Infant Temperament and Cardiac Vagal Tone: Assessments at Twelve Weeks of Age

Huffman, Lynne C.; Bryan, Yvonne E.; Carmen, Rebecca del; Pedersen, Frank A.; Doussard-Roosevelt, Jane A.; Forges, Stephen W.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.00624.x

Cited by 91 publications

(145 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Baseline vagal tone at nine months was also related to less difficult three-year behavior (Porges, Doussard-Roosevelt, Portales & Suess 1994). This phenomenon has been reported even in younger 3-month-old infants (Huffman, Bryan, del Carmen, Pedersen, Doussard-Roosevelt & Porges, 1998). In the Huffman et al study, vagal tone was measured during a resting baseline period and during a laboratory assessment of temperament.…”

Section: The "Vagal Brake" and Individual Differencesmentioning

confidence: 89%

Vagal activity, early growth and emotional development

Field

Diego

2008

Infant Behavior and Development

100

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A review of the research on infant vagal tone suggests that vagal activity is associated with both infant growth and infant socioemotional development. Vagal activity has been noted to increase following the stimulation of pressure receptors as in massage therapy. Vagal activity, in turn, stimulates gastric motility which mediates weight gain in infants. Vagal activity has also been notably elevated during synchronous mother-infant interactions and positive affect, providing confirmatory data for the Porges "Social Engagement System" model. In contrast, low vagal activity has been noted in prenatally depressed mothers (and prenatally angry and anxious mothers) and their infants, as well as in children with autism. These studies highlight the relations between vagal activity and the social behaviors of attentiveness, facial expressions and vocalizations.The vagus nerve is a key component in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system and socioemotional function. It is composed of afferent (sensory) and efferent (motor) fibers that innervate most organs in the body including the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems as well as the ears, mouth and voice (Chang, Mashimo & Goyal, 2003; Kandel, Schwartz & Jessel, 2000). Heart rate variability has been used to estimate vagal activity and serves as a noninvasive measure of autonomic nervous system function and maturation that has been shown to reflect vagal regulation of the heart and the gastro-intestinal system (Fox & Porges, 1985; Katoh, Nomura, Iga, Hiasa, Uehara, Harada et al., 2003; Task Electrophysiology, 1996). Several time and frequency domain methods have been used to estimate vagal activity from heart rate variability, yielding comparable results and include the Bohrer and Porges (1982) algorithm to estimate vagal tone, Lorenz plots on interbeat intervals to estimate the Toichi Cardiac Vagal Index (CVI), and spectral analyses to estimate the high frequency component of heart rate variability (HF, RSA) (Allen Chambers, Towers, 2006; Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology, and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology, 1996).Estimates of vagal activity from heart rate variability have been widely used in studies assessing infant development, affect and social interactions. In these studies, vagal tone, specifically baseline vagal tone has been variously treated as a correlate, a predictor, a mediator, a marker variable and even a causal variable of normal and abnormal behaviors and conditions. The primary theme of the review paper is that baseline vagal activity may be considered a stable physiological state just as expressivity has been considered a primary behavior component of individual infant temperament. Secondly, low baseline vagal activity appears to be a marker of infant risk conditions such as prematurity and depression. Third, vagal stimulation in the Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providi...

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Section: The "Vagal Brake" and Individual Differencesmentioning

confidence: 89%

Vagal activity, early growth and emotional development

Field

Diego

2008

Infant Behavior and Development

100

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“…These patterns of neurological individuality reflect CNS contributions to temperament and are the main focus of this review. Although the CNS also regulates autonomic nervous system and hormonal functions related to temperament, such as vagal tone, which is associated with negative emotionality and soothability (Huffman et al, 1998), and the secretion of prolactin which is related to negative emotionality (Lozoff et al, 1995), our focus here is on central nervous system structures and function directly related to temperament. Second, there are biologically based influences upon neurological individuality such as genetics, which will also be considered in a later section in this review.…”

Section: Temperament As Biologically Rootedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperament theory and the study of cognition–emotion interactions across development

