Maternal self-efficacy development from pregnancy to 3 months after birth

The present study uses a prospective longitudinal study design to investigate the development of maternal self-efficacy in the transition phase to parenthood, drawing on a large sample of socially and/or culturally disadvantaged families (N = 292). Parity, maternal education, migration, informal and formal social support are considered as potential predictors. Results indicate that previous birth experience, being born abroad, and higher levels of formal and informal social support during pregnancy jointly predict higher levels of maternal self-efficacy three months after birth. First-time mothers and mothers born in Germany (where the study was conducted) benefit more from formal support than mothers with previous experience and mothers born outside of Germany. Overall, maternal self-efficacy increases significantly. Implications for prenatal maternal care are discussed

From co-regulation to self-regulation: Maternal soothing strategies and self-efficacy in relation to maternal reports of infant regulation at 3 and 7 months

This study, conducted in Germany, examines the role of maternal soothing strategies to explain the association of maternal self-efficacy with infant regulation (crying and sleeping behavior). Questionnaire data of 150 mothers, living in Germany, with mixed ethnic and educational backgrounds were collected when infants were 3 and 7 months old. Two types of maternal soothing strategies were distinguished: close soothing, involving close physical and emotional contact, and distant soothing, involving physical and emotional distancing from the infant. A cross-sectional SEM at 3 months indicated that maternal self-efficacy is associated with reported infant regulation through distant soothing strategies. Low maternal self-efficacy was associated with frequent maternal use of distant soothing, which in turn was related to reported infant regulation problems, that is, non-soothability and greater crying frequency. Frequent use of close soothing was associated with reported infant sleeping behavior, that is, frequent night-time awakenings. A longitudinal SEM further indicated that the effects of close soothing persisted at least until the infants' age of 7 months. The study showed how low maternal self-efficacy, increased use of distant soothing, and reported early infant regulation problems are intertwined and that, due to their persisting positive effect on infant soothability, close soothing better supports infant development

Multistable perception elicits compensatory alpha activity in older adults

Multistable stimuli lead to the perception of two or more alternative perceptual experiences that spontaneously reverse from one to the other. This property allows researchers to study perceptual processes that endogenously generate and integrate perceptual information. These endogenous processes appear to be slowed down around the age of 55 where participants report significantly lower perceptual reversals. This study aimed to identify neural correlates of this aging effect during multistable perception utilizing a multistable version of the stroboscopic alternative motion paradigm (SAM: endogenous task) and a control condition (exogenous task). Specifically, age-related differences in perceptual destabilization and maintenance processes were examined through alpha responses. Electroencephalography (EEG) of 12 older and 12 young adults were recorded during SAM and control tasks. Alpha band activity (8–14 Hz) was obtained by wavelet-transformation of the EEG signal and analyzed for each experimental condition. Endogenous reversals induced gradual decrease in posterior alpha activity in young adults which is a replication of previous studies’ findings. Alpha desynchronization was shifted to anterior areas and prevalent across the cortex except the occipital area for older adults. Alpha responses did not differ between the groups in the control condition. These findings point to recruitment of compensatory alpha networks for maintenance of endogenously generated percepts. Increased number of networks responsible for maintenance might have extended