception.

Visual scanning preferences in low birth weight preterm infants

INTRODUCTION

Few studies have used eye tracking as a screening tool for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in preterm infants.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate fixation time on social and non-social figures and percentage of preterm babies who gazed at the images.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 31 preterm infants born weighing ≤ 2,000 g in which eye gaze was evaluated at 6 months of corrected age. Six boards with social and non-social figures were projected on a computer screen, successively, evaluating time and percentage of preterm babies who gazed at each board. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) was answered at 18 months of corrected age.

RESULTS

Preterm infants showed longer visual fixation time on social figures compared with non-social images, regardless of the position of the social figure on the board. Similar percentages of preterm infants gazed either at social or non-social figures, at social figures with a direct or an indirect look, and at the eyes or mouth of the social figures. No preterm infant screened positive on the M-CHAT.

CONCLUSION

At 6 months of corrected age, preterm infants show the ability to gaze in an eye-tracking test, with preference for social figures, suggesting that this tool could be useful as another screening instrument for ASD.

Neurobiology of infant attachment: attachment despite adversity and parental programming of emotionality

We review recent findings related to the neurobiology of infant attachment, emphasizing the role of parenting quality in attachment formation and emotional development. Current findings suggest that the development of brain structures important for emotional expression and regulation (amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus) is deeply associated with the quality of care received in infancy, with sensitive caregiving providing regulation vital for programming these structures, ultimately shaping the development of emotion into adulthood. Evidence indicates that without sensitive caregiving, infants fail to develop mechanisms needed for later-life emotion and emotion regulation. Research suggests that a sensitive period exists in early life for parental shaping of emotional development, although further cross-species research is needed to discern its age limits, and thus inform interventions.

Evidence of developmental continuity from birth to 1 year: sleep, temperament, problem solving, and recognition memory

BACKGROUND

Research evidence is limited regarding developmentally appropriate care. Variations exits with respect to test procedure type, infant age at testing, and test relatedness.

PURPOSE

To assess developmental continuity using multiple developmental measures from birth to 12 months in a single cohort of term infants.

METHODS

A secondary analysis, longitudinal, correlational design was used to assess developmental continuity in a single cohort of infants (n 27). Measures included: sleep, using the Motility Monitoring System (first 48 hours of life); temperament, using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ, 6 months) and the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ, 12 months); problem-solving, using the Willatts Infant Planning Test (PS, 9 and 12 months); and the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII, 6 and 9 months).

RESULTS

Using Spearmen correlation, significant correlations included: (1) Sleep and ICQ: transitional sleep and "unpredictable" (r 0.455, P .017), "unadaptable" (r 0.420, P .026), and "dull" (r 0.416, P .028); (2) ICQ and FTII 6 months (r -0.512, P .008); (3) RITQ "approachability" and quiet sleep (r 0.662, P .005); (4) arousals in active sleep and PS at 9 months (r -0.528, P .016).

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Given our reported continuity between early sleep and later developmental measures, sleep-wake state should be considered in caregiving and environmental control to support sleep. Parental education on facilitating sleep-wake regulation in the home environment is essential.

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

These data support the existence of continuity between early sleep and later developmental milestones warranting a larger-scale investigation. Specific focus on development of care strategies for facilitating sleep immediately following birth is warranted.

Social visual engagement in infants and toddlers with autism: early developmental transitions and a model of pathogenesis

Efforts to determine and understand the causes of autism are currently hampered by a large disconnect between recent molecular genetics findings that are associated with the condition and the core behavioral symptoms that define the condition. In this perspective piece, we propose a systems biology framework to bridge that gap between genes and symptoms. The framework focuses on basic mechanisms of socialization that are highly-conserved in evolution and are early-emerging in development. By conceiving of these basic mechanisms of socialization as quantitative endophenotypes, we hope to connect genes and behavior in autism through integrative studies of neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and epigenetic changes. These changes both lead to and are led by the accomplishment of specific social adaptive tasks in a typical infant's life. However, based on recent research that indicates that infants later diagnosed with autism fail to accomplish at least some of these tasks, we suggest that a narrow developmental period, spanning critical transitions from reflexive, subcortically-controlled visual behavior to interactional, cortically-controlled and social visual behavior be prioritized for future study. Mapping epigenetic, neural, and behavioral changes that both drive and are driven by these early transitions may shed a bright light on the pathogenesis of autism.