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. 2020 May:59:101430.
doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101430. Epub 2020 Mar 6.

More than meets the eye: The neural development of emotion face processing during infancy

Paige Safyer  1 , Brenda L Volling  2 , Neelima Wagley  3 , Xiaosu Hu  2 , James E Swain  4 , Maria M Arredondo  5 , Ioulia Kovelman  2
Affiliations

More than meets the eye: The neural development of emotion face processing during infancy

Paige Safyer et al. Infant Behav Dev. 2020 May.

Abstract

This study explored the impact of infant temperament and maternal stress on the development of the infant medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) among sixteen 6-8-month-old infants. Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure activation of the infant mPFC in response to angry, happy, and sad faces. Infant temperament and dimensions of maternal stress were measured with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire and the Parenting Stress Index Respectively. Infants with high negative emotionality demonstrated increased mPFC activation in association with all emotion face conditions. Negative emotionality moderated the effect of total maternal stress on mPFC activation to angry and sad faces. Mother-infant dysfunctional interaction was related to increased mPFC activation associated with happy faces, supporting the "novelty hypothesis", in which the mPFC responds more strongly to unique experiences. Therefore, this study provides additional evidence that infant temperament and the quality of the mother-infant relationship influence the development of the mPFC and how infants process emotions.

Keywords: Infant; Infant brain development; Infant emotional development; Infant temperament; Maternal stress; Medial prefrontal cortex; Mother; Mother-infant relationship; fNIRS.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Functional NIRS probe configuration, 3D brain template with probe-set overlay. Probe set and channel configurations denote connections between sources and detectors. Red and blue optodes correspond to source and detector placement at a distance of 2.5 cm over an average brain template. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Emotion faces task trials.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
3D brain activity effects for significant HbO channels during the emotion faces task. Yellow = Happy face condition, Red = Angry face condition, Blue = Sad face condition. Green = > .05. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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