Neural plasticity and the development of attention: Intrinsic and extrinsic influences

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Swingler ◽  
Nicole B. Perry ◽  
Susan D. Calkins
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
First Year ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Caregiver Behavior ◽  
Maternal Caregiving ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe development of attention has been strongly linked to the regulation of emotion and behavior and has therefore been of particular interest to researchers aiming to better understand precursors to behavioral maladjustment. In the current paper, we utilize a developmental psychopathology and neural plasticity framework to highlight the importance of both intrinsic (i.e., infant neural functioning) and extrinsic (i.e., caregiver behavior) factors for the development of attentional control across the first year. We begin by highlighting the importance of attention for children's emotion regulation abilities and mental health. We then review the development of attention behavior and underscore the importance of neural development and caregiver behavior for shaping attentional control. Finally, we posit that neural activation associated with the development of the executive attention network may be one mechanism through which maternal caregiving behavior influences the development of infants’ attentional control and subsequent emotion regulation abilities known to be influential to childhood psychopathology.

scholarly journals Mutual influences between child emotion regulation and parent–child reciprocity support development across the first 10 years of life: Implications for developmental psychopathology

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4pt1) ◽  
pp. 1007-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
Pathological Development ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Heterotypic Continuity ◽  
Infant Birth ◽  
Time Point

AbstractElucidating the mechanisms by which infant birth conditions shape development across lengthy periods is critical for understanding typical and pathological development and for targeted early interventions. This study examined how newborns' regulatory capacities impact 10-year outcomes via the bidirectional influences of child emotion regulation (ER) and reciprocal parenting across early development. Guided by dynamic systems theory, 125 infants were tested at seven time points: birth, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months and 5 and 10 years. Initial regulatory conditions were measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; vagal tone) and neurobehavioral regulation (Brazelton, 1973) at birth. At each assessment between 3 months and 5 years, infant ER was microcoded from age-appropriate paradigms and mother–child reciprocity observed during social interactions. Four regulation-related outcomes were measured at 10 years: child RSA, empathy measured by mother–child conflict discussion and a lab paradigm, accident proneness, and behavior problems. An autoregressive cross-lagged structural model indicated that infant birth conditions impacted 10-year outcomes via three mechanisms. First, child ER and reciprocal parenting were individually stable across development and were each predicted by regulatory birth conditions, describing gradual maturation of ER and reciprocity over time. Second, better ER skills at one time point were related to greater reciprocity at the next time point and vice versa, and these cross-time effects defined a field of individual-context mutual influences that mediated the links between neonatal RSA and 10-year outcomes. Third, direct associations emerged between neonatal regulation and outcome, suggesting that birth conditions may establish a neurobiological milieu that promotes a more mature and resilient system. These mechanisms describe distinct “attractor” states that constrain the system's future options, emphasize the importance of defining behavior-based phenotypes of heterotypic continuity, and suggest that infants may shape their development by initiating unique cascades of individual-context bidirectional effects.

Emotion Dysregulation and Psychosis Spectrum Disorders

2019 ◽  
pp. 298-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma T. Wallace ◽  
Anna R. Docherty
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Cognition And Emotion ◽  
Neurophysiological Assessment ◽  
Psychiatric Conditions ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Disorganized Speech ◽  
And Behavior

Psychosis spectrum disorders (PSDs) are complex, highly heritable psychiatric conditions with high economic and societal costs. PSDs have historically been conceptualized as neurocognitive disorders in which psychotic episodes and impairments in social and emotional functioning are attributed to deficits in neurocognition. Although cognitive pathways play an important role in the etiology and presentation of PSDs, recent research suggests that interrelations between cognition and emotion are highly relevant. Moreover, aberrant emotion regulation likely plays a significant role in the presentation of PSDs. Emotion dysregulation (ED) may underlie and exacerbate both negative and positive symptoms in PSDs, such as blunted affect, avolition, disorganized speech and behavior, poor social cognition, and delusions and hallucinations. Advances in measurement of emotion dysregulation—including self-reports, behavioral paradigms, neuroimaging paradigms, and neurophysiological assessment—have informed etiological models of emotion dysregulation in PSDs. This chapter reviews research on emotion regulation and dysregulation in PSDs. Notably, more severe presentations of emotion symptoms and greater emotion regulation impairments are associated with worse outcomes in PSDs. It may therefore be the case that focusing on ED as an early risk factor and intervention target could improve outcomes and prevention approaches for psychotic disorders.

Maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting and children's externalizing symptoms: The mediational role of children's attention biases to negative emotion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Davies ◽  
Morgan J. Thompson ◽  
Jesse L. Coe ◽  
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Externalizing Symptoms ◽  
Family Adversity ◽  
Children's Attention ◽  
Specific Association ◽  
Mediational Role ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract This study examined children's duration of attention to negative emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, fear) as a mediator of associations among maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting and children's externalizing symptoms in a sample of 240 mothers, fathers, and their preschool children (Mage = 4.64 years). The multimethod, multi-informant design consisted of three annual measurement occasions. Analysis of maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting as predictors in latent difference changes in children's affect-biased attention and behavior problems indicated that children's attention to negative emotions mediated the specific association between maternal unsupportive parenting and children's subsequent increases in externalizing symptoms. Maternal unsupportive parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreases in children's attention to negative facial expressions of adults from Wave 1 to 2. Reductions in children's attention to negative emotion, in turn, predicted increases in their externalizing symptoms from Wave 1 to 3. Additional tests of children's fearful distress and hostile responses to parental conflict as explanatory mechanisms revealed that increases in children's fearful distress reactivity from Wave 1 to 2 accounted for the association between maternal unsupportive parenting and concomitant decreases in their attention to negative emotions. Results are discussed in the context of information processing models of family adversity and developmental psychopathology.

scholarly journals Nutritional Support of Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Function in Infants and Young Children—An Update and Novel Insights

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Kathrin Cohen Kadosh ◽  
Leilani Muhardi ◽  
Panam Parikh ◽  
Melissa Basso ◽  
Hamid Jan Jan Mohamed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Neurocognitive Development ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Infants And Young Children

Proper nutrition is crucial for normal brain and neurocognitive development. Failure to optimize neurodevelopment early in life can have profound long-term implications for both mental health and quality of life. Although the first 1000 days of life represent the most critical period of neurodevelopment, the central and peripheral nervous systems continue to develop and change throughout life. All this time, development and functioning depend on many factors, including adequate nutrition. In this review, we outline the role of nutrients in cognitive, emotional, and neural development in infants and young children with special attention to the emerging roles of polar lipids and high quality (available) protein. Furthermore, we discuss the dynamic nature of the gut-brain axis and the importance of microbial diversity in relation to a variety of outcomes, including brain maturation/function and behavior are discussed. Finally, the promising therapeutic potential of psychobiotics to modify gut microbial ecology in order to improve mental well-being is presented. Here, we show that the individual contribution of nutrients, their interaction with other micro- and macronutrients and the way in which they are organized in the food matrix are of crucial importance for normal neurocognitive development.

Brain plasticity in response to short-term exposure to corticosterone in larval amphibians

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Cha ◽  
Madison T. Uhrin ◽  
Sara J McClelland ◽  
Sarah Woodley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Development ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Leopard Frog ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
Larval Amphibians ◽  
Short Term Exposure ◽  
Functional Consequences ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Brain Shape

Exposure to stressors and elevation of glucocorticoid hormones such as corticosterone (CORT) has widespread effects on vertebrate brain development. Previous studies have shown that exposure to environmental stressors alters larval amphibian brain morphology and behavior, yet the effects of CORT on amphibian neural development are still unknown. We exposed prometamorphic Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens (Schreber, 1782)) tadpoles for 7 days to a concentration of exogenous CORT (45.56 g/L ) that produced physiologically-relevant increases in plasma CORT. This brief exposure to CORT, relatively late in development, resulted in a significantly larger diencephalon width (relative to body mass) when compared to controls. Although we were unable to detect changes in behavior or body morphology, our results indicate that brain shape is modulated by exposure to CORT. More studies are needed to better understand what accounts for the CORT-induced change in brain shape as well as the functional consequences of these changes.

scholarly journals RESILIENCE, RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION, AND EMOTION REGULATION AMONG FIRST-YEAR THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Sitepu ◽  
May Rauli Simamora ◽  
Johanes Waldes Hasugian
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
Significant Positive Relationship ◽  
Theological Students ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Effective Contribution

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religious orientation, emotion regulation, and resilience of first-year theological students. The total sample used in this study was 59 first-year theological students at a theological college in Indonesia. The results show a statistically significant positive relationship between religious orientation, emotion regulation, and resilience. The results also show that the effective contribution of emotion regulation is higher than the religious orientation towards resilience. These results indicate the importance of emotional regulation training and religious orientation education to develop resilience in the lives of first-year theological students.

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