Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Connecticut, United States.
Dev Sci. 2022 Nov;25(6):e13298. doi: 10.1111/desc.13298. Epub 2022 Jul 11.
Integrating behavioral and neurophysiological measures has created new and advanced ways to understand the development of self-regulation. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to examine how self-regulatory processes are related to frontal alpha power during infancy and early childhood. However, findings across previous studies have been inconsistent. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis synthesized all prior literature examining associations between individual differences in self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha power (baseline and/or task). In total, 23 studies consisting of 1275 participants between 1 month and 6 years of age were included, which yielded 149 effect sizes. Findings of the three-level meta-analytic model demonstrated a non-significant overall association between self-regulation and frontal alpha power. Yet, significant moderating effects were found for self-regulation construct (emotion regulation, effortful control, executive function), self-regulation measurement (behavioral task, computer assessment, lab observation, questionnaire), and children's mean age. Self-regulation was only significantly correlated with frontal alpha power when studies focused on the executive functioning construct. Moreover, the use of behavioral tasks or questionnaires and a higher mean age of the children resulted in small but significant effect size estimates. Higher frontal alpha power values were related to higher order top-down mechanisms of self-regulation, indicating that these mechanisms might become stronger when the frontal cortex is sufficiently developed. The findings of the current meta-analysis highlight the importance of longitudinal analyses and multimethod approaches in future work to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the role of frontal EEG alpha activity in the etiology of individual differences in early self-regulation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The first meta-analysis of individual differences in self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha power during infancy and early childhood demonstrated a non-significant overall association. Moderation analyses revealed that variations in frontal alpha power were significantly associated with executive function, but not with effortful control and emotion regulation. Frontal alpha power was related to variations in self-regulation when measured by behavioral tasks and questionnaires, but not via computer assessments and lab observations. The association between individual differences in self-regulation and frontal alpha power becomes significantly stronger with age.
将行为和神经生理测量相结合，为理解自我调节的发展创造了新的、先进的方法。脑电图 (EEG) 已被用于研究自我调节过程如何与婴儿期和幼儿期的额叶 alpha 波功率相关。然而，先前研究的结果并不一致。为了解决这个问题，本荟萃分析综合了所有先前的研究，这些研究检查了自我调节个体差异与额叶 EEG alpha 波功率（基线和/或任务）之间的关联。共有 23 项研究，涉及 1 个月至 6 岁的 1275 名参与者，共产生了 149 个效应量。三级元分析模型的研究结果表明，自我调节与额叶 alpha 波功率之间没有显著的总体关联。然而，自我调节结构（情绪调节、努力控制、执行功能）、自我调节测量（行为任务、计算机评估、实验室观察、问卷调查）和儿童平均年龄存在显著的调节作用。只有当研究集中在执行功能结构时，自我调节才与额叶 alpha 波功率显著相关。此外，使用行为任务或问卷以及儿童的平均年龄较高，会导致较小但显著的效应量估计。较高的额叶 alpha 波功率值与自我调节的较高阶自上而下机制相关，表明随着额叶皮层的充分发育，这些机制可能会变得更强。本荟萃分析的结果强调了在未来工作中进行纵向分析和多方法研究的重要性，以更全面地理解额叶 EEG alpha 活动在早期自我调节个体差异中的作用。研究亮点：这是第一项对婴儿期和幼儿期自我调节和额叶 EEG alpha 功率个体差异的荟萃分析，结果表明两者之间没有显著的总体关联。调节分析表明，额叶 alpha 波功率的变化与执行功能显著相关，但与努力控制和情绪调节无关。当通过行为任务和问卷测量时，额叶 alpha 波功率与自我调节的变化相关，但通过计算机评估和实验室观察则不相关。随着年龄的增长，自我调节个体差异与额叶 alpha 波功率之间的关联变得更强。
