Titel
Coupling between prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in infants and adults
Bennett I. Bertenthal
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington
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Abstract
Self-regulation is an essential aspect of healthy child development. Even though infants depend on their caregivers for co-regulation during the first years, they begin to gain regulatory abilities through social interactions as well as their own developing agency and inhibitory control. These early regulatory abilities continue to increase with the development of both the prefrontal cortex and the vagal system. Importantly, theoretical accounts have suggested that the prefrontal cortex and the vagal system are linked through forward and backward feedback loops via the limbic system. Decreased coupling within this link is suggested to be associated with psychopathology. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether intrapersonal coupling of prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia is evident in infancy. Using the simultaneous assessment of functional near-infrared spectroscopy and electrocardiography, we used Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis to assess the coupling of prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in 69 4- to 6-month-old infants and their mothers during a passive viewing condition. However, we did not find significant coupling between the PFC and RSA in infants and adult caregivers. Future studies could examine social contexts associated with greater emotional reactivity to deepen our understanding of the pathways involved in self-regulation.
Stichwort
Respiratory-sinus arrhythmiafNIRSPrefrontal cortexVagus nerveSelf-regulationBrain-body connection
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
Erschienen in
Titel
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Band
58
ISSN
1878-9293
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Publication
Elsevier BV
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© 2022 The Author(s)
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