RUI: Fetal programming of early brain development and emotional regulation in infants: The role of sociocultural stressors

California State University San Marcos Corporation, San Marcos CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will investigate whether and to what extent prenatal exposure to sociocultural stressors influences early brain development and associated emotional regulation in infants. Impairments in emotional regulation that may be shaped by prenatal experiences are of particular concern because emotional regulation is important for cognitive ability and academic success later in life. Specifically, this project will enhance basic understanding of the role of sociocultural stressors on infant emotional regulation by studying multiple factors, including infants' emotional, physiological, and attentional states, as well as mothers' self-reports. Findings will highlight perinatal factors that affect development and will uncover potential patterns among infant measurements that may uniquely characterize early risk for poor emotional regulation. This project will extend current theories of prenatal stress and infant development and provide multiple research opportunities for students, broadening participation of diverse groups in science. Moreover, this work will integrate teaching and research, a high-impact practice shown to improve learning outcomes and increase graduation rates in students. The project will ascertain if attention-related brain development underlies the effects of prenatal stress exposure on emotional regulation in at-risk infants. First, to determine if such brain development is related to prenatal stress exposure, mothers will report on levels of sociocultural stress experienced during their pregnancy. At birth, electrophysiological activity in the infants' brains will be assessed to evaluate brain development and attention functioning. At 6 months of age, a social stressor will be used to determine if the relationship between prenatal stress exposure and infant emotional dysregulation is strengthened by early neurodevelopment of attention functioning. While experiencing the stressor--an interaction in which a mother looks at her infant while maintaining a nonmoving, neutral facial expression--infants' heart rate variability, cortisol responses, and negative vocalizations will be measured for subsequent analysis. By using a variety of measures, inferences can be made about the potential dyssynchrony between behavioral and physiological response systems, which may itself indicate emotional dysregulation in young children. This work will utilize a multidisciplinary, multi-method approach that integrates social, behavioral, and biological levels of analysis to understand processes related to development and learning in children.