2-177 - The Unfolding of Brain and Behavior Within Affective and Social Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In contemporary developmental science, neurophysiological measures are coupled with the development of a plethora of behavioral patterns from infancy through adolescence. Moreover, temperament and contextual experiences interact with brain development. The purpose of linking neurodevelopmental measures to behavior in infancy and childhood is to provide more objective assessments of development, as in many cases development precedes the underlying capacity formed and as abilities are formed so too is functioning in the corresponding neural substrate. In this paper session, the presenters will discuss affective and social neuroscience and how neurodevelopmental outcomes inform behavioral skills and processes across childhood. In the first paper, the presenter will discuss infant affective development and what we know and do not know about neurophysiological processes and the links between neurobiology, mother-infant affectionate relationships in the context of maternal depression, and individual variation in characteristics of temperament. The development of emotional and behavioral self-regulation will be discussed in the second presentation, as emotion regulation is pivotal in understanding socio-emotional development and has been intricately linked to early brain development. The third presentation will discuss the results of two studies in shy children, linking social emotions and brain development. Notably the findings suggest that individual variation in shyness and brain activation as well as stress-promoting contextual factors contribute predictably to the development of anxiety in children. Overall patterns of brain development inform developmental functions associated with temperament and context, lending support to the biopsychosocial theoretical models utilized across development.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Chair

• Nancy Aaron Jones, Florida Atlantic University

Discussant

• Tobias Grossmann, University of Virginia

Individual Presentations

• Concomitant brain and affective development in infancy - Presenting Author: Nancy Aaron Jones, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Krystal D. Mize, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Aliza Sloan, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Jamayne Potts, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Martin, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Jillian Hardin, Florida Atlantic University; Non-Presenting Author: Melannie Platt, Florida Atlantic University

• Brain development in early self-regulation - Presenting Author: Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Tech; Non-Presenting Author: Kirby Deater-Deckard, University Massachusetts; Non-Presenting Author: Richard A. Ashley, Virginia Tech; Non-Presenting Author: Yu Zhou, Virginia Tech

• Brain development in shy children: Temperament, context, and anxiety - Presenting Author: Cheryl Chow, McMaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Kristie L. Poole, McMaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Louis Schmidt, McMaster University