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Delta-beta correlation predicts adaptive child emotion regulation concurrently and two years later
Abstract
Emotion regulation (ER), the ability to flexibly monitor and modify emotions, is related to positive adjustment throughout the lifespan. Biological indexes of ER in childhood that predict behavior are valuable for clinical applications and our understanding of affective neurodevelopment. Delta-beta correlation (DBC), or the coupling between resting state slow-wave (delta) and fast-wave (beta) neural oscillations derived from EEG, may be a metric of the functional coherence between subcortical and cortical neural circuitry implicated in ER. Yet, little is understood about how DBC corresponds to observed ER during emotional challenges. To address this question, in the present study, resting-state EEG was recorded to generate DBC when children were 5 to 7 years old (T1) and again two years later (T2). Children also completed two emotionally challenging behavioral tasks [delay of gratification (DoG) task and waiting task (WT)] from which observed ER strategies were subsequently coded. Results showed that higher DBC was associated with greater use of adaptive, and relatively active, ER strategies. Specifically, higher frontal DBC at T1 longitudinally predicted greater use of the ER strategy alternative activity engagement and greater parent-reported positive ER at T2. These findings add to growing evidence supporting the use of resting state DBC as a neurophysiological index of ER with clinically and developmentally relevant predictive power.
... Resting-state delta-beta coupling is thought to reflect functional coherence between emotional/bottom-up (i.e., delta) and cognitive/top-down (i.e., beta) neural systems, specifically the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, respectively (Schutter & Knyazev, 2012). Relatively low delta-beta coupling may reflect low coherence between emotion-generating and cognitive control regions and has been associated with fewer observed emotion regulation behaviors in children (Myruski et al., 2022), as well as elevated anxiety in adults (Morillas-Romero et al., 2015;Putman, 2011). In contrast, relatively high delta-beta coupling has been associated with temperamental risk for social anxiety in children and adults (Knyazev et al., 2006;Poole & Schmidt, 2020;van Peer et al., 2008) as well as elevated social anxiety in older children (Anaya et al., 2021). ...
... Prior work (Babkirk et al., 2016) suggests that those who prefer digital media use to communicate emotions also evidence emotion regulation vulnerabilities, which yields the possible interpretation that habitual preference for digital media over face-to-face contexts may relate to emotion regulation difficulties. Thus, the current study leveraged deltabeta coupling, as a neurophysiological correlate of emotion regulation (Myruski et al., 2022;Phelps et al., 2016). Since high delta-beta coupling has been associated with both temperamental risk for social anxiety as well as social anxiety symptoms in youth (e.g., Anaya et al., 2021), we focus on high coupling as the target vulnerability in the current study. ...
... We averaged across eyes-open and eyes-closed trials before proceeding to the next step. 2 Subsequently, frequency band power was averaged across electrode sites (separately for delta and beta) located in the frontal region (F3/Fz/F4) (Myruski et al., 2022;Poole & Schmidt, 2020;. Natural log (ln) transformations were then performed to reduce skewness. ...
Adolescence is a period of profound biological and social-emotional development during which social anxiety symptoms commonly emerge. Over the past several decades, the social world of teens has been transformed by pervasive digital media use (e.g., social media, messaging apps), highlighting the urgent need to examine links between digital media use and mental health. Prior work suggests that a preference to use digital media to communicate emotions, rather than face-to-face contexts, is associated with emotion regulation vulnerabilities. Difficulties with emotion regulation are a hallmark of elevated anxiety, and the maturation of frontal-subcortical circuitry underlying emotion regulation may make adolescents especially vulnerable to the possible detrimental effects of digital media use. The current study leveraged an emerging neurophysiological correlate of emotion regulation, delta-beta coupling, which captures cortical-subcortical coherence during resting state. We test links among digital media use preferences, delta-beta coupling, and anxiety symptoms with a sample of 80 adolescents (47 females; 33 males) ages 12–15 years (M = 13.9, SD = 0.6) (80% White, 2% Black/African American, 16% more than one race, 2% Hispanic/Latine). Youth had their EEG recorded during 6 min of resting-state baseline from which delta-beta coupling was generated. Youth self-reported their social anxiety symptoms and preferences for digital media use vs face-to-face modalities. Greater digital media use preferences for both positive and negative social-emotional communication were associated with elevated social anxiety symptoms indirectly through high delta-beta coupling. This suggests that neural regulatory imbalance may be a pathway through which adolescents’ habitual preferences for digital media use over face-to-face communication relate to elevated social anxiety.
... These findings are likely to suggest delta-beta correlation as a neurobiological index of adaptive regulatory processes. Indeed, this hypothesis has been further validated by a recent longitudinal study, showing that higher delta-beta correlation during resting state when children were 5-7 years old was associated with greater use of adaptive, and relatively active, emotion regulation strategies in the same children two years later (Myruski et al., 2022). However, other findings seem to support delta-beta correlation being associated with maladaptive regulatory processes. ...
... A larger delta-beta AAC was observed in the low trait anxiety group relative to the high trait anxiety group across conditions. These findings are consistent with previous studies (Myruski et al., 2022;Poppelaars et al., 2018;Putman, 2011), suggesting that the functional significance of delta-beta correlation is related to adaptive emotion regulation. For example, higher delta-beta correlation has been found to be related to low trait social anxiety during stress (Poppelaars et al., 2018), as well as to low trait anxiety during rest (Putman, 2011). ...
... Although our findings are in line with some of these findings, there is a possibility that the patterns and functional significance of delta-beta correlation differ in terms of the type and levels of anxiety-related psychopathology. Secondly, different approaches to assess delta-beta correlation have been recruited, including within-and between-subjects measures (Harrewijn et al., 2016;Myruski et al., 2022;Poole & Schmidt, 2020;Poppelaars et al., 2018). Even within studies using the same measure, the specific methods of preprocessing data and calculating the correlation differ (Myruski et al., 2022;Poppelaars et al., 2018). ...
... In the context of typical development, greater levels of DBC may be beneficial for adaptive neural regulatory processes and the use of effective ER strategies during emotional challenging contexts (Myruski et al., 2022). Here, increased communication between the cortical areas involved in top-down regulation and the subcortical systems linked to emotional processes may work to deploy active ER strategies (i.e., engagement in behaviors unrelated to the task at hand). ...
... Additionally, while the BIS and temperamental BI are conceptually similar, the BIS assesses sensitivity to punishment and avoidance motivation (Gray, 1981), while temperamental BI is conceptualized as a trait associated with fear and wariness in response to novelty and unfamiliar contexts or people (Kagan et al., 1984;Fox et al., 2005). With regard to our social anxiety findings, there is research to linking greater DBC with lower social anxiety levels (Myruski et al., 2022;Poppelaars et al., 2018). ...
