Kim Kee Jeong, Bell Martha Ann
Department of Human Development, 317 Wallace Hall, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Dec;1094:308-12. doi: 10.1196/annals.1376.040.
Previous research suggests an association between frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetries and both positive and negative emotion reactivity. Specifically, right frontal EEG activation is associated with emotions of negative valence in both infants and adults, whereas left frontal EEG activation is associated with emotions of more positive valence. Relatively few studies have examined such associations in children. Moreover, research on mechanisms through which emotion reactivity is related to frontal EEG asymmetries is sparse. As one possible mechanism, we hypothesize that regulatory skills and behaviors developing rapidly during childhood play a critical role in linking frontal EEG asymmetries to emotion reactivity in children. To test the research hypothesis, 25 children were followed from early-to-middle childhood at two different points in time with a 4-year interview interval. Results show that individual variations in a number of regulatory behaviors among children are significantly associated with frontal EEG asymmetries. Our results provide support for the possibility of frontal EEG asymmetry informing the study of the development of regulation in children. The discussion of the findings is centered on potential risk for and resilience to children's emotional reactivity and regulation.
先前的研究表明，额叶脑电图（EEG）不对称性与积极和消极情绪反应性之间存在关联。具体而言，右侧额叶EEG激活与婴儿和成人的负性情绪有关，而左侧额叶EEG激活与更积极的情绪有关。相对较少的研究考察了儿童中的这种关联。此外，关于情绪反应性与额叶EEG不对称性相关机制的研究也很稀少。作为一种可能的机制，我们假设儿童期快速发展的调节技能和行为在将额叶EEG不对称性与儿童的情绪反应性联系起来方面起着关键作用。为了检验这一研究假设，对25名儿童从儿童早期到中期进行了跟踪，在两个不同时间点进行访谈，间隔为4年。结果表明，儿童中多种调节行为的个体差异与额叶EEG不对称性显著相关。我们的结果为额叶EEG不对称性有助于儿童调节发展研究的可能性提供了支持。研究结果的讨论集中在儿童情绪反应性和调节的潜在风险及恢复力上。