Henderson

Wachs

2007

Developmental Review

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In this paper we review current definitions and measurement approaches used to assess individual differences in children's temperament. We review the neural bases of temperamental reactivity and self-regulation and propose that these constructs provide a framework for examining individual differences and developmental change in emotion-cognition interactions across development. Studies are reviewed in which some well-documented contextual effects on the expression of temperament can be interpreted in terms of the influence of biological and non-biological factors on CNS functioning. We conclude with ideas regarding future directions for the study of individual differences and developmental change in cognition-emotion interactions as they are shaped throughout development. Ó 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Keywords: Temperament; Reactivity; Self-regulation; Approach/withdrawal; Effortful control; CNS; fMRI; EEG/ERP There is a burgeoning literature on the neural correlates of developmental change and individual differences in numerous aspects of cognition and emotion. These rapid advances reflect a growing recognition of the utility of cross-disciplinary approaches for studying development, as well as the availability of new methodologies that provide developmental psychologists with the opportunity to directly assess the neural correlates of behavior. Although theory and research related to cognitive and emotional development have tended to proceed in parallel, new measurement approaches and collaborative efforts serve as a reminder of the importance of considering the simultaneous and interdependent 0273-2297/$ -see front matter Ó

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“…In other words, this RSA reactivity measure indicates the extent of decrease (suppression) in RSA during situations where coping or emotional and behavioral regulation is required. While low resting RSA has been reported to be strongly intertwined to diminished capacity for suppression of RSA to meet environmental demands, they may be differentially related to temperamental reactivity and regulation (Calkins, 1997;Huffman, Bryan, del Carmen, Pedersen, Doussard-Roosevelt, & Porges, 1998). Suppression of RSA during demanding tasks has been considered to reflect physiological processes that allow the child to shift focus from internal homeostatic demands to demands that require internal processing or the generation of coping strategies to control arousal.…”

Section: Pns Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, suppression of RSA is considered to be a physiological mechanism that mediates sustained attention and behaviors indicative of active coping that are mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system (Porges, 1996;Wilson & Gottman, 1996). Suppression of RSA during challenging situations has been reported to be related to better regulation, greater self-soothing and attentional control in infancy (DeGangi, DiPietro, Porges, & Greenspan, 1991;Huffman et al, 1998), fewer behavior problems and more appropriate emotion regulation in preschoolers (Calkins, 1997;Porges, Doussard-Roosevelt, Portales, & Greenspan, 1996;Calkins & Dedmon, 2000), and sustained attention in school-age children . On the other hand escalated RSA reactivity to various challenges has been observed in temperamentally shy (i.e., behaviorally inhibited) and angrily reactive children (Donzella, Gunnar, Krueger, & Alwin, 2000).…”

Section: Pns Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disinhibited behaviors in young children: Relations with impulsivity and autonomic psychophysiology

Muñoz

Anastassiou‐Hadjicharalambous

2011

Biological Psychology

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. In press. Biological Psychology Disinhibited Behaviors 2 AbstractCardiac activity has long been considered as a psychophysiological marker of adaptive psychological adjustment. Irregularities in autonomic nervous system activity have long been implicated in both externalizing and disinhibitory behaviors. The present study used a battery of assessments in children ages 4.5-5.5 years to examine the relation among disinhibitory measures. Additionally, cardiovascular activity and reactivity was examined. Mothers rated impulsivity and internalizing/externalizing behaviors. Reward-dominance and passiveavoidance response inhibition (i.e., via errors of commission) tasks were included. Resultsshowed that behaviorally uninhibited children began with an attenuated sympathetic response (i.e., lengthened pre-ejection period) to an interview with a novel experimenter, while inhibited children began with a high level of sympathetic activity. Further, behavioral impulsivity was related to low sympathetic activity at rest. Consistent with theories of disinhibition, externalizing behaviors and measures of behavioral impulsivity were related to a reward-dominant response style. Findings are discussed with regard to motivational theories of behavior.

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Infant Temperament and Cardiac Vagal Tone: Assessments at Twelve Weeks of Age

Cited by 91 publications

References 38 publications

Vagal activity, early growth and emotional development

Vagal activity, early growth and emotional development

Temperament theory and the study of cognition–emotion interactions across development

Disinhibited behaviors in young children: Relations with impulsivity and autonomic psychophysiology

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