The ability to transition from wakefulness to sleep is one of the most important tasks in the development of sleep during early childhood. Although establishing regular bedtime routines for children ...with sleep problems can be clinically effective in reducing the number of signaled night awakenings and increasing amount of sleep, it is unclear whether a regular bedtime routine would be associated with either the frequency of signaled night awakenings or nightly sleep minutes in a nonclinical sample of children. This study examined the role of a regular bedtime routine on the development of sleep regulation and consolidation in a community sample of young children. Adherence to a bedtime routine was concurrently associated with a greater amount of nightly sleep at 36 and 42 months. In addition, adherence to a bedtime routine predicted an increase in nightly sleep minutes over a 6-month period. Finally, this study demonstrated that adherence to a bedtime routine was particularly supportive of developmental gains for children of mothers who used consistent parenting practices during the day.
There is considerable covariation between externalizing and internalizing problems across the lifespan. Partitioning general and specific psychopathology is crucial to identify (a) processes that ...confer specific risk for externalizing versus internalizing problems and (b) transdiagnostic processes that confer risk for the covariation between externalizing and internalizing problems. The oddball P3 event-related potential (ERP) component, thought to reflect attentional orienting, has been widely examined in relation to psychopathology. However, prior studies have not examined the P3—or other aspects of neural functioning—in relation to general versus specific psychopathology in children. The present study examined whether children’s (N = 124, ages 3–7 years) P3 amplitudes were associated with general versus specific psychopathology. Children’s electroencephalography data were recorded during an oddball task. Parents rated their children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Using bifactor models to partition variance in parents’ ratings of children’s psychopathology symptoms, we examined children’s P3 amplitudes in relation to three latent factors: (1) the general factor of psychopathology—the covariation of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology, (2) unique externalizing problems—the variance in externalizing problems after controlling for the general factor, and (3) unique internalizing problems. Results indicated that smaller P3 amplitudes were associated with unique externalizing problems at ages 3–5, and with general psychopathology at ages 6–7. Findings suggest that smaller P3 amplitudes may be associated with externalizing problems from a very young age. Moreover, there may be a developmental shift in the functional significance of the P3 in relation to general and specific psychopathology in childhood.
The current study examined the association between effortful control and a well-studied neural index of self-regulation, the N2 event-related potential (ERP) component, in toddlers. Participants ...included 107 toddlers (44 girls) assessed at 30, 36 and 42 months of age. Participants completed a Go/NoGo task while electroencephalography data were recorded. The study focused on the N2 ERP component. Parent-reported effortful control was examined in association with the NoGo N2 ERP component. Findings suggest a positive association between the NoGo N2 component and the inhibitory control subscale of the wider effortful control dimension, suggesting that the N2 component may index processes associated with temperamental effortful control.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences’.
Inhibitory control has been widely studied in association with social and academic adjustment. However, prior studies have generally overlooked the potential heterotypic continuity of inhibitory ...control and how this could affect assessment and understanding of its development. In the present study, we systematically considered heterotypic continuity in four well-established measures of inhibitory control, testing two competing hypotheses: (a) the manifestation of inhibitory control coheres within and across time in consistent, relatively simple ways, consistent with homotypic continuity. Alternatively, (b) with developmental growth, inhibitory control manifests in more complex ways with changes across development, consistent with heterotypic continuity. We also explored differences in inhibitory control as a function of the child's sex, language ability, and the family's socioeconomic status. Children (N = 513) were studied longitudinally at 30, 36, and 42 months of age. Changes in the patterns of associations within and among inhibitory control measures across ages suggest that the measures' meanings change with age, the construct manifests differently across development, and, therefore, that the construct shows heterotypic continuity. We argue that the heterotypic continuity of inhibitory control motivates the use of different combinations of inhibitory control indexes at different points in development in future research to improve validity. Confirmatory factors and growth curves also suggest that individual differences in inhibitory control endure, with convergence among inhibitory control measures by 36 months of age.
Objective
Callous‐unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by a lack of guilt and empathy, and low responsiveness to distress and fear in others. Children with CU traits are at‐risk for engaging in ...early and persistent conduct problems. Individuals showing CU traits have been shown to have reduced neural responses to others’ distress (e.g., fear). However, the neural components of distress responses in children with CU traits have not been investigated in early childhood. In the current study, we examined neural responses that underlie the processing of emotionally valenced vocal stimuli using the event‐related potential technique in a group of preschoolers. Method: Participants between 2 and 5 years old took part in an auditory oddball task containing English‐based pseudowords spoken with either a fearful, happy, or a neutral prosody while electroencephalography data were collected. The mismatch negativity (MMN) component, an index of the automatic detection of deviant stimuli within a series of stimuli, was examined in association with two dimensions of CU traits (i.e., callousness‐uncaring and unemotional dimensions) reported by primary caregivers. Results: Findings suggest that the callousness‐uncaring dimension of CU traits in early childhood is associated with reduced responses to fearful vocal stimuli. Conclusions: Reduced neural responses to vocal fear could be a biomarker for callous‐uncaring traits in early childhood. These findings are relevant for clinicians and researchers attempting to identify risk factors for early callous‐uncaring traits.
We examined the neural responses that underlie the processing of vocal stimuli spoken in fearful and happy tones using the event‐related potential (ERP) technique in a group of preschoolers. Callous‐uncaring traits were associated with reduced neural responses to fearful vocal stimuli. Reduced neural responses to vocal fear could be a potential biomarker for callous‐uncaring traits in early childhood.
Background
Externalizing problems, including aggression and conduct problems, are thought to involve impaired attentional capacities. Previous research suggests that the P3 event‐related potential ...(ERP) component is an index of attentional processing, and diminished P3 amplitudes to infrequent stimuli have been shown to be associated with externalizing problems and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the vast majority of this prior work has been cross‐sectional and has not examined young children. The present study is the first investigation of whether within‐individual changes in P3 amplitude predict changes in externalizing problems, providing a stronger test of developmental process.
