Sleep-Wake Regulation and Emotion in Early Childhood

该指导研究科学家奖（K 01）将使候选人成为一名独立的科学家，专注于生物调节睡眠-觉醒过程的成熟变化及其与幼儿期（2-5岁）情绪调节发展的关系。职业目标是了解睡眠在情绪调节中的作用，并将基本的生物调节过程研究应用于预防早睡和情绪问题的干预措施的开发。短期研究目标是检验年龄相关的稳态和昼夜节律过程的差异，以及睡眠（午睡）限制对幼儿情绪调节的影响。这项针对2岁和5岁儿童（N=36）的16天横断面家庭研究评估了（a）稳态睡眠压力积累的年龄相关差异（在5个不同的日子里，在4、7、10、13和17小时后小睡的延长觉醒和EEC慢波活动之间的关系），昼夜节律相位（唾液褪黑激素起始）和相位角（昼夜节律相位和清醒时间之间的间隔），以及（B）小睡限制对情绪调节的影响（生理和行为测量）。候选人将完成严格的培训与玛丽Carskadon，博士，年轻人睡眠-觉醒调节专家，以及频谱分析/数学建模专业知识的共同导师（Peter Achermann，博士）和情绪调节（罗纳德塞弗，博士）。培训目标是更广泛地了解睡眠，昼夜节律和情绪的生物调节和发育领域;获得睡眠-觉醒评分，EEG频谱分析和昼夜节律数据分析的专业知识;获得管理，编码和分析情绪调节措施数据的培训;并增加对纵向数据分析技术的理解。通过这种培训，候选人将为未来的纵向工作做好准备，这些工作涉及与情绪调节发展相关的生物调节睡眠-觉醒过程中的成熟变化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Mentored Research Scientist Award (K01) will enable the candidate to become an independent scientist focusing on maturational changes in bioregulatory sleep-wake processes and their relationship to the development of emotion regulation in early childhood (2-5 years). Career goals are to understand the role of sleep in emotion regulation and to apply basic bioregulatory processes research toward the development of interventions for the prevention of early sleep and emotional problems. Short-term research goals are to examine age-related differences in homeostatic and circadian processes and the effects of sleep (nap) restriction on emotion regulation in young children. The proposed 16-day cross-sectional home-based study with 2- and 5-year-olds (N=36) assesses (a) age-related differences in the accumulation of homeostatic sleep pressure (relationship between extended wakefulness and EEC slow-wave activity in naps taken after 4, 7, 10, 13, and 17 hours on five separate days), circadian phase (salivary melatonin onset), and phase angle (interval between circadian phase and wake time), and (b) the effects of nap restriction on emotion regulation (physiological and behavioral measures). The candidate will complete rigorous training with Mary Carskadon, Ph.D., an expert in sleep-wake regulation in young humans, and co-mentors with expertise in spectral analysis/mathematical modeling (Peter Achermann, Ph.D.) and emotion regulation (Ronald Seifer, Ph.D). Training goals are to develop a broader understanding of bioregulatory and developmental domains underlying sleep, circadian rhythms, and emotion; gain expertise in sleep-wake scoring, EEG spectral analysis, arid analysis of circadian rhythms data; acquire training in administering, coding, and analyzing data from emotion regulation measures; and increase understanding of longitudinal data analytic techniques. With this training, the candidate will be prepared for future longitudinal work on maturation changes in bioregulatory sleep-wake process in association with the development of emotion regulation.