Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects on Trajectories of Infants' Vagal Functioning

描述（由申请人提供）：状态、运动和情绪控制所需的调节行为的发展可能在副交感神经系统中具有某些潜在的生理过程，这些过程在其功能中发挥作用。现有文献中已广泛研究的调节行为的一种特定心理生理学相关性是心率变异性或迷走神经张力。儿童的低心率变异性与适应不良结果相关（即品行障碍；Pine 等人，1996），而高心率变异性与更好的社交能力相关（Eisenberg 等人，1995）。因此，了解迷走神经张力从婴儿期到儿童期的轨迹以及它如何影响发育以及如何受发育影响至关重要。当前应用的目标是 1) 纵向检查 3 个月至 3 岁婴儿的基线迷走神经张力和迷走神经调节的稳定性，2) 检查婴儿对挑战任务的行为和迷走神经反应之间的一致性，3) 检查内源性（即气质）和外源性（即母亲敏感性）因素随时间对婴儿迷走神经轨迹的影响，4)检查与种族和家庭收入相关的因素作为迷走神经轨迹的预测因子，5) 检查基线迷走神经张力和迷走神经退缩轨迹作为根据 36、48 和 60 个月大的母亲报告评估的社会情绪功能的预测因子。达勒姆儿童健康与发展研究拥有 199 名婴儿及其家人在 7 个时间点（3、6、12、18、24、30 和 36 个月）的人口统计、孕产妇报告、行为和生理数据。每次访视时，在各种旨在引起婴儿负面反应和调节的挑战任务之前、期间和之后立即测量婴儿迷走神经张力和行为反应。此外，在自由游戏和拼图任务中，母亲对婴儿的行为被记录下来以进行行为编码。我们目前对迷走神经张力作为调节功能的生理指标的理解是有限的。重要的是要超越对迷走神经反应的同时评估，并确定随着时间的推移而发展的模式和轨迹。所提出的分析将使我们能够检查迷走神经张力在前三年的发展，作为典型和非典型社会情绪结果的预测因子。与公共卫生的相关性：拟议的研究旨在提供婴儿心率变异性（即迷走神经张力）发展的纵向分析，以及生命前三年迷走神经张力的调节。这种生理系统可能是情绪调节和执行功能过程的基础，并且与儿童的积极和适应不良行为结果相关。了解与其发展相关的各种儿童和家庭特征将为了解情绪自我调节、对挑战（如向学校过渡）的反应以及同侪群体中社会能力的获取等领域的个体差异提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development of regulatory behaviors necessary for state, motor, and emotion control may have certain underlying physiological processes in the parasympathetic nervous system that play a role in their functioning. One specific psychophysiological correlate of regulatory behavior that has been extensively studied in the existing literature is that of heart rate variability, or vagal tone. Low heart rate variability in children has been associated with maladaptive outcomes (i.e., conduct disorder; Pine et al., 1996) and high heart rate variability has been associated with better social competence (Eisenberg et al., 1995). Thus, it is critical to understand the trajectory of vagal tone from infancy to childhood and how it both influences and is influenced by development. The objectives of the current application are 1) to examine the stability of baseline vagal tone and vagal regulation longitudinally in infants from 3 months to 3 years of age, 2) to examine the concordance between infants' behavioral and vagal responses to challenge tasks, 3) to examine the influence of factors endogenous (i.e., temperament) and exogenous (i.e., maternal sensitivity) to the infant on vagal trajectories over time, 4) to examine factors related to ethnicity and family income as predictors of vagal trajectories and 5) to examine baseline vagal tone and vagal withdrawal trajectories as predictors of socio-emotional functioning assessed by maternal report at 36, 48, and 60 months of age. The Durham Child Health and Development Study has demographic, maternal report, behavioral, and physiological data on 199 infants and their families at seven time points (3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months). At each visit, infant vagal tone and behavioral response was measured before, during, and immediately following various challenge tasks meant to elicit negative reactivity and regulation from infants. Further, maternal behavior toward her infant during a free play and puzzle task was video recorded for behavioral coding. Our current understanding of vagal tone as a physiological index of regulatory functioning is limited. It is important to move beyond concurrent assessments of vagal response and identify patterns and trajectories that develop over time. The proposed analyses will allow us to examine the development of vagal tone over the first three years as a predictor of typical and atypical socio-emotional outcomes. Relevance to Public Health: The proposed study is designed to provide longitudinal analyses of the development of infant heart rate variability (i.e., vagal tone), and the regulation of vagal tone, across the first three years of life. This physiological system may underlie the processes of emotion regulation and executive functioning and has been associated with both positive and maladaptive behavioral outcomes in children. Understanding the various child and family characteristics that are related to its development will provide new insights into individual differences in such areas as self-regulation of emotion, responses to challenge such as the transition to school, and the acquisition of social competency in peer groups.