Infant electroencephalogram coherence and early childhood inhibitory control: Foundations for social cognition in late childhood.

Social cognition is a set of complex processes that mediate much of human behavior. The development of these skills is related to and interdependent on other cognitive processes, particularly inhibitory control. Brain regions associated with inhibitory control and social cognition overlap functionally and structurally, especially with respect to frontal brain areas. We proposed that the neural foundations of inhibitory control and social cognition are measurable in infancy. We used structural equation modeling and showed that 10-month frontotemporal neuroconnectivity measured using electroencephalogram coherence predicts social cognition at 9 years of age through age-4 inhibitory control. These findings provide insight into the neurodevelopmental trajectory of cognition and suggest that connectivity from frontal regions to other parts of the brain is a foundation for the development of these skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Context of Maternal Intrusiveness During Infancy and Associations with Preschool Executive Function.

The relation between maternal behavior and neurocognitive development is complex and may depend on the task context. We examined 5-month-old infant frontal EEG, maternal intrusiveness (MI) evaluated during two play contexts at 5 and 10 months, and a battery of executive function (EF) tasks completed at 48 months to evaluate if MI during infancy and infant neural function interacted to predict later cognition. Infant frontal EEG was a predictor of 4-year EF. MI during structured play at both 5 and 10 months predicted preschool EF, and MI during unstructured did not have a main effect on EF but showed a potential moderating effect of infant EEG on later EF. The pattern changed between ages, with MI during structured play at 5 months showing a positive association with age 4 EF, whereas MI during structured play at 10 months had a negative association with age 4 EF. We demonstrate differences in the context of maternal behavior used to predict childhood EF, highlighting the importance of considering parenting context in EF development.

Infant Electroencephalogram Coherence and Toddler Inhibition are Associated with Social Responsiveness at Age 4.

Previous work has suggested that individual differences in infant functional neuroconnectivity are a potential biomarker for later cognitive and social outcomes, but the mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated a longitudinal model of infant frontotemporal electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence predicting toddler inhibition, which then predicted childhood social responsiveness. A structural equation model showed good fit, with increased right hemisphere frontotemporal EEG coherence predicting less inhibition at age two, which in turn predicted less social responsiveness at age four. These findings support the hypothesis that infant frontotemporal connectivity is indirectly associated with later social behavior, with toddler inhibition as a potential mechanism.

Marching to the beat of your own drum?: A proof-of-concept study assessing physiological linkage in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulty in dynamically adjusting behavior to interact effectively with others, or social reciprocity. Synchronization of physiological responses between interacting partners, or physiological linkage (PL), is thought to provide a foundation for social reciprocity. In previous work we developed a new technique to measure PL using dynamic linear time series modeling to assess cardiac interbeat interval (IBI) linkage in typically developing same-sex unacquainted dyads (Scarpa et al., 2017). The current article describes a proof-of-concept study with three dyads of young adults with ASD interacting with same-sex unacquainted typically developing (TD) partners. This pilot data is applied to propose potential benefits of using this technique to quantify and assess PL in individuals with ASD, both for basic research and for intervention science. Discussion focuses on applications of this measure to potentially advance knowledge of the biology-behavior link in ASD.

Semantic future thinking and executive functions at age 4: The moderating role of frontal brain electrical activity.

Previous studies provide conflicting results regarding the relation between future thinking and executive functioning during early childhood. Furthermore, little is known of the neural mechanisms involved in future thinking during early childhood. We examined the moderating role of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity on the relation between executive functioning and semantic future thinking performance in a sample of 4-year-old children. Our results suggest that frontal EEG moderates the relation between executive functioning and semantic future thinking performance, but only for medium to high levels of frontal EEG power values. These results provide emerging evidence regarding the role of both executive functioning and frontal brain electrical activity on semantic future thinking in 4-year-olds.

Executive Function Mediates the Association between Toddler Negative Affectivity and Early Academic Achievement.

RESEARCH FINDINGS: We examined the nature of association between toddler negative affectivity (NA) and later academic achievement by testing early childhood executive function (EF) as a mediator that links children's temperament and their performance on standardized math and reading assessments. One hundred eighty-four children (93 boys, 91 girls) participated in our longitudinal study. Children's NA was measured at age 2 and EF at age 4. At age 6, academic achievement in reading and mathematics were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Results indicated that NA at age 2 negatively predicted EF at age 4, which positively predicted mathematics achievement and reading achievement at age 6. Age 4 EF mediated the relation between age 2 NA and age 6 academic achievement on both reading and math. These findings highlight the significance of considering both NA and EF in conversations about children's academic achievement. PRACTICE OR POLICY: For children with temperamentally high NA, focusing on efforts to enhance emotion regulation and EF during the preschool years may benefit their later mathematics and reading achievement.

Inclusion of a Mixed Condition Makes the Day/Night Task More Analogous to the Adult Stroop.

In a study with 4-year-old children, we added a mixed condition to the traditional day/night task to examine performance and response times for congruent and incongruent trials within the same condition. There were no differences in percentage correct performance between the incongruent and mixed conditions; however, children performed best on the congruent condition. EEG recordings showed differential patterns of frontal power and coherence suggesting increasing cognitive load from congruent to incongruent to mixed conditions. Our pattern of findings suggest that the mixed condition of the day/night Stroop task is a more appropriate child equivalent to the adult color-word Stroop task.