Frontal Alpha Asymmetry During Emotion Regulation in Mother-Infant Dyads: A hyperscanning study

• In Event: A Multimethod Symposium on Emotion Regulation from Infancy to Middle Childhood

Abstract

Parent-infant interactions are critical to development of emotion regulation (Hane & Fox, 2006). Much research on parent-infant interactions has focused on the reciprocal interaction quality called synchrony (Tronick, 1989), using both behavioral and physiological measures. Study of inter-brain synchrony within parent-infant dyads is just beginning and will provide insight into physiological processes underlying co-regulation. In this study, we used hyperscanning EEG to examine co-regulatory dynamics during an emotion regulation task and probed the role of maternal caregiving quality on these dynamics, which has a known impact on emotion regulation development.

EEG was recorded from 10 mother-infant dyads simultaneously during the Still Face Procedure (SFP). The SFP consisted of alternating play and still face episodes. During still face mothers are asked to be emotionally unavailable, which is stressful for mothers and infants. We measured frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) from dyads. The degree to which frontal alpha activity is relatively higher over right frontal cortex reflects greater regulation over approach and avoidance motivational processes (Gable et al., 2018). Maternal responsiveness was coded on the play segments, to provide a measure of maternal caregiving quality. Due to the small pilot sample results are descriptive.

We found infants and mothers exhibited a rightward shift in FAA over the course of SFP, which suggests that they were challenged to regulate their emotional state more as the task became increasing stressful (see Figure 1 A-B). Dyads with more responsive mothers exhibited more left frontal alpha activity than the dyads with the less responsive mothers. This suggests that the task was less stressful for dyads with a more responsive mother.

We also examined variability in FAA which reflects the stability with which active emotion control is engaged. Lower variability in FAA reflects greater stability, and higher variability less stability. Figure 2A-B shows variability in FAA over the course of SFP. For infants, variability in FAA increased (2A). These observations indicate less stability in emotional control over the course of SFP as the task becomes more stressful. Infants with more responsive mothers exhibited more variability during the still face segments whereas infants with less responsive mothers showed more variability during the play segments. For mothers, variability in FAA generally increased over the course of SFP but also systematically fluctuated, higher during play than still face (2B). This pattern was exaggerated for more responsive mothers. These results are consistent with the notion still face requires active control to maintain emotional unavailability. The especially high levels of variability for responsive mothers toward the end of SFP suggest being emotionally unavailable may be more challenging for them.

EEG allows for the study of the ongoing dynamic regulatory processes that shape emotion regulation development. This is the first study to use hyperscanning in an emotion regulatory context and sheds light on the co-regulatory origins of early emotion regulation development as it relates to maternal caregiving quality.

Authors

• Alana J Anderson, OMNI Institute
  Presenting Author

• Sammy Perone, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Amy Gartstein, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author