From co-regulation to self-regulation: Maternal soothing strategies and self-efficacy in relation to maternal reports of infant regulation at 3 and 7 months.

This study, conducted in Germany, examines the role of maternal soothing strategies to explain the association of maternal self-efficacy with infant regulation (crying and sleeping behavior). Questionnaire data of 150 mothers, living in Germany, with mixed ethnic and educational backgrounds were collected when infants were 3 and 7 months old. Two types of maternal soothing strategies were distinguished: close soothing, involving close physical and emotional contact, and distant soothing, involving physical and emotional distancing from the infant. A cross-sectional SEM at 3 months indicated that maternal self-efficacy is associated with reported infant regulation through distant soothing strategies. Low maternal self-efficacy was associated with frequent maternal use of distant soothing, which in turn was related to reported infant regulation problems, that is, non-soothability and greater crying frequency. Frequent use of close soothing was associated with reported infant sleeping behavior, that is, frequent night-time awakenings. A longitudinal SEM further indicated that the effects of close soothing persisted at least until the infants' age of 7 months. The study showed how low maternal self-efficacy, increased use of distant soothing, and reported early infant regulation problems are intertwined and that, due to their persisting positive effect on infant soothability, close soothing better supports infant development.

Este estudio examina el papel de las estrategias calmantes maternas para explicar la asociación entre auto efectividad materna y la regulación del infante (comportamiento de llanto y de dormir). Información de cuestionario de N = 150 madres de trasfondos étnicos y educativos mixtos se recogió cuando los infantes tenían tres y siete meses de nacidos. Dos tipos de estrategias calmantes maternas se identificaron: estrategia calmante cercana, la cual trata del contacto físico y emocional cercano, y estrategia calmante distante, la cual trata del distanciamiento físico y emocional con el infante. Un estudio de Modelo de Ecuación Estructural (SEM) transversal a los tres meses indicó que la auto efectividad materna se asocia con la reportada regulación del infante a través de estrategias calmantes distantes. La baja auto efectividad materna se asoció con el frecuente uso materno de estrategias calmantes distantes, lo cual a su vez se relacionó con los reportados problemas de regulación del infante, tales como el no calmarse y la mayor frecuencia del llanto. El uso frecuente de estrategias calmante cercanas se asoció con el reportado comportamiento de dormir del infante, tal como el frecuente despertar nocturno. Un estudio de tipo SEM longitudinal indicó más allá que los efectos de las estrategias calmantes cercanas persistían por lo menos hasta que los infantes tenían siete meses de edad. El estudio mostró cómo la baja auto efectividad materna, el uso incrementado de estrategias calmantes distantes, así como los reportados tempranos problemas de regulación del infante están entremezclados y que, debido a su persistente efecto positivo en calmar al infante, las estrategias calmantes cercanas apoyan mejor el desarrollo del infante.

Cette étude examine le rôle des stratégies maternelles d'apaisement pour expliquer le lien de l'auto-efficacité maternelle avec la régulation du nourrisson (pleurs et comportement du sommeil). Des données d'une questionnaire de N = 150 mères issues de milieux ethniques et éducationnels différents ont été recueillies quand les nourrissons avaient trois et sept mois. Deux types de stratégies maternelles d'apaisement ont été distingués: l'apaisement proche, avec un contact physique et émotionnel proche, et l'apaisement distant, avec une distanciation physique et émotionnelle du nourrisson. Une coupe transversale SEM à trois mois a indiqué que l'auto-efficacité maternelle est liée à la régulation infantile signalée au travers de stratégies d'apaisement distantes. Une auto-efficacité maternelle faible était liée à l'utilisation maternelle fréquente de stratégies d'apaisement, qui à son tour était liée aux problèmes signalés de régulation du nourrisson, comme par exemple le fait de ne pas pouvoir être apaisé ou une fréquence de pleurs plus grande. L'utilisation fréquente de stratégies d'apaisement proche était liée au comportement de sommeil du nourrisson signalé, comme par exemple des réveils nocturnes fréquents. Un SEM longitudinal a de surcroit indiqué que les effets de stratégies d'apaisement proches persistaient au moins jusqu'à l'âge de sept mois des nourrissons. L'étude a montré comment l'auto-efficacité maternelle faible, une utilisation accrue de stratégies d'apaisement distant et les problèmes signalés de régulation précoce des nourrissons sont imbriqués et que, du fait de leur effet positif persistant sur l'apaisement du nourrisson, les stratégies d'apaisement proches soutiennent mieux le développement du nourrisson.

Cerebellar Functional Connectivity in Term- and Very Preterm-Born Infants.

Cortical resting state networks have been consistently identified in infants using resting state-functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Comparable studies in adults have demonstrated cerebellar components of well-established cerebral networks. However, there has been limited investigation of early cerebellar functional connectivity. We acquired non-sedated rs-fMRI data in the first week of life in 57 healthy, term-born infants and at term-equivalent postmenstrual age in 20 very preterm infants (mean birth gestational age 27 ± 2 weeks) without significant cerebral or cerebellar injury. Seed correlation analyses were performed using regions of interests spanning the cortical and subcortical gray matter and cerebellum. Parallel analyses were performed using rs-fMRI data acquired in 100 healthy adults. Our results demonstrate that cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity is well-established by term. Intra- and cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity were largely similar in infants and adults. However, infants showed more functional connectivity structure within the cerebellum, including stronger homotopic correlations and more robust anterior-posterior anticorrelations. Prematurity was associated with reduced correlation magnitudes, but no alterations in intra- and cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity topography. These results add to the growing evidence that the cerebellum plays an important role in shaping early brain development during infancy.