... The tendency to rapidly engage automatic orienting responses heightens risk for anxiety in BI children . However, among low-BI adolescents where this tendency may not be present, increased DBC may reflect adaptive regulation around stressful situations and mitigate SAD symptoms (Myruski et al., 2022). The interaction between BI and DBC was seen at both the first timepoint after the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (T1) and was still evident 6 months later (T6), which may speak to the importance of con-sidering elevated DBC in the maintenance of anxiety, particularly social anxiety among high-BI adolescents who may show less effective adaptation to stressful life events over time. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented changes and uncertainty to the daily lives of youth. The range of adjustment in light of a near-universal experience of COVID restrictions highlights the importance of identifying factors that may render some individuals more susceptible to heightened levels of anxiety during stressful life events than others. Two risk factors to consider are temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI) and difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). As such, the current paper focused BI collected prior to COVID, because of its developmental link to anxiety, and ER, as difficulties may be associated with differences in anxiety. We examined a neurocognitive marker of ER processes, delta-beta coupling (DBC). The current paper had two goals: 1) examine BI in relation to COVID-related worry and social anxiety experienced during the pandemic, and 2) explore the role of individual differences in early DBC on the relation between BI and anxiety outcomes 6 months apart during COVID-19, (n=86; T1 Mage=15.95, SD=1.73; T6 Mage=16.43, SD=1.73). We found support for the moderating role of DBC in the relation between BI levels and SAD symptom severity during the pandemic. Here, high BI was predictive of increased SAD symptom levels in adolescents with stronger DBC.
... Consistent with this, greater delta-beta coupling has been associated with greater behavioral inhibition (Poole et al., 2020;van Peer et al., 2008), anxiety (Anaya et al., 2021), and dysregulated fear (Najjar & Brooker, 2017;Phelps et al., 2016) in youth, adolescents, and adults. Interestingly, however, higher baseline delta beta coupling in healthy children has also been associated with increased use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies at baseline and 2 years later (Myruski et al., 2022), suggesting individual differences in delta-beta coupling may play a role in the development or maintenance of psychopathologies. ...
... This also provided greater reliability with CGI severity and improvement ratings because of being able to reference each participant's prior severity. Finally, using 1-second segments may not be ideal for capturing full cycles within the canonical 0.5-4 Hz delta band, but using 0.5 Hz as the minimum frequency was done to maintain consistency with existing delta-beta coupling literature across the lifespan (Brooker et al., 2022;Miskovic & Schmidt, 2009;Myruski et al., 2022;Najjar & Brooker, 2017;Sriranjan et al., 2022). A 0.5-second segment overlap and a 50% Hamming window were used to mitigate the amount of power lost with each cycle. ...
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in treating adolescent depressive symptoms but with variable treatment responses. Heterogeneity in treatment outcomes may be due in part to individual differences in cognitive and emotional processes in depressed adolescents, and there is a need to identify biomarkers associated with symptoms and treatment outcomes. There has been growing interest in leveraging electroencephalography (EEG) data to examine correspondence between multiple frequency bands, and delta-beta coupling in particular is thought to underlie emotion regulation and offers a promising biomarker in adolescent depression. In the present study, clinically depressed adolescents aged 14–18 years old (N = 54) completed 6 min of EEG at rest before and after a 16-session group CBT program. Analyses were focused on associations of pre- and posttreatment delta-beta coupling power with age, depressive symptoms, and clinician-rated severity at baseline and the end of treatment, and clinician-rated improvement. Results indicated that older adolescents showed lower delta-beta coupling than younger adolescents and girls showed higher coupling posttreatment. Greater delta-beta coupling before and after treatment was associated with greater clinician-rated severity. Surprisingly, greater pretreatment delta-beta coupling was associated with lower self-reported depressive symptoms with treatment. These results suggest that elevated delta-beta coupling, potentially reflecting more difficulty regulating emotions, is associated with gender and age in adolescents with depression and may be related to greater severity and poorer treatment outcomes, but replication in larger samples is needed.
... These findings are likely to suggest delta-beta correlation as a neurobiological index ofadaptive regulatory processes. Indeed, this hypothesis has been further validated by a recent longitudinal study, showing that higher delta-beta AAC during resting state when children were 5-7 years old was associated with greater use of adaptive, and relatively active, emotion regulation strategies in the same children two years later (Myruski et al., 2022). However, other findings seem to support delta-beta AAC being associated with maladaptive regulatory processes. ...
... Lower parietal delta-beta AAC was observed in the high trait anxiety group relative to the low trait anxiety group across conditions. These findings are consistent with previous studies (Myruski et al., 2022;Poppelaars et al., 2018;Putman, 2011), suggesting that the functional significance of delta-beta AAC is related to adaptive emotion regulation. For example, lower delta-beta AAC has been found to be related to low trait social anxiety during stress (Poppelaars et al., 2018), as well as low trait anxiety during rest (Putman, 2011). ...
The anticipation of oncoming threats is emotionally challenging and related to anxiety. The current study aimed to investigate the neural regulatory processes during the anticipatory preparations in stressful situations in relation to trait anxiety, especially in an uncertainty-related stressful situation. To this end, we measured within-subject delta-beta amplitude-amplitude correlation (AAC) and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) with electroencephalography using a well-defined stress-inducing paradigm in 28 high-trait-anxiety (HTA) and 29 low-trait-anxiety (LTA) college students. Specifically, we included certain, uncertain, and no threat conditions, as well as a resting state. Results showed a generally larger parietal delta-beta AAC in the LTA group relative to the HTA group, supporting the hypothesis that delta-beta AAC reflects the efficiency of stress regulation and the compromised effect of trait anxiety. An increased delta-beta AAC was also found under the (un)certain threat conditions at the frontal site and uniquely under the uncertain threat condition at the parietal site relative to the resting state, indicating stress-related and especially uncertainty-related mobilization of regulatory activity. The investigation of delta-beta PAC revealed similar patterns. That is, a tendency towards a larger frontal delta-beta PAC in the LTA group relative to the HTA group, as well as increased delta-beta PAC under the (un)certain threat conditions at the parietal site, and at the frontal site under the uncertain threat condition only, relative to the resting state. These findings demonstrate a general condition-independent decreasing effect of trait anxiety in mobilizing neural regulatory activity, as well as an increasing effect of stressful situations, especially for uncertain threats.
... Behavioral variation in attentional (Morillas-Romero et al., 2015) and cognitive (Riddle et al., 2021) control further support these relations. Among children, Myruski et al. (2022) reported that stronger, frontal delta-beta coupling was concurrently associated with more adaptive emotion regulation strategies in 6-to 9-year-old-olds, and that stronger coupling also predicted more adaptive emotion regulation strategies two years later. ...
... A second pattern that diverged from prototypical delta-beta coupling trajectories was an accelerated decrease over time (in contrast to positive and stable trajectories) as a function of fluctuations above usual maternal anxiety levels (Frontal) and higher and stable maternal anxiety levels (Parietal), and fluctuations below usually moderate as well as higher anxiety levels (Parietal). To the extent that decoupling and negative coupling of delta-beta activity are indicative of disinhibited states (Miskovic & Schmidt, 2009), less efficient emotion regulation (Myruski et al., 2022), and lower attentional control (Morillas-Romero et al., 2015), this finding aligns with previous work suggesting that maternal anxiety levels may disrupt contingencies in mother-infant interactions (Crugnola et al., 2016), critical for emotional socialization and associated neural systems (Kopala-Sibley, et al., 2020). ...
