The authors investigated children's automatic imitation in the context of observed shyness by adapting the widely used automatic imitation task (AIT). AIT performance in 6‐year‐old children (N = 38; 22 female; 71% White) and young adults (17–22 years; N = 122; 99 female; 32% White) was first examined as a proof of concept and to assess age‐related differences in responses to the task (Experiment 1). Although error rate measures of automatic imitation were comparable between children and adults, children displayed less reaction time interference than adults. Children's shyness coded from direct behavioral observations was then examined in relation to AIT scores (Experiment 2). Observed shyness at 5 years old predicted higher automatic imitation one year later. We discuss the latter findings in the context of an adaptive strategy. We argue that shy children may possess a heightened sensitivity to others’ motor cues and therefore are more likely to implicitly imitate social partners’ actions. This tendency may serve as a strategy to signal appeasement and affiliation, allowing for shy children to blend in and feel less inhibited in a social environment.

No abstract

The prospect of surgery is a unique psychologically threatening context for children, often leading to experiences of preoperative anxiety. Recent research suggests that individual differences in children's temperament may influence responses to the surgical setting. In the present study, we examined whether individual differences in shyness were related to differences in frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) delta-beta correlation, a proposed neural correlate of emotion regulation and dysregulation, among children anticipating surgery. Seventy-one children (36 boys, M age = 10.3 years, SD age = 1.7 years) undergoing elective surgery self-reported on their own shyness, and their parents also reported on their child's shyness. Using a mobile, dry sensor EEG headband, frontal EEG measures were collected and self-and observer-reported measures of state anxiety were obtained at the children's preoperative visit (Time 1) and on the day of surgery (Time 2). A latent cluster analysis derived classes of low shy (n = 37) and high shy (n = 34) children using the child-and parent-reported shyness measures. We then compared the two classes on frontal EEG delta-beta correlation using betweenand within-subjects analyses. Although children classified as high versus low in shyness had higher self-and observer-reported state anxiety across both time periods, frontal EEG delta-beta correlation increased from T1 to T2 only among low shy children using a between-subjects delta-beta correlation measure. We discuss the interpretation of a relatively higher delta-beta correlation as a correlate of emotion regulatory versus dysregulatory strategies for some children in a "real-world," surgical context.