Self‐regulation and frontal EEG alpha activity during infancy and early childhood: A multilevel meta‐analysis

Abstract

Integrating behavioral and neurophysiological measures has created new and advanced ways to understand the development of self-regulation. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to examine how self-regulatory processes are related to frontal alpha power during infancy and early childhood. However, findings across previous studies have been inconsistent. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis synthesized all prior literature examining associations between individual differences in self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha power (baseline and/or task). In total, 23 studies consisting of 1275 participants between 1 month and 6 years of age were included, which yielded 149 effect sizes. Findings of the three-level meta-analytic model demonstrated a non-significant overall association between self-regulation and frontal alpha power. Yet, significant moderating effects were found for self-regulation construct (emotion regulation, effortful control, executive function), self-regulation measurement (behavioral task, computer assessment, lab observation, questionnaire), and children's mean age. Self-regulation was only significantly correlated with frontal alpha power when studies focused on the executive functioning construct. Moreover, the use of behavioral tasks or questionnaires and a higher mean age of the children resulted in small but significant effect size estimates. Higher frontal alpha power values were related to higher order top-down mechanisms of self-regulation, indicating that these mechanisms might become stronger when the frontal cortex is sufficiently developed. The findings of the current meta-analysis highlight the importance of longitudinal analyses and multimethod approaches in future work to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the role of frontal EEG alpha activity in the etiology of individual differences in early self-regulation.

Emotion Regulation and Cognitive and Social Functioning in Early Development: The Interface Between Neurophysiological and Behavioural Perspectives

“…In 4-year-old children, patterns of greater right FA were related to parent reports of more externalising and internalising problems in sociable and shy children, respectively, compared with children who showed greater left frontal activation [102]. However, a recent metaanalysis [103], examining the relationship between self-regulation (ER, effortful control and executive function) and frontal EEG activity during infancy and early childhood (up to 6 years of age), found a significant association only between frontal EEG alpha activity and executive function, but not with ER. Despite the substantial evidence suggesting that EEG frontal asymmetry is a potentially relevant marker of later maladaptive emotional functioning, future research is needed.…”

Self-regulation and academic achievement.

“…All self-regulation measures are embedded in different contexts that vary in complexity and consequence (Hofstee et al, 2022). Assessing EF, and therefore self-regulation, often includes multiple cognitive processes operating together (Miyake et al, 2000;Zelazo et al, 2003).…”

“…Different cognitive processes may contribute to underlying self-regulation; another contributor to variability in young children's self-regulation skills are differences in assessment context and response modality; for example, pointing, talking, moving one's body while interacting with an examiner, or pressing buttons on a tablet (Hofstee et al, 2022). Differences in assessment context appear to differentially implicate a particular regulatory process.…”

“…In investigations beyond the classroom, scientists from a broad range of disciplines have converged on the centrality of self-regulation as a marker of adaptive development (Nigg, 2017). Findings demonstrate, at an emerging level of specificity, how biological and neurological processes interact with psychological and experiential factors to determine how children regulate themselves in a given setting (Hofstee et al, 2022). Biological factors, including an individual's predisposed reactivity and regulation of their reactions to stimuli, underpin these additive and interactive processes (Rueda et al, 2005).…”

Special issue on development of self‐regulation, cognitive control, and executive function, Part II: Editorial note

“…A final group of articles addressed methodological issues. Hofstee et al (2022) synthesized prior literature examining associations between individual differences in SR and frontal EEG alpha power during infancy and early childhood, through a three-level meta-analytic model. They found a non-significant overall association between SR and frontal alpha power.…”