A Multimethod Symposium on Emotion Regulation from Infancy to Middle Childhood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Emotion regulation undergoes major developmental changes from infancy through middle childhood. Emotion regulation involves complex physiological, behavioral, and social processes that work together in the context of real-world stressors. Our mechanistic understanding of how these systems work and develop together is still a work in progress and can be better understood by harnessing existing physiological tools and applying them in innovative ways to address new questions in new contexts. This symposium unites three papers demonstrating the use of current physiological tools and advanced methodology to break new ground in the study of emotion regulation and its development. The first paper describes a detailed examination of the rate, shape, and timing of change in micro-longitudinal psychophysiology, showing how infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during a social fear task relates to individual differences in infant soothability. The second paper describes neural synchrony using electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning to examine neural dynamics of co-regulation in mother-infant dyads as the emotion regulatory demands of a task increase. The third paper describes relations between cortical thickness measured via MRI and parent reported emotion regulation in children from ages 3 to 9 years. The discussant will address advances made in understanding mechanisms of emotion regulation by use of physiological methodologies to consider new questions. The discussant will also identify theoretical and methodological barriers and next steps for progress to be made on these fronts.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Chair

• Alana J Anderson, OMNI Institute

Discussant

• Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Individual Presentations

• In a Matter of Seconds: Comparative Modeling Of 8-Month-Old RSA During A Social Fear Task - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Youatt, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Anna M Zhou, University of Utah; Non-Presenting Author: Vanessa Lobue, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Kristin A. Buss, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Koraly Elisa Perez-Edgar, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Frontal Alpha Asymmetry During Emotion Regulation in Mother-Infant Dyads: A hyperscanning study - Presenting Author: Alana J Anderson, OMNI Institute; Non-Presenting Author: Sammy Perone, Washington State University; Non-Presenting Author: Maria Amy Gartstein, Washington State University

• Exploring Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation in Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Arcadia Ewell, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Tamara Lynn Allard, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Morgan Botdorf, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland - College Park