Cross-frequency coupling between delta and beta EEG power may reflect dynamic crosstalk between limbic and cortical regions underlying emotion regulation. Stronger, positive delta-beta coupling is associated with childhood anxiety and fearful temperament, potentially tracking dysregulation. However, most studies have reported on adult populations or cross-sectional investigations of delta-beta coupling. Thus, the development of delta-beta coupling remains poorly understood. We leverage a large sample (N =201) with repeated assessments of infant EEG, infant negative affect, and maternal anxiety at 8, 12, 18, and 24 months to model developmental trajectories of delta-beta coupling and associations with average and visit-to-visit fluctuations in maternal anxiety and infant negative affect over time. Multilevel models of 34,148 second-by-second observations of delta and beta power indicated that delta-beta coupling gradually decreased from 8 to 24 months at Central and Parietal regions but remained stable at the Frontal region. Extreme levels of infant negative affect (low and high) accompanied by fluctuations over time were associated with delta-beta decoupling or asynchrony. Fluctuations in maternal anxiety over time were associated with developmental trajectories that diverged from the prototypical sample trajectory. Overall, we show that delta-beta coupling trajectories are modulated by infant temperament and anxiety levels in the infants’ proximal environment.
... Delta-Beta Coupling (DBC) reflects the correlation between relative power in the delta and beta frequency bands of the EEG signal. Specifically, beta waves, associated with the cortex, are thought to reflect top-down cognitive processes whereas delta waves, linked to subcortical brain regions, are believed to reflect bottom-up emotional processes (Myruski et al. 2022). Research suggests that positive DBC is linked to communication between subcortical emotional centers and cortical regulatory systems (Knyazev and Slobodskaya 2003;Knyazev 2007), such that DBC may be a real-time indicator of brain processes related to emotion regulation (Anaya et al. 2021a). ...
Early indicators of anxiety risk can appear as early as infancy, informing developmental pathways in which individual differences in temperament elevate the likelihood of future anxiety disorders. Clarifying the mechanisms that connect these early biological predispositions to later anxiety offers a foundation for designing targeted early intervention and prevention efforts. In this chapter, we aim to describe the association between fearful temperament and the development of anxiety disorders, highlighting how the interplay between biological and environmental factors shape vulnerability to anxiety from early in life. We describe (a) fearful temperament as a potential marker for vulnerability to anxiety, (b) neural mechanisms underlying fearful temperament and anxiety through detection and regulation processes, (c) internal and external factors that moderate the association between fearful temperament and anxiety, focusing on attentional bias and parental factors to understand distinct etiological process.
... Beta frequency bands, which are associated with cognitive processes like motor learning and working memory, also showed significant changes (Espenhahn et al., 2019;Myruski et al., 2022;Schmidt et al., 2019;Spironelli et al., 2020). Excessive beta power has been linked to attention-related challenges. ...
Virtual reality (VR) video games, with their immersive and interactive features, can provide effective tools for studying cognitive functions and brain neuroplasticity. This study investigated the effects of immersive environments and game types on attention using electroencephalography (EEG). EEG data were collected during five minutes of rest and about twenty minutes of gameplay with Casual Social and Rhythm Exergames. Data were analyzed for power indices and network connectivity across resting, Casual Social, and Rhythm Exergaming states. Power indices were examined for attention-related changes, while connectivity explored brain region interactions during attention allocation. Results showed that Rhythm Exergames elicited higher theta/alpha EEG values, indicating increased attention compared to Casual Social Games. Enhanced connectivity in alpha and beta1 frequency bands was observed between bilateral temporal lobes during Rhythm Exergames, with decreased connectivity in frontal and occipital lobes, suggesting a focus on auditory attention, likely enhancing perceptual and auditory processing. These findings support the effect of VR video games on attention regulation, highlighting their use as potential tools for cognitive enhancement and rehabilitation.
... While the majority of work on DBC has been with adult samples (e.g., Knyazev, 2007;Putman, 2011;Schutter & Knyazev, 2012), studies with infants and children suggest that high DBC, representing potential over-control by cortical regions, is associated with dysregulated fear (Phelps et al., 2016), behavioral inhibition (Poole et al., 2020), and social anxiety (Anaya et al., 2021). However, among school-aged children, one study (Anaya et al., 2021;9 -12 year olds) also found that behaviorally inhibited children showed lower DBC compared to non-inhibited children, and another (Myruski et al., 2022;5 -7 year olds) demonstrated that low DBC concurrently and longitudinally (2 years later) predicted lower parent-reported and observed emotion regulation. This suggests that there may be regulatory vulnerabilities at both the low and high ends of the DBC spectrum, with low DBC reflecting potentially insufficient coordination of emotion regulation circuitry, and high DBC reflecting imbalance weighted toward cortical over-control. ...
Social anxiety disorder is among the most common forms of pediatric psychopathology. Social anxiety symptoms peak in adolescence and are associated with significant impairment encompassing familial, social, and academic domains. Considerable heterogeneity in symptomatology, risk factors, and biological underpinnings exists across anxious adolescents, which has implications for (1) understanding the developmental etiology of who is at highest risk, (2) identifying individual patterns of symptom course. In particular, fearful temperament is the best early-emerging predictor of the development of anxiety symptoms, and attention bias to threat and other neurobiological processes have been implicated as mechanisms but it is unknown for whom and to what degree these factors impair functioning and what the developmental course looks like across adolescence. The current study employs a longitudinal design capturing a wide range of anxiety symptom presentation (i.e., low risk, temperamental risk, and clinical anxiety). We follow adolescents (N = 195) annually across the transitions to middle- and high-school – ages 13, 14, 15, & 16 years. We implement a rich assessment of anxiety symptoms, temperament, attention bias, endocrine (cortisol), physiological (RSA) and neurobiological (EEG, ERP) processes. We aim to (1) characterize a biobehavioral (i.e., biased attention, neuroendocrine, physiological, and neural processes) pattern associated with fearful temperament and social anxiety in adolescence, (2) characterize trajectories of social anxiety in adolescence, with an emphasis on linking fearful temperament and anxiety across development, and (3) examine how social contextual factors, sex, and pubertal development shape social anxiety trajectories and moderated links between temperament and SA.
... Enhanced experiences of affect and emotionality (Ernst, 2014;Gruskin et al., 2020;Pfeifer & Allen, 2021) are one of the central trademarks of the EA neurodevelopmental period. Learning how to flexibly monitor, modify, and navigate the tsunami of "big" emotions in healthy, proactive ways (otherwise known as the development of "emotion regulation") (Myruski et al., 2021) represents a central task achieved en route to adulthood (Guyer et al., 2016;Pfeifer & Blakemore, 2012;Pfeifer & Peake, 2012). Successful outcomes rely on EA learning how to regulate and make effective decisions in the face of these emotions. ...
Emerging adulthood (EA; ages 18-25) is characterized by socioemotional and neurodevelopmental challenges. Cannabis is a widely used substance among EAs, and hazardous use may increase risk for sustained use patterns and related health consequences. Research shows differential increases in hazardous use by objective as well as subjective measures of social inequality, with more concerning trajectories for youth with greater experiences of social inequality. Learning how to flexibly monitor and modify emotions in proactive ways (i.e., emotion regulation) is a central developmental task navigated during the EA window. Challenges to and with emotion regulation processes can contribute to the emergence of mental health symptoms during EA, including hazardous cannabis use. In this perspective, we highlight emotion dysregulation and social inequality as two critical factors that interact to either buffer against or exacerbate cannabis use during the EA period, noting critical gaps in the literature that merit additional research. We recommend novel methods and longitudinal designs to help clarify how dynamic cognition-emotion interplay predicts trajectories of negative emotional experiences and cannabis use in EA.
