Mother–Child Interaction: Links Between Mother and Child Frontal Electroencephalograph Asymmetry and Negative Behavior

Abstract

It is well accepted that parent-child interactions are bidirectional by nature, yet not much is known about the psychophysiological activity underlying these interactions. We examined, during a parent-child interaction, how a child’s negativity statistically predicted maternal frontal EEG asymmetry and how a mother’s negativity statistically predicted child frontal EEG asymmetry. Thirty-four mother-child dyads participated in the study. Maternal and child behavior and physiology were measured during a puzzle task. Results indicated that mothers whose children exhibited more challenging behaviors during the dyadic interaction displayed more right (relative to left) asymmetry, as did children whose mothers were high in negativity during the interaction. These findings suggest that mothers and children react to each other’s signals, not only behaviorally but also physiologically.

Reflective Functioning and Personality Organization: Associations With Negative Maternal Behaviors

“…We did not assess whether trauma was resolved or unresolved, and given that unresolved trauma is the risk factor for DMB for which there currently is the most evidence. Future research could examine whether mother and infant negative affectivity contribute to maternal withdrawal, considering that both contribute to the quality of the dyadic interaction (Atzaba-Poria, Deater-Deckard, & Bell, 2017;Wang, Deater-Deckard, & Bell, 2016). Further limitations of the study are that maternal histories of abuse were assessed with only the AAI, using a categorical present/absent classification.…”

Mothers' Depressive Symptoms and Child Externalizing Problems: Aversion Sensitivity as an Underlying Mechanism

“…Similar to previously used measures (e.g., Atzaba‐Poria et al, 2017), for each mother–child interaction, a mother's general negativity was the number of talk turns in which she expressed negative emotion divided by the overall number of talk turns she had during that interaction.…”

Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains

“…In terms of affect and physiological changes, research has shown that the influence of infants and parents on one another is bidirectional ( 29 , 30 ). Accordingly, we predicted that ( i ) significant neural coupling would exist between adults and infants during social interaction, ( ii ) direct (and direct-oblique) gaze would both be associated with higher interpersonal neural connectivity than indirect gaze, and ( iii ) in experiment 1 (video), only unidirectional [adult-to-infant (A → I)] coupling would be observed, but in experiment 2 (live), bidirectional [adult-to-infant (A → I) and infant-to-adult (I → A)] coupling would be observed.…”