Poster No:
824
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Khalil Thompson1, Clayton Schneider1, Emily Furtado2, Shreeja Vachhani3, Soo Ju4, Shri Jeyaram1, Bedilia Mata-Centeno5, Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo6, Koraly Perez-Edgar6, Susan Perlman7
Institutions:
1Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 2University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 3University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 4University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 5Macalester University, Saint Paul, MN, 6Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, 7Washington University- St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Soo Ju, MS
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Shri Jeyaram
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Introduction:
Many theories in personality and temperament characterize the development of dispositional attributes of the individual. However, from birth, the development of children's temperament occurs within a dynamic, interactive environment, initially with parents or caregivers. While these dynamics are frequently examined at the self-report and/or behavioral level, these approaches only provide a limited degree of insight into interaction. Uncovering the neural underpinnings driving family functioning in interactive contexts would provide an additional layer of information that could illuminate key facets of early childhood brain development. Interpersonal dynamics are best explored using second-person neuroscientific approaches, such as hyperscanning, which attempts to model the temporal synchrony in brain activity between two social partners during interaction. Our study was designed to investigate personality in the context of family interaction and illuminate the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of the expression of family personality using a two-person neuroimaging modality.
Methods:
We explored the relationship between family functionality and parent-child neural synchrony in 105 dyads (mean age 5 years 4 months; range 46–95 months). We employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to measure neural synchrony while dyads completed the Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule: Biological Synchrony (DB-DOS) task. This interactive paradigm measures dyadic, interdependent responses from parents and children across different social contexts: 1) a pre-play "Baseline" period; 2) a "Stress" period in which a challenging, time-limited interactive puzzle task serves as a mild stressor; and 3) a post-play "Recovery" period. Family functioning was operationalized through parent responses to The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale IV (FACES-IV) questionnaire, which creates two orthogonal dimension scores: "cohesion", or emotional bonding between family members, and "flexibility", or the quality and expression of leadership and organization, role relationship, and relationship rules and negotiations. Pearson's correlations and hierarchical regression models were conducted to determine the association between cohesion and flexibility scores and neural synchrony in 3 regions of interest (ROIs): 1) the frontal cortex 2) the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and 3) both regions together.
Results:
Findings from permutation testing indicated that real dyad synchrony was significantly greater than false dyad synchrony during all conditions, demonstrating the construct of neural synchrony during interaction beyond that of similar experience. Synchrony during the stress context was significantly greater than synchrony during both the baseline and recovery contexts. However, there was no significant difference in synchrony between the pre-play and post-play contexts. Hierarchical regression models demonstrated a significant positive relationship between family flexibility and neural synchrony in the frontal cortex during the stress condition (B = .341, t = 3.21, p = .002), but this effect was not found for family cohesion (B = -.149, t = -1.38, p = .170). There were no significant results in the TPJ or across both ROIs.
Conclusions:
Family flexibility, defined as the capacity to shift and negotiates roles and rules within the family unit, was significantly related to frontal cortex neural synchrony during a mildly stressful collaborative task. We posit that the parent's propensity to support their children's ideas during problem solving and allow them moments to take a leadership role in decision-making may positively influence the dyads cooperation and continued social engagement during frustrating situations. This is one of the first studies to utilize a two-person imaging modality to explore the role of family structure and interaction dynamics on the interbrain synchrony between parents and their children.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Social Cognition
Social Interaction 1
Lifespan Development:
Normal Brain Development: Fetus to Adolescence
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
NIRS 2
Imaging Methods Other
Keywords:
Development
Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS)
Open-Source Code
PEDIATRIC
Social Interactions
Other - Hyperscanning
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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