Social EEG: A novel neurodevelopmental approach to studying brain‐behavior links and brain‐to‐brain synchrony during naturalistic toddler–parent interactions

Abstract

Despite increasing emphasis on emergent brain‐behavior patterns supporting language, cognitive, and socioemotional development in toddlerhood, methodologic challenges impede their characterization. Toddlers are notoriously difficult to engage in brain research, leaving a developmental window in which neural processes are understudied. Further, electroencephalography (EEG) and event‐related potential paradigms at this age typically employ structured, experimental tasks that rarely reflect formative naturalistic interactions with caregivers. Here, we introduce and provide proof of concept for a new “Social EEG” paradigm, in which parent–toddler dyads interact naturally during EEG recording. Parents and toddlers sit at a table together and engage in different activities, such as book sharing or watching a movie. EEG is time locked to the video recording of their interaction. Offline, behavioral data are microcoded with mutually exclusive engagement state codes. From 216 sessions to date with 2‐ and 3‐year‐old toddlers and their parents, 72% of dyads successfully completed the full Social EEG paradigm, suggesting that it is possible to collect dual EEG from parents and toddlers during naturalistic interactions. In addition to providing naturalistic information about child neural development within the caregiving context, this paradigm holds promise for examination of emerging constructs such as brain‐to‐brain synchrony in parents and children.

Methods and metrics for EEG/ERP assessment of emotion and cognition in young children

“…Rollins and colleagues (2021) offer guidance on how to adapt tasks for younger populations, with a particular focus on recognition memory tasks and data to illustrate the adaptation process. Norton et al (2022) take a different approach in considering how the "task" of interest may be a naturalistic interaction; they describe methods of measuring parent-toddler EEG and time-locking data to a video recording of the dyadic interaction. Relatedly, Turk et al (2022) present a review of the small but rapidly expanding literature on simultaneously recording of parent-child EEG to examine synchrony in neural processes and address the potential applications of these methods in developmental research.…”

“…Norton et al. (2022) take a different approach in considering how the “task” of interest may be a naturalistic interaction; they describe methods of measuring parent–toddler EEG and time‐locking data to a video recording of the dyadic interaction. Relatedly, Turk et al.…”

Envisioning translational hyperscanning: how applied neuroscience might improve family-centered care

“…To date, many studies have been conducted with this methodology. Here, we will lay out some relevant findings from a subset of these studies that give some notion of how parent–child interactions can be a fundamental experience in shaping neurodevelopment ( Norton et al. , 2022 ).…”

“…, 2020 ), while fewer studies have done the same with pediatric populations. While focusing on the dyad limits the complexity of human social interactions, it provides a first observational tool with the advantage of starting to build knowledge on the parent–infant brain during interactions, which are uniquely informative on development ( Norton et al. , 2022 ).…”

Parent-Child Interaction as an Effective Tool for Identifying Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from EEG Analysis

“…Parent-child interaction is an important foundation for children's cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional development [17], and serves as a crucial starting point for acquiring interactive skills, including social communication skills [18,19]. This interaction provides language and social stimuli that support the development of social skills [20], as parents provide feedback [21] on their children's behavior to aid in their developmental process.…”