Toddlers’ dysregulated fear predicts delta–beta coupling during preschool

Abstract

Dysregulated fear, or the persistence of high levels of fear in low-threat contexts, is an early risk factor for the development of anxiety symptoms. Previous work has suggested both propensities for over-control and under-control of fearfulness as risk factors for anxiety problems, each of which may be relevant to observations of dysregulated fear. Given difficulty disentangling over-control and under-control through traditional behavioral measures, we used delta-beta coupling to begin to understand the degree to which dysregulated fear may reflect propensities for over- or under-control. We found that toddlers who showed high levels of dysregulated fear evidenced greater delta-beta coupling at frontal and central electrode sites as preschoolers relative to children who were low in dysregulated fear. Importantly, these differences were not observed when comparisons were made based on fear levels in high threat contexts. Results suggest dysregulated fear may involve tendencies toward over-control at the neural level.

Delta-beta coupling is associated with paternal caregiving behaviors during preschool

“…Power values were windsorized and natural log transformed to correct for nonnormal distributions. Similar to previous research, composites for delta and beta power were then formed for frontal (F3/4, F7/8), central (C3/4) and parietal (P3/4) electrode sites (Miskovic et al, 2011b; Phelps et al, 2016). …”

“…Eye blink and eye movement artifacts were removed using the Gratton and Coles (1983) ocular correction algorithm. Similar to previous methods in research on delta-beta coupling in children (Miskovic et al, 2010; 2011a; 2011b; Phelps et al, 2016), data were then segmented into 1000 ms segments (50% overlap) and baseline corrected from 0–1000 ms. Segments that met one or more of the following criteria were marked as containing artifact: a voltage step of more than 75 µV/ms between data points, a voltage difference of 150µV within a single segment, a voltage difference of less than 0.5 µV within a 50 ms interval, or an absolute voltage of ±100 µV.…”

“…These traits are associated with biological and behavioral systems of self-regulation (Degnan, Almas, & Fox, 2010; Phelps, Brooker, & Buss, 2016), disruptions in which may serve as mechanisms of early fear and risk for later disorder. Caregiver behaviors predict observed regulatory behaviors in preschoolers (Rubin, Cheah, & Fox, 2001).…”

“…Indeed, greater delta-beta coupling, or greater positive correlations between delta and beta power, during resting baseline is associated with trait-level emotion propensities, including enhanced trait anxiety or anxiety symptoms (Knyazev, 2011; Miskovic et al, 2010) and greater trait-level inhibition (Putman, 2011) in adults. Increased baseline coupling is also visible in children of anxious parents (Miskovic et al, 2011a) and preschoolers who are prone to show high levels of fear in low-threat situations (Phelps et al, 2016). …”

Improving the Prediction of Risk for Anxiety Development in Temperamentally Fearful Children

“…We have found that children with a dysregulated fear profile showed greater neural activity reflecting increased performance monitoring - common in anxious individuals (Brooker & Buss, 2014). These children also show greater coupling between frequency bands in baseline EEG (Phelps, Brooker, & Buss, 2015) believed to reflect over-control of behavior.…”