Auditory structural connectivity in preterm and healthy term infants during the first postnatal year.

Assessing language development in the first postnatal year is difficult, as receptive and expressive skills are rudimentary. Although outward manifestations of change are limited, the auditory language system is thought to undergo critical development at this age, as the foundations are laid for the rapid onset of spoken language in the second and third years. We recruited 11 infants, 7 healthy controls (gestational age = 40.69 ± 0.56; range from 40 to 41.43) and preterm babies (gestational age = 28.04 ± 0.95; range from 27.43 to 29.43) who underwent a Magnetic Resonance Imaging study during the first postnatal year (age at scan = 194.18 ± 97.98). We assessed white matter tracts using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with probabilistic tractography. Fractional anisotropy was found to be largely mature even at one month, although there was a little further increase during the first postnatal year in both the acoustic radiation and the direct brainstem-Heschl's pathway.

Adult-like processing of naturalistic sounds in auditory cortex by 3- and 9-month old infants.

Functional neuroimaging has been used to show that the developing auditory cortex of very young human infants responds, in some way, to sound. However, impoverished stimuli and uncontrolled designs have made it difficult to attribute brain responses to specific auditory features, and thus made it difficult to assess the maturity of feature tuning in auditory cortex. To address this, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain activity evoked by naturalistic sounds (a series of sung lullabies) in two groups of infants (3 and 9 months) and adults. We developed a novel analysis method - inter-subject regression (ISR) - to quantify the similarity of cortical responses between infants and adults, and to decompose components of the response due to different auditory features. We found that the temporal pattern of activity in infant auditory cortex shared similarity with adults. Some of this shared response could be attributed to simple acoustic features, such as frequency, pitch, envelope, but other parts were not, suggesting that even more complex adult-like features are represented in auditory cortex in early infancy.

Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Detect Preserved Function in a Preterm Infant with Brain Injury.

We studied developmental plasticity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a preterm infant with brain injury on structural MRI. fMRI showed preserved brain function and subsequent neurodevelopment was within the normal range. Multimodal neuroimaging including fMRI can improve understanding of neural plasticity after preterm birth and brain injury.

Face recognition under ambiguous visual stimulation: fMRI correlates of "encoding styles".

Object categorization during ambiguous sensory stimulation generally depends on the activity of extrastriate sensory areas as well as top-down information. Both reflect internal representations of prototypical object knowledge against which incoming sensory information is compared. However, besides these general mechanisms, individuals might differ in their readiness to impose internal representations onto incoming ambiguous information. These individual differences might be based on what was referred to as "Schema Instantiation Threshold" (SIT; Lewicki et al. [1992]: Am Pshycol 47:796-801), defining a continuum from very rapid (low threshold) to a rather controlled application of internal representations (high threshold). We collected fMRI scans while subjects with low SIT ("internal encoders") and subjects with high SIT ("external encoders") made gender categorizations of ambiguous facial images. Internal encoders made faster gender decisions during high sensory ambiguity, showed higher fusiform activity, and had faster BOLD responses in the fusiform (FFA) and occipital face area (OFA) indicating a faster and stronger application of face-gender representations due to a low SIT threshold. External encoders made slower gender decisions and showed increased medial frontal activity, indicating a more controlled strategy during gender categorizations and increased decisional uncertainties. Internal encoders showed higher functional connectivity of the orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) to seed activity in the FFA which might indicate both more readily generated predictive classificatory guesses and the subjective impressions of accurate classifications. Taken together, an "internal encoding style" is characterized by the fast, unsupervised and unverified application of primary object representations, whereas the opposite seems evident for subjects with an "external encoding style".

Disruption to functional networks in neonates with perinatal brain injury predicts motor skills at 8 months.

Objective: Functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) of neonates with perinatal brain injury could improve prediction of motor impairment before symptoms manifest, and establish how early brain organization relates to subsequent development. This cohort study is the first to describe and quantitatively assess functional brain networks and their relation to later motor skills in neonates with a diverse range of perinatal brain injuries. Methods: Infants (n = 65, included in final analyses: n = 53) were recruited from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and were stratified based on their age at birth (premature vs. term), and on whether neuropathology was diagnosed from structural MRI. Functional brain networks and a measure of disruption to functional connectivity were obtained from 14 min of fcMRI acquired during natural sleep at term-equivalent age. Results: Disruption to connectivity of the somatomotor and frontoparietal executive networks predicted motor impairment at 4 and 8 months. This disruption in functional connectivity was not found to be driven by differences between clinical groups, or by any of the specific measures we captured to describe the clinical course. Conclusion: fcMRI was predictive over and above other clinical measures available at discharge from the NICU, including structural MRI. Motor learning was affected by disruption to somatomotor networks, but also frontoparietal executive networks, which supports the functional importance of these networks in early development. Disruption to these two networks might be best addressed by distinct intervention strategies.