Attention Tasks at 8 Months Predict Social Fear at 12 Months

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Early attention biases for threat, noted in both orienting and disengagement, have been linked to the development of anxiety symptoms later in life (Bar-Haim, 2007). Attention to threat moderates the relations between early temperament and social withdrawal at 5 years of age (Perez-Edgar et al., 2011). Similarly, disengagement at 9 months predicts behavioral inhibition throughout toddlerhood and into adolescence (Perez-Edgar et al., 2010). However, we are still learning when and how these attention biases emerge, and when they become predictive of fearful behavior. Evidence suggests that attention biases to threat begin to develop as early as 7 months of age (Peltola et al., 2009) and predict social developmental outcomes by 24 and 48 months of age (Peltola et al., 2018). However, it is unclear whether early attention biases predict social behavior at the earliest emergence of fear, between 10-12 months of age.

We will use data from an ongoing longitudinal study of infants’ attention and temperament (N = 165). At 8 months, infants completed an infant version of an emotional overlap task. They were presented with one of three emotional facial expressions (neutral, angry, or happy) in the middle of a screen, immediately followed by a probe that simultaneously appeared to the left or right of the face. Latency to disengage from the angry face in the center will be used as a measure of attention bias to threat. At the 12-month time point, infants completed several behavioral tasks from the infant version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB; Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1999). We will use behavioral measures (frequency, duration, and intensity of behavioral fear and negative affect) from the stranger approach task in the Lab-TAB to index social fear. We will use the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ; Putnam et al., 2014) as an additional measure of temperament-related behaviors, including negative affect and social fear.

To test whether early attention bias for threat, specifically difficulty disengaging from threat, is related to later social fear, we will conduct a hierarchical linear regression with disengagement from angry faces at 8 months as the predictor variable and bodily fear and negative affect at 12 months as the outcome variables. Additionally, we will conduct a similar regression analysis with negative affect and social fear subscales from the IBQ as the outcome variables to further support our behavioral findings. Finally, to strengthen the interpretation of any findings, we will conduct a Pearson’s correlation between our behavioral findings (bodily fear and negative affect) and parent-reported measures (negative affect and social fear).

The results of this research provide a better understanding of early attentional biases and their role in socioemotional development. To date we have completed data collection, and behavioral coding for 36 out of 162 recorded 12-month lab visits. As such, we will have ample time to complete coding and data analysis prior to the conference.

Authors

• Laura Ann Bierstedt, Rutgers University - Newark
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Burris, University of Rutgers - Newark
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin A. Buss, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

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

• Vanessa Lobue, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author