Stress is ubiquitous in daily life. Subcortical and cortical regions closely interact to respond to stress. Delta-beta cross-frequency coupling (CFC), believed to signify communication between different brain areas, can serve as a neural signature underlying the heterogeneity in stress responses. Nevertheless, the role of cross-frequency coupling in stress prediction has not received sufficient attention. To examine the predictive role of resting state delta-beta CFC across the whole scalp, we obtained amplitude-amplitude coupling (AAC) and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) from 4-minute resting state EEG of seventy-three healthy participants. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was administered on a separate day to induce stress. Salivary cortisol and heart rate were recorded to measure stress responses. Utilizing cluster-based permutation analysis, the results showed that delta-beta AAC was positively correlated with cortisol increase magnitude (cluster t = 26.012, p = .020) and cortisol AUCi (cluster t = 23.039, p = .022) over parietal-occipital areas, which means that individuals with a stronger within-subject AAC demonstrated a greater cortisol response. These results suggest that AAC could be a valuable biomarker for predicting neuroendocrine activity under stress. However, no association between PAC and stress responses was found. Additionally, we did not detect the predictive effect of power in the delta or beta frequency bands on stress responses, suggesting that delta-beta AAC provides unique insights beyond single-band power. These findings enhance our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanism underpinning individual differences in stress responses and offer promising biomarkers for stress assessment and the detection of stress-related disorders.
People high in rejection sensitivity (RS) anxiously expect rejection and are at risk for interpersonal and personal distress. Two studies examined the role of self-regulation through strategic attention deployment in moderating the link between RS and maladaptive outcomes. Self-regulation was assessed by the delay of gratification (DG) paradigm in childhood. In Study 1, preschoolers from the Stanford University community who participated in the DG paradigm were assessed 20 years later. Study 2 assessed low-income, minority middle school children on comparable measures. DG ability buffered high-RS people from interpersonal difficulties (aggression, peer rejection) and diminished well-being (e.g., low self-worth, higher drug use). The protective effect of DG ability on high-RS children's self-worth is explained by reduced interpersonal problems. Attentional mechanisms underlying the interaction between RS and strategic self-regulation are discussed.
Background
Variation in EEG‐derived delta–beta coupling has recently emerged as a potential neural marker of emotion regulation, providing a novel and noninvasive method for assessing a risk factor for anxiety. However, our understanding of delta–beta coupling has been limited to group‐level comparisons, which provide limited information about an individual’s neural dynamics.
Methods
The present study used multilevel modeling to map second‐by‐second coupling patterns between delta and beta power. Specifically, we examined how inter‐ and intraindividual delta–beta coupling patterns changed as a function of social anxiety symptoms and temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI).
Results
We found that stronger inter‐ and intraindividual delta–beta coupling were both associated with social anxiety. In contrast, the high‐BI group showed weaker coupling relative to the non‐BI group, a pattern that did not emerge when analyzing continuous scores of BI.
Conclusions
In characterizing inter‐ and intraindividual coupling across the sample, we illustrate the utility of examining neural processes across levels of analysis in relation to psychopathology to create multilevel assessments of functioning and risk.
Most research treats shyness as a homogenous phenomenon when examining its correlates and consequences, which limits the identification of specific groups of shy children who may be at differential risk for maladaptive social outcomes. Here, we examined whether different types of shyness were uniquely associated with social adjustment and physiological stress reactivity in school-age children (n = 92; Mage = 7.47 years; SD = 2.23 years). During the completion of a videotaped self-presentation task, behavioral measures of positivity and avoidance were coded in order to derive shyness groups (i.e., positive shy: high positivity and high avoidance; negative shy: low positivity and high avoidance; and non-shy: low avoidance). Further, during the self-presentation task, direct observation of activity level was coded, and salivary cortisol reactivity to the social stressor was measured. We also collected parent- and teacher report of children’s social anxiety, and parent report of children’s sociability. We found that negative shy children were more socially anxious according to both parent- and teacher report, less sociable, and they also displayed reduced activity levels during the speech than the positive shy and non-shy children. Positive shy and non-shy children were indistinguishable across all measures of social behavior. Shyness group had no influence on children’s cortisol stress reactivity. Our findings provide support for heterogeneity in the expression of shyness, and highlight that not all shy children experience poor social adjustment. Expression of positivity during socially threatening situations may have an adaptive social function in shy school-age children, as it is associated with reduced social anxiety and increased sociability.
In this meta-analytic and narrative review, we examine several overarching issues related to the study of coping, emotion regulation, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence, including the conceptualization and measurement of these constructs. We report a quantitative meta-analysis of 212 studies (N = 80,850 participants) that measured the associations between coping and emotion regulation with symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Within the meta-analysis we address the association of broad domains of coping and emotion regulation (e.g., total coping, emotion regulation), intermediate factors of coping and emotion regulation (e.g., primary control coping, secondary control coping), and specific coping and emotion regulation strategies (e.g., emotional expression, cognitive reappraisal) with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. For cross-sectional studies, which made up the majority of studies included, we examine 3 potential moderators: age, measure quality, and single versus multiple informants. Finally, we separately consider findings from longitudinal studies as these provide stronger tests of the effects. After accounting for publication bias, findings indicate that the broad domain of emotion regulation and adaptive coping and the factors of primary control coping and secondary control coping are related to lower levels of symptoms of psychopathology. Further, the domain of maladaptive coping, the factor of disengagement coping, and the strategies of emotional suppression, avoidance, and denial are related to higher levels of symptoms of psychopathology. Finally, we offer a critique of the current state of the field and outline an agenda for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record
Dysregulated fear, or the persistence of high levels of fear in low-threat contexts, is an early risk factor for the development of anxiety symptoms. Previous work has suggested both propensities for over-control and under-control of fearfulness as risk factors for anxiety problems, each of which may be relevant to observations of dysregulated fear. Given difficulty disentangling over-control and under-control through traditional behavioral measures, we used delta-beta coupling to begin to understand the degree to which dysregulated fear may reflect propensities for over- or under-control. We found that toddlers who showed high levels of dysregulated fear evidenced greater delta-beta coupling at frontal and central electrode sites as preschoolers relative to children who were low in dysregulated fear. Importantly, these differences were not observed when comparisons were made based on fear levels in high threat contexts. Results suggest dysregulated fear may involve tendencies toward over-control at the neural level.
