Emotional reactivity and expressivity in infants have been previously correlated with vagal tone. This study investigated vagal tone of 3- and 6-month-old infants of depressed mothers. Vagal tone did not differ for infants of depressed versus nondepressed mothers at 3 months, but lower vagal tone was noted in infants of depressed versus nondepressed mothers at 6 months. The developmental increase in vagal tone that occurred between 3 and 6 months for infants of nondepressed mothers did not occur for infants of depressed mothers. Correlation analyses suggested that higher vagal tone at 6 months was related to more vocalizations and more optimal neurological scores.

Videotaped happy and sad facehoice stimuli were presented after a neutral starfield baseline stimulus to 24 3-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers.The infants looked at and showed more positive expressions during the happy and sad facdvoice stimuli versus the neutral starfield. The infants of non-depressed versus depressed mothers looked at the sad facehoice stimulus longer, perhaps because the sad facelvoice stimulus was more novel for the infants of non-depressed mothers.

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EEG recordings were conducted with preschool children during presentations of videotaped vignettes depicting a fictional young child experiencing happy, sad, angry, and fearful events. Significant EEG asymmetry in the frontal region (left frontal activation) occurred during all types of emotional vignettes, but not during baseline periods (a neutral star-field image presented before and after each vignette). This pattern of left frontal cortical activation during each emotional vignette may represent a generally positive and low intensity emotional “approach” response even in the case of the negative emotion vignettes. These children displayed mostly neutral facial expressions during the vignettes, with some evidence of lip movements during the negative episodes (suggesting that the stories were eliciting some mild emotional responses or empathy). There was no evidence of more intense emotional responses that have been associated with right frontal cortical activation. These EEG patterns may reflect cortical mechanisms underlying mild emotional responses and affective displays in preschool children, as well as their developing ability to regulate their affective systems.

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