EEG Correlates of Anxiety Risk from 8-to-18-Months are associated with Mother-Infant Affective Concordance at 8-Months

• In Event: Biopsychosocial processes in early development: Using large-scale longitudinal studies to uncover interacting developmental mechanisms

Abstract

In typical development, attunement between caregiver and child may act as a conduit for the intergenerational transmission of traits and behaviors. In the case of anxiety, parental anxiety is associated with an elevated risk for child anxiety. Distinct parenting behaviors marked by over-protectiveness and intrusiveness can potentiate risk, mediated by the extent to which children observe and internalize parental behaviors, which may be captured by parent-child affective concordance. We investigated mother-infant behavioral affective concordance at 8mos and infant resting EEG longitudinally to examine relations with delta-beta coupling and alpha asymmetry over time. Delta-beta coupling captures the coordinated activity between subcortical and cortical brain systems involved in emotion regulation. Over-coupling is linked to a rigid behavioral phenotype and increased anxiety risk. Alpha asymmetry captures underlying motivations to withdraw (increased right asymmetry) and approach (increased left asymmetry) and is also associated with anxiety (right asymmetry). Families were drawn from a multisite longitudinal study examining infant temperament and attention in a diverse community sample. Mother-infant pairs engaged in 5-min interactions at 8mos. Affect for mother and infant was coded independently, and then synced for concordance. EEG measures were derived from 4 minutes of rest recorded at 8, 12, 18, and 24mos. Asymmetry was derived from relative alpha power in frontal sites, with delta-beta coupling derived from time series modeling at central sites. From the larger sample (N = 357), coding is complete for the first 100 mother-child dyads. EEG data are available for infants at 8 (N=94), 12 (N=81), and 18mos (N=89). Multilevel models captured mother-infant concordance over the course of the 5-min interaction at 8mos. Growth models for the neural variables (from 8 to 18 months) were used to extract the growth slope, separately, for frontal asymmetry and central delta-beta coupling. Slopes were then added to the multilevel model capturing concordance to examine the extent to which average and time-dependent mother-infant concordance at 8mos predicted developmental trajectories of EEG correlates. Any interaction between mother affect-child affect concordance and growth slope can be interpreted as concordance predicting change in neural variables over time. Average affective concordance was significant and positive across the sample (B=0.42, p=.001). Concurrently, mother-infant affective concordance was weaker for infants with heightened Delta-Beta coupling at Central regions (B=-1.04, p=.041). Affective concordance was weaker for infants with right asymmetry. Mother-infant dyads characterized by increases in affective concordance had infants with increasing trajectories of Central region delta-beta coupling from 8-18mos. Region of significance analyses indicated that mother-infant affective concordance that became weaker and decoupled predicted a linear decrease in frontal alpha asymmetry, suggesting a developmental shift towards right asymmetry. Dyads with increases in affective concordance had a developmental shift towards left asymmetry. Individual differences in mother-child interactions may influence broad patterns of neural development. These patterns, in turn, may lay the developmental foundation for early psychopathology risk and later emergence of anxiety-specific symptoms.

Authors

• Koraly Elisa Perez-Edgar, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Berenice Anaya, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Vanessa LoBue, Rutgers University

• Kristin A. Buss, Pennsylvania State University, University Park