Despite burgeoning evidence linking early exposure to child maltreatment (CM) to deficits in self-regulation, the pathways to strong regulatory development in these children are not well understood, and significant heterogeneity is observed in their outcomes. Experiences of autonomy may play a key role in transmitting self-regulatory capacity across generations and help explain individual differences in maltreatment outcomes. In this study, we investigated multigenerational associations between Generation 1 (G1)–Generation 2 (G2) mothers' early experience of warmth and autonomy in relation to their own mothers and their Generation 3 (G3) children's autonomic physiological regulation in CM (
n
= 85) and non-CM (
n
= 128) families. We found that G2 mothers who recalled greater autonomy in their childhood relationship with their G1 mothers had preschool-age G3 children with higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia at baseline when alone while engaged in individual challenge tasks, during social exchanges with their mother in joint challenge tasks, and during the portions of the strange situation procedure when the mother was present. Although no clear mediators of this association emerged, multigenerational links among G1–G2 relations, maternal representations of her child, child behavior, and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia differed by maltreatment status, thus possibly representing important targets for future research and intervention.
The late positive potential (LPP), which is reduced following the use of reappraisal, is a potential neurosignature for emotion regulation capacity. This sensitivity of the LPP to reappraisal is rarely studied in children. We tested whether, in 26 typically developing seven- to nine-year-olds, LPP amplitudes were reduced following reappraisal and whether this effect varied with age and anxiety. For the full sample, LPPs were not significantly reduced following reappraisal. As predicted, reductions in the LPP following reappraisal were greater for older children and those showing less anxiety. The utility of the LPP as a neurosignature for emotion regulatory capacity is discussed.
The current study aimed to explore whether self-reported attentional control (AC) and the attentional network functioning would predict spontaneous emotion downregulation after emotional induction. A total of 117 healthy volunteers were asked to continuously rate their discomfort while looking at affective pictures, as well as for a period of time after exposure. After controlling for trait anxiety, higher self-reported AC significantly predicted a greater spontaneous emotional downregulation after exposure to aversive pictures. Both higher self-reported AC and lower executive control network functioning (i.e., greater interference) predicted a faster spontaneous emotional downregulation after exposure to affectively neutral pictures. Results are discussed focusing on the relationship between AC and emotion regulation difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
This study examined parasympathetic physiology as a moderator of the effects of early adversity (i.e., child abuse and neglect) on children's inhibitory control. Children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed during a resting baseline, two joint challenge tasks with mother, and an individual frustration task. RSA assessed during each of the joint parent-child challenge tasks moderated the effects of child maltreatment (CM) status on children's independently-assessed inhibitory control. No moderation effect was found for RSA assessed at baseline or in the child-alone challenge task. Among CM-exposed children, lower RSA levels during the joint task predicted the lowest inhibitory control, whereas higher joint task RSA was linked to higher inhibitory control scores that were indistinguishable from those of non-CM children. Results are discussed with regard to the importance of considering context specificity (i.e., individual and caregiver contexts) in how biomarkers inform our understanding of individual differences in vulnerability among at-risk children. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol.
Although inhibited behavior problems are prevalent in childhood, relatively little is known about the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that predict a child's ability to regulate inhibited behavior during fear- and anxiety-provoking tasks. Inhibited behavior may be linked to both disruptions in avoidance-related processing of aversive stimuli and in approach-related processing of appetitive stimuli, but previous findings are contradictory and rarely integrate consideration of the socialization context. The current exploratory study used a novel combination of neurophysiological and observation-based methods to examine whether a neurophysiological measure sensitive to approach- and avoidance-oriented emotional processing, the late positive potential (LPP), interacted with observed approach- (promotion) and avoidance- (prevention) oriented parenting practices to predict children's observed inhibited behavior. Participants were 5- to 7-year-old (N = 32) typically-developing children (M = 75.72 months, SD = 6.01). Electroencephalography was continuously recorded while children viewed aversive, appetitive, or neutral images, and the LPP was generated to each picture type separately. Promotion and prevention parenting were observed during an emotional challenge with the child. Child inhibited behavior was observed during a fear and a social evaluation task. As predicted, larger LPPs to aversive images predicted more inhibited behavior during both tasks, but only when parents demonstrated low promotion. In contrast, larger LPPs to appetitive images predicted less inhibited behavior during the social evaluative task, but only when parents demonstrated high promotion; children of high promotion parents showing smaller LPPs to appetitive images showed the greatest inhibition. Parent-child goodness-of-fit and the LPP as a neural biomarker for emotional processes related to inhibited behavior are discussed.
Variations of the self-imposed delay-of-gratification situation in preschool were compared to determine when individual differences in this situation may predict aspects of cognitive and self-regulatory competence and coping in adolescence. Preschool children from a university community participated in experiments that varied features of the self-imposed delay situation. Experimental analyses of the cognitive–attentional processes that affect waiting in this situation helped identify conditions in which delay behavior would be most likely to reflect relevant cognitive and attentional competencies. As hypothesized, in those conditions, coherent patterns of statistically significant correlations were found between seconds of delay time in such conditions in preschool and cognitive and academic competence and ability to cope with frustration and stress in adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Describes 3 experiments with a total of 92 3-5 yr. olds. Exp. I compared the effects of external and cognitive distraction from reward objects on the length of time which Ss waited for a preferred delayed reward before forfeiting it for a less preferred immediate one. In accord with predictions from an extension of frustrative nonreward theory, Ss waited much longer for a preferred reward when they were distracted from the rewards. Exp. II demonstrated that only certain cognitive events (thinking "fun things") served as effective ideational distractors. Thinking "sad thoughts" produced short delay times, as did thinking about the rewards themselves. In Exp. III the delayed rewards were not physically available for direct attention during the delay period, and Ss' cognitive attention was manipulated by prior instructions. While Ss waited, cognitions about the rewards significantly reduced, rather than enhanced, the length of their delay of gratification. Overall, attentional and cognitive mechanisms which enhanced the salience of rewards shortened the length of voluntary delay, while distractions from the rewards, overtly or cognitively, facilitated delay. Results permit a reinterpretation of basic mechanisms in voluntary delay of gratification and self-control. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Explored the role of attentional processes in voluntary delay of reward by manipulating children's attention to the rewards for which they were waiting in a delay-of-gratification paradigm. 32 preschool children waited for a preferred but delayed reward while facing either the delayed reward, a less preferred but immediately available reward, both rewards, or no rewards. The dependent measure was the amount of time they waited for the preferred outcome before forfeiting it for the sake of the less desired but immediately available one. Results contradict predictions from psychodynamic theory and from speculations concerning self-instructions during time binding. Unexpectedly, but in accord with frustrative nonreward theory, voluntary waiting time was substantially increased when Ss could not attend to rewards during the waiting period. Implications are discussed for a theory of the development of delay of gratification. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose was to determine the degree to which experienced mental health professionals would judge particular CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR items as being consistent with particular DSM-IV categories. Child psychiatrists and psychologists who had published research on children's be-havioral/emotional problems rated the consistency of each CBCL, TRF, and YSR problem item with DSM categories that are potentially relevant to school-age children. The 22 raters came from 16 cultures. Items that were rated by at least 14 of the 22 (64%) raters as being very consistent with a diagnostic category were assigned to that category. After combining some categories that had overlaps in DSM criteria, we constructed scales for the following categories: Affective Problems (including Dysthymia and Major Depression); Anxiety Problems (including GAD, SAD, and Spe-cific Phobia); Somatic Problems (including Somatization and Somatoform); Attention Deficit/Hy-peractivity Problems (including Hyperactive-Impulsive and Inattentive types); Oppositional Defi-ant Problems, and Conduct Problems. For each instrument, a DSM-oriented scale comprises the items from that instrument that were rated as being very consistent with the respective diagnostic category. The scales are displayed on profiles for scoring children in relation to normative samples of peers. The profiles show raw scale scores (sum of the 0-1-2 ratings of items comprising a scale); T scores; percentiles; and cutpoints for normal, borderline, and clinical ranges. Windows software for scoring the profiles can provide comparisons among DSM-oriented scale scores obtained from up to 8 CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR forms per child.
