Poster #15 - Infant Brain Rhythms in Parent-Infant Play

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Integrative Statement

It is well known that visual and manual object exploration shape infants’ perceptual and cognitive abilities (Perone & Spencer, 2013b; Sigman, 1976, Needham, 2001). Caregivers play an important role in advancing infant play by eliciting and maintaining their attention on objects (Deák et al., 2000), and scaffolding toward more advanced play (Belsky et al., 1980). While the impact of this everyday parent-infant interaction on cognitive and behavioral development is well-studied, little is known about how these exchanges influence the infant brain. To shed new light on the impact of parent-infant play on the early organization of the brain, we used EEG to investigate the link between individual differences in infants’ brain activity at baseline and while engaged in a play episode with their parent.

EEG was recorded from 59 6- to 12-month-old infants at baseline and while playing with a toy with their mother. In the baseline condition infants watched a 60 s video. The play condition involved 90 s of mother-infant play with a toy. Figure 1 shows absolute alpha (6-9 Hz) power at baseline and while playing. Between baseline and play there is a significant reduction in absolute alpha power across the scalp, t = 2.91, p = .005. Power provides a measure of the number of neurons firing in synchrony at that time. A reduction in alpha power indicates increased cortical activity (Klimesch, 2012). Infant alpha at 6-9 Hz is well-studied in the infant literature. To advance our understanding of the early organization of the brain, we also examined changes in power from baseline to play in other frequency bands. For example, Figure 2 shows absolute power in gamma (30-50 Hz). There is a significant decrease in gamma power between baseline and play across the scalp, t = 3.12, p = .003. The higher levels of gamma during baseline relative to play might reflect the attention-grabbing nature of the dynamic video infants watched during baseline.

The behavior of infants and their mothers was related to brain activity as well. For example, baseline alpha over the frontal region significantly predicted the proportion of the task that infants were looking and touching the toy simultaneously,ß = -.30, t (48) = -2.19, p = .03. However, the proportion of time the mother is touching the toy during the task and their support for the infant’s object exploration together predict the infant’s exploration above and beyond the baseline alpha, ∆R2 = .18, ∆F(2, 46) = 5.451, p = .007. The infant’s exploration behaviors are predicted not only by their baseline frontal EEG power, but also by the support and behaviors of their mother, F(2, 46) = 5.54, p = .002, R2 = .26. This research has implications for our basic scientific understanding of infant brain and behavioral development and parent-driven early interventions.

Authors

• Alana Anderson, Washington State University
  Presenting Author

• Sammy Perone, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Gartstein, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Youatt, Penn State
  Non-Presenting Author