Method
Participants included a community sample of children (N = 153) followed longitudinally at 30, 36, and 42 months of age. Children completed an oddball task while ERP data were recorded. Parents rated their children's aggression and ADHD symptoms.
Results
Children's within‐individual changes in the P3 amplitude predicted concomitant within‐child changes in their aggression such that smaller P3 amplitudes (relative to a child's own mean) were associated with more aggression symptoms. However, changes in P3 amplitudes were not significantly associated with ADHD symptoms.
Conclusions
Findings suggest that the P3 may play a role in development of aggression, but do not support the notion that the P3 plays a role in development of early ADHD symptoms.
There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of research studies employing event-related potential (ERP) techniques to examine dynamic and rapidly occurring neural processes with children ...during the preschool and early childhood years. Despite this, there has been relatively little discussion of the methodological and procedural differences that exist for studies of young children versus older children and adults. That is, reviewers, editors, and consumers of this work often expect developmental studies to simply apply adult techniques and procedures to younger samples. Procedurally, this creates unrealistic expectations for research paradigms, data collection, and data reduction and analyses. Scientifically, this leads to inappropriate measures and methods that hinder drawing conclusions and advancing theory. Based on ERP work with preschoolers and young children from 10 laboratories across North America, we present a summary of the most common ERP components under study in the area of emotion and cognition in young children along with 13 realistic expectations for data collection and loss, laboratory procedures and paradigms, data processing, ERP averaging, and typical challenges for conducting this type of work. This work is intended to supplement previous guidelines for work with adults and offer insights to aid researchers, reviewers, and editors in the design and evaluation of developmental research using ERPs. Here we make recommendations for researchers who plan to conduct or who are conducting ERP studies in children between ages 2 and 12 years, focusing on studies of toddlers and preschoolers. Recommendations are based on both data and our cumulative experience and include guidelines for laboratory setup, equipment and recording settings, task design, and data processing.
Identifying neural and cognitive mechanisms in externalizing problems in childhood is important for earlier and more targeted intervention. Meta-analytic findings have shown that smaller N2 ...event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes, thought to reflect inhibitory control, are associated with externalizing problems in children. However, it is unclear how (i.e., through which cognitive processes) N2 amplitudes relate to externalizing problems. We examined whether inhibitory control may be a cognitive process that links N2 amplitudes and externalizing problems in early childhood. Children (N = 147, 74 girls) were assessed at four time points, spanning 3-7 years of age. Children's externalizing behavior was assessed via questionnaires completed by mothers, fathers, and teachers/secondary caregivers. Children's inhibitory control was assessed using eleven performance-based tasks and two questionnaires. Developmental scaling linked differing measures of inhibitory control and externalizing behavior across ages onto the same scale. Children's N2 amplitudes were extracted from electroencephalography data collected during a go/no-go task. Smaller N2 amplitudes were associated with externalizing problems and poorer inhibitory control. A concurrent analysis of indirect effects revealed that poorer inhibitory control partially explained the association between smaller N2 amplitudes and externalizing problems, even when controlling for the child's age, sex, and socioeconomic status. This is among the first studies to link N2 amplitudes, inhibitory control, and externalizing problems during early childhood. Findings suggest that smaller N2 amplitudes may be an early neural indicator of inhibitory control deficits and externalizing psychopathology. Moreover, inhibitory control may be an important target for early intervention in the development of externalizing psychopathology.
Caspi et al. (2003) found an interaction between the serotonin transporter polymorphism gene (5-HTTLPR) and stressful life events on depression. Subsequent attempts to replicate have been ...inconsistent. The present research included long allele variants modified by SNP rs25531 and tested the interaction on adolescents' trajectories of anxious/depressed symptoms, with consideration of possible age effects. Adolescents (N = 574), of whom 436 were genotyped, were followed from ages 12 to 17. Analyses demonstrated a G × E interaction in predicting the development of anxious/depressed symptoms. Specifically, adolescents with lower serotonin transcriptional efficiency (TE) genotypes whose mothers reported more stressful events were reported to show more anxious/depressed symptoms and greater increases in the development of symptoms of anxiety and depression than were higher TE adolescents, particularly at ages 16 and 17. Interactions did not differ by gender. Findings demonstrate that stress may affect adolescents' likelihood of experiencing anxious/depressed symptoms when they have a low serotonin TE (A/G-modified 5-HTTLPR) genotype and suggest that the vulnerability may be stronger in late than early adolescence.
Barrier functionality of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is provided by the tight junctions formed by a monolayer of the human brain endothelial cells (HBECs) internally around the blood capillaries. ...To mimic such barrier functionality in vitro, replicating the hollow tubular structure of the BBB along with the HBECs monolayer on its inner surface is crucial. Here, we developed a microfluidic manufacturing technique to pattern the HBECs on the surface of alginate‐based microstructures. The HBECs were seeded on the inner surface of these hollow microfibers using a custom‐built microfluidic device. The seeded HBECs were monitored for 9 days after manufacturing and cultured to form a monolayer on the inner surface of the alginate hollow microfibers in the maintenance media. A higher cell seeding density of 217 cells/mm length of the hollow microfiber was obtained using our microfluidic technique. Moreover, high accuracy of around 96% was obtained in seeding cells on the inner surface of alginate hollow microfibers. The microfluidic method illustrated in this study could be extrapolated to obtain a monolayer of different cell types on the inner surface of alginate hollow microfibers with cell‐compatible ECM matrix proteins. Furthermore, it will enable us to manufacture a range of microvascular systems in vitro by closely replicating the structural attributes of the native structure.
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