The common approach to the multiplicity problem calls for controlling the familywise error rate (FWER). This approach, though, has faults, and we point out a few. A different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented. It calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses – the false discovery rate. This error rate is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise. Therefore, in problems where the control of the false discovery rate rather than that of the FWER is desired, there is potential for a gain in power. A simple sequential Bonferroni-type procedure is proved to control the false discovery rate for independent test statistics, and a simulation study shows that the gain in power is substantial. The use of the new procedure and the appropriateness of the criterion are illustrated with examples.
Research has shown that brain functions are realized by simultaneous oscillations in various frequency bands. In addition to examining oscillations in pre-specified bands, interactions and relations between the different frequency bandwidths is another important aspect that needs to be considered in unraveling the workings of the human brain and its functions. In this review we provide evidence that studying interdependencies between brain oscillations may be a valuable approach to study the electrophysiological processes associated with motivation and emotional states. Studies will be presented showing that amplitude-amplitude coupling between delta-alpha and delta-beta oscillations varies as a function of state anxiety and approach-avoidance-related motivation, and that changes in the association between delta-beta oscillations can be observed following successful psychotherapy. Together these studies suggest that cross-frequency coupling of brain oscillations may contribute to expanding our understanding of the neural processes underlying motivation and emotion.
Being able to wait is an essential part of self-regulation. In the present study, the authors examined the developmental course of changes in the latency to and duration of target-waiting behaviors by following 65 boys and 55 girls from rural and semirural economically strained homes from ages 18 months to 48 months. Age-related changes in latency to and duration of children's anger expressions and attention focus (e.g., self-initiated distraction) during an 8-min wait for a gift were found. On average, at 18 and 24 months of age, children were quick to react angrily and slower to shift attention away from the desired object than they were at later ages. Over time, children were quicker to distract themselves. By 36 months, distractions occurred before children expressed anger, and anger expressions were briefer. At 48 months, children typically made a quick bid to their mothers about having to wait before distracting themselves; on average, they did not appear angry until the latter half of the wait. Unexpectedly, children bid to their mothers as much at age 48 months as they had at 18 months; however, bids became less angry as children got older. Developmental changes in distraction and bidding predicted age-related changes in the latency to anger. Findings are discussed in terms of the neurocognitive control of attention around age 30 months, the limitations of children's self-regulatory efforts at age 48 months, and the importance of fostering children's ability to forestall, as well as modulate, anger.
Although functional links between emotion and action are implied in emotion regulation research, there is limited evidence that specific adaptive actions for coping with a challenge are more probable when certain negative emotions are expressed. The current study examined this question among 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 113; M age = 47.84 months, SD = 6.19). Emotion expressions and actions were observed during 2 challenging tasks: children waited for a gift while the mother worked, and children worked alone to retrieve a prize from a locked box with the wrong key. Angry and happy expressions, compared with sad expressions, were associated with more actions. These actions varied with the nature of the task, reflecting appreciation of situational appropriateness. In addition, when waiting with the mother, happiness was associated with the broadest range of actions, whereas when working alone on the locked box, anger was associated with the broadest range of actions. Results are discussed in terms of the adaptive function of negative emotions and in terms of functional and dimensional models of emotion. Findings have implications for the development of emotion regulation and social-emotional competence.
To function effectively, individuals must voluntarily postpone immediate gratification and persist in goal-directed behavior for the sake of later outcomes. The present research program analyzed the nature of this type of future-oriented self-control and the psychological processes that underlie it. Enduring individual differences in self-control were found as early as the preschool years. Those 4-year-old children who delayed gratification longer in certain laboratory situations developed into more cognitively and socially competent adolescents, achieving higher scholastic performance and coping better with frustration and stress. Experiments in the same research program also identified specific cognitive and attentional processes that allow effective self-regulation early in the course of development. The experimental results, in turn, specified the particular types of preschool delay situations diagnostic for predicting aspects of cognitive and social competence later in life.
People high in rejection sensitivity (RS) anxiously expect rejection and are at risk for interpersonal and personal distress. Two studies examined the role of self-regulation through strategic attention deployment in moderating the link between RS and maladaptive outcomes. Self-regulation was assessed by the delay of gratification (DG) paradigm in childhood. In Study 1, preschoolers from the Stanford University community who participated in the DG paradigm were assessed 20 years later. Study 2 assessed low-income, minority middle school children on comparable measures. DG ability buffered high-RS people from interpersonal difficulties (aggression, peer rejection) and diminished well-being (e.g., low self-worth, higher drug use). The protective effect of DG ability on high-RS children's self-worth is explained by reduced interpersonal problems. Attentional mechanisms underlying the interaction between RS and strategic self-regulation are discussed.
Recent findings showing that anxiety is associated with enhanced coupling of EEG rhythms imply higher information exchange between populations of neurons associated with different oscillatory systems. In this study, influence of uncertainty on alpha-delta anticorrelation and delta-beta coupling was studied in 39 subjects (27 females) aged 19 to 30 years who also filled out the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. A measure of alpha-delta anticorrelation showed trait-like properties being uniformly higher in high trait anxiety subjects independent of experimental manipulation. Contrariwise, delta-beta coupling appeared only in anxiogenic situation both in high and low anxiety subjects.
Recent studies suggest brain oscillations as a mechanism for cerebral integration. Such integration can exist across a number of functional domains, with different frequency rhythms associated with each domain. Here, evidence is summarized which shows that delta oscillations depend on activity of motivational systems and participate in salience detection. Theta oscillations are involved in memory and emotional regulation. Alpha oscillations participate in inhibitory processes which contribute to a variety of cognitive operations such as attention and memory. The importance of inhibitory functions associated with alpha oscillations increases during the course of evolution. In ontogenesis, these functions develop later and may be more sensitive to a variety of detrimental environmental influences. In a number of developmental stages and pathological conditions, a deficient alpha and/or increased slow-wave activity are associated with cognitive deficits and a lack of inhibitory control. It is shown that slow-wave and alpha oscillations are reciprocally related to each other. This reciprocal relationship may reflect an inhibitory control over motivational and emotional drives which is implemented by the prefrontal cortex.
Behavioral synchrony during social interactions is foundational for the development of social relationships. Behavioral inhibition (BI), characterized by wariness to social novelty and increased anxiety, may influence how children engage in moment-to-moment behavioral synchrony. EEG-derived frontal Alpha asymmetry and Delta-Beta coupling reflect approach-avoidance behavior and emotion regulation, respectively. We examined the relation between intradyadic behavioral synchrony in energy levels and peer gaze, BI, and EEG measures (N=136, 68 dyads, MeanAge=10.90 years) during unstructured and structured interactions. Energy levels were negatively synchronized when both children exhibited right Alpha asymmetry. If either child exhibited left Alpha asymmetry, the dyad exhibited more positive synchrony. Peer gaze was less synchronized during the unstructured task with left Alpha asymmetry. Greater positive Delta-Beta coupling in BI children was associated with more peer gaze synchrony. Peer gaze was asynchronous when BI children exhibited negative Delta-Beta coupling and their partner exhibited positive coupling.
Heightened delta-beta correlation has been conceptualized as reflecting exaggerated neural regulation and has been implicated in anxiety. Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament characterized by wariness to novelty and is a robust predictor of anxiety, but delta-beta correlation has not been investigated in relation to childhood BI. We examined the relation between BI and between-subjects (i.e., across participants) and within-subjects (i.e., across data epochs) measures of baseline EEG delta-beta correlation in 118 children. Using a between-subjects measure, children scoring high on BI had higher delta-beta correlation relative to low BI children at frontal and central, and marginally higher in parietal, brain regions. Using a within-subjects measure, continuous BI scores were positively correlated with central and parietal delta-beta correlation. Delta-beta correlation may be a neural correlate of BI in childhood that displays differences in region specificity, correlation strength, and variability of correlation values when comparing between- and within-subjects measures.
The common approach to the multiplicity problem calls for controlling the familywise error rate (FWER). This approach, though, has faults, and we point out a few. A different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented. It calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses — the false discovery rate. This error rate is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise. Therefore, in problems where the control of the false discovery rate rather than that of the FWER is desired, there is potential for a gain in power. A simple sequential Bonferronitype procedure is proved to control the false discovery rate for independent test statistics, and a simulation study shows that the gain in power is substantial. The use of the new procedure and the appropriateness of the criterion are illustrated with examples.
The ability to use cognitive emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal may be a core component of emotional competence across development, but due to methodological challenges in measuring such strategies, they are rarely studied in young children. One neurophysiological measure, the late positive potential (LPP), has been examined in response to reappraisal as a potential neurosignature for emotion regulatory capacity in adults. The association between the LPP and emotion regulatory capacity in children is unknown. The present study examined whether the LPP during reappraisal could predict greater observed adaptive emotion regulation strategy use in school-aged children over a two-year period. Thirty-two 5- to 7-year-olds participated in two identical lab visits spaced two years apart. EEG was continuously recorded during a computerized reappraisal task in which children viewed unpleasant images paired with either reappraisal or negative stories. Next they completed a disappointing and a frustrating task during which emotion regulation strategies were observed. As predicted, children who showed reappraisal-induced reductions in the LPP at the first assessment used significantly more adaptive ER strategies concurrently and two years later. These findings provide observation-based evidence that the LPP may be a viable neurosignature for emotion regulatory capacity in children.
Background:
Morphological and functional studies suggested involvement of several cortical and subcortical circuitries in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of the present study was to investigate networks involved in OCD pathophysiology, using power (coupling of EEG bands, low-resolution electromagnetic tomography-LORETA) and coherence analysis in drug-naïve patients.
Method:
EEG was obtained from 37 drug-naïve patients with OCD and 37 age- and sex-matched controls. Resting EEG was recorded from 29 scalp channels. Coupling (ratio and correlation) between low and high frequencies was analyzed on Fz. For each frequency band, LORETA current density distribution, intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric coherence analysis were computed.
Results:
OCD had increased current density for delta in the insula and for beta in frontal, parietal and limbic lobes. OCD also had decreased inter-hemispheric coherence and reduced coupling between delta and beta frequencies.
Conclusions:
In OCD, increased frontal beta is consistent with previous evidence of frontal dysfunction. Hyperactivity of insular delta sources, together with rhythms decoupling and reduced interhemispheric alpha coherence are consistent with additional involvement of cortico-subcortical functional connections. Combined use of power and coherence analysis may provide functional measures on different levels of involvement of cortico-subcortical circuits in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Previously, electroencephalographic (EEG) delta-beta coupling (positive correlation between power in the fast beta and slow delta frequency bands) has been related to affective processing. For instance, differences in delta-beta coupling have been observed between people in a psychological stress condition and controls. We previously reported relationships between attentional threat processing and delta-beta coupling and individual differences in attentional control. The present study extended and replicated these findings in a large mixed gender sample (N=80). Results demonstrated that emotional Stroop task interference for threatening words was related to self-reported attentional inhibition capacity and frontal delta-beta coupling. There was no clear gender difference for delta-beta coupling (only a non-significant trend) and the relationship between delta-beta coupling and attentional threat-processing was not affected by gender. These results replicate and extend an earlier finding concerning delta-beta coupling and cognitive affect regulation and further clarify relationships between delta-beta coupling, attentional control, and threat-processing.
In recent years, deficits in emotion regulation have been studied as a putative maintaining factor and promising treatment target in a broad range of mental disorders. This article aims to provide an integrative review of the latest theoretical and empirical developments in this rapidly growing field of research.
Deficits in emotion regulation appear to be relevant to the development, maintenance, and treatment of various forms of psychopathology. Increasing evidence demonstrates that deficits in the ability to adaptively cope with challenging emotions are related to depression, borderline personality disorder, substance-use disorders, eating disorders, somatoform disorders, and a variety of other psychopathological symptoms. Unfortunately, studies differ with regard to the conceptualization and assessment of emotion regulation, thus limiting the ability to compare findings across studies. Future research should systematically work to use comparable methods in order to clarify the following: which individuals have; what kinds of emotion regulation difficulties with; which types of emotions; and what interventions are most effective in alleviating these difficulties.
Despite some yet to be resolved challenges, the concept of emotion regulation has a broad and significant heuristic value for research in mental health.
The late positive potential (LPP) reflects increased attention to emotional versus neutral stimuli in adults. To date, very few studies have examined the LPP in children, and whether it can be used to measure patterns of emotional processing that are related to dispositional mood characteristics, such as temperamental fear and anxiety. To examine this question,39 typically developing 5–7 year olds (M age in months = 75.27, SD = 5.83) passively viewed complex emotional and neutral pictures taken from the International Affective Picture System.Maternal report of temperamental fear and anxiety was obtained and fearful behavior during an emotional challenge was observed. As documented in adults, LPP amplitudes to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli were larger than to neutral stimuli, although some gender differences emerged. Larger LPP amplitude differences between unpleasant and neutral stimuli were associated with greater observed fear. The LPP as a measure of individual differences in emotional processing is discussed.
Cognitive emotion regulation strategies, such as reappraising the emotional meaning of events, are linked to positive adjustment and are disrupted in individuals showing emotional distress, like anxiety. The late positive potential (LPP) is sensitive to reappraisal: LPP amplitudes are reduced when unpleasant pictures are reappraised in a positive light, suggesting regulation of negative emotion. However, only one study has examined reappraisal in children using the LPP. The present study examined whether directed reappraisals reduce the LPP in a group of 5- to 7-year-olds, and correlate with individual differences in fear and anxiety. EEG was recorded from 32 typically developing children via 64 scalp electrodes during a directed reappraisal task. Mothers reported on child anxiety. Fearful behavior was observed. As predicted, LPP amplitudes were larger to unpleasant versus neutral pictures;counter to predictions, the LPP was not sensitive to reappraisal. The degree to which unpleasant versus neutral pictures elicited larger LPPs was correlated with greater anxiety and fear. Results suggest that reappraisal in young children is still developing, but that the LPP is sensitive to individual differences related to fear and anxiety. The utility of the LPP as a measure of cognitive emotion regulation and emotional processing biases in children is discussed.
The first aim of the present study was to examine the structure of effortful control. The second aim was to determine whether components of effortful control relate to conduct problems and hyperactivity. Effortful control was measured in 3-year-old children (N= 89) with an observational measure, the effortful control battery (ECB), and a parent report, the Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Principal component analysis showed that the ECB measures five components, assessing two higher-order constructs, which can be labelled as Self-Control and Attention/Motor Control. The five scales of the CBQ appeared to measure one construct - a more general measure of effortful control. The components and constructs of the ECB as well as the scales of the CBQ were differently related to conduct problems and hyperactivity. Conduct problems were most strongly predicted by observed Delay of Gratification and parent-reported Inhibitory Control, whereas Hyperactivity was most strongly predicted by observed Delay of Gratification, and the higher-order construct Attention/Motor Control, as well as parent-reported Attentional Focusing and Inhibitory Control. It is important to keep in mind that effortful control is composed of heterogeneous components, all having their own unique values.
Variability in human resting state electroencephalography (EEG) may reflect emotion regulation processes (for a review, see Knyazev, 2007). For instance, it has been suggested that correlation between slow (1-3 Hz) and fast (13-30 Hz) activity (or δ-β coherence) may reflect functional synchronization between limbic and cortical brain systems. Indirect support comes from several studies reporting relationships between δ-β coherence and subjectively reported behavioral inhibition and state anxiety. The present study sought to extend this work and tested the prediction that objectively, experimentally, measured threat-selective attention should also be related to δ-β coherence. EEG frequency band power and dot probe task performance were assessed in forty healthy women and results demonstrated a negative association between delta-beta coherence and automatic, anxiety-driven attentional avoidance of threatening pictorial stimuli. These first reported objective measures for cognitive-emotional behavior obtained in relation to delta-beta coherence provide additional support for the hypothesis that this EEG parameter may reflect emotion regulation processes and supports suggestions that δ-β coherence may be a useful tool in the experimental study of affect and psychopathology. In addition, results showed an unexpected negative association between δ-β coherence and self-reported trait anxiety (but no association with behavioral inhibition).
To foster the study of emotion regulation beyond infancy and toddlerhood, a new criterion Q-sort was constructed. In Study 1, Q-scales for emotion regulation and autonomy were developed, and analyses supported their discriminant validity. Study 2 further explored the construct validity of the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale within a sample of 143 maltreated and 80 impoverished children, aged 6 to 12 years. A multitrait-multimethod matrix and confirmatory factor analyses indicated impressive convergence among the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale and established measures of affect regulation. This new scale also was discriminable from measures of related constructs, including Q-sort assessments of ego resiliency. The use of this new measure was further supported by its ability to distinguish between maltreated and comparison children and between groups of well-regulated versus dysregulated children.
Developments in personality-social psychology, in social cognition, and in cognitive neuroscience have led to an emerging conception of personality dynamics and dispositions that builds on diverse contributions from the past three decades. Recent findings demonstrating a previously neglected but basic type of personality stability allow a reconceptualization of classic issues in personality and social psychology. It reconstrues the nature and role of situations and links contextually sensitive processing dynamics to stable dispositions. It thus facilitates the reconciliation within a unitary framework of dispositional (trait) and processing (social cognitive-affective-dynamic) approaches that have long been separated. Given their history, however, the realization of this promise remains to be seen.
Mutual regulation of anger plays a role in both healthy adjustment and mental health problems. This study of 85 preschooler boys and girls examined mother-preschooler anger regulation during a frustration in relation to the child's preschool and school age problem status. Less mutual positive emotion, more mutual anger, and more emotional mismatches than other dyads characterized dyads with a stable conduct problem child. Maternal emotion predicted school age conduct problems, particularly for boys. Maternal emotion also predicted stability versus improvement of symptoms. The emotional dynamics of mother-preschooler angry exchanges may redirect girls' conduct problems and may contribute to the stability of boys' conduct problems.
Emotion regulation has emerged as a popular topic, but there is doubt about its viability as a scientific construct. This article identifies conceptual and methodological challenges in this area of study and describes exemplar studies that provide a substantive basis for inferring emotion regulation. On the basis of those studies, 4 methods are described that provide compelling evidence for emotion regulation: independent measurement of activated emotion and purported regulatory processes; analysis of temporal relations; measurement across contrasting conditions; and multiple, convergent measures. By offering this perspective, this article aims to engage thoughtful debate and critical analysis, with the goal of increasing methodological rigor and advancing an understanding of emotion regulation as a scientific construct.
Within the past two decades, an "affect revolution" [Fischer and Tangney, Self-conscious Emotions: The Psychology of Shame, Guilt, Embarrassment, and Pride 1995:3-22] in research has revolutionized the ways in which emotion processes have been conceptualized and subsequently studied. This review discusses the literature on emotion regulation (ER) in childhood and adolescence by first summarizing the trajectory of emotional development from infancy through adolescence, followed by a discussion of the biological and environmental influences on ER, and then a review of the literature linking ER to psychosocial functioning. The penultimate section offers practical suggestions for identifying ER difficulties in children and strategies for intervention efforts. Potential areas for future research conclude the review.
In this longitudinal study, the proportion of time preschoolers directed their attention away from rewarding stimuli during a delay-of-gratification task was positively associated with efficiency (greater speed without reduced accuracy) at responding to targets in a go/no-go task more than 10 years later. The overall findings suggest that preschoolers' ability to effectively direct their attention away from tempting aspects of the rewards in a delay-of-gratification task may be a developmental precursor for the ability to perform inhibitory tasks such as the go/no-go task years later. Because performance on the go/no-go task has previously been characterized as involving activation of fronto-striatal regions, the present findings also suggest that performance in the delay-of-gratification task may serve as an early marker of individual differences in the functional integrity of this circuitry.
There is increasing evidence that the strength of the relation between slow (SW) and fast (FW) wave activity in the EEG is associated with specific motivational states and their corresponding neuroendocrine patterns. Enhanced correlations between SW and FW have been related to anxiety, behavioral inhibition and high basal cortisol levels. However, the direct effects of cortisol on SW-FW coupling have not been experimentally studied yet. The present study investigated whether cortisol administration increases SW-FW coupling. Resting state EEG recordings were obtained from 40 right-handed healthy male subjects with extreme low or high scores on a behavioral inhibition scale, after placebo and cortisol (50 mg) administration. As expected, cortisol resulted in a significant increase in correlation between SW (delta) and FW (beta) activity compared to placebo. In addition, delta-beta correlation was significantly higher in high compared to low behaviorally inhibited subjects in both conditions. These results suggest that cortisol can modify brain activity, increasing a pattern associated with anxiety and behavioral inhibition. This is in line with findings associating cortisol with behavioral inhibition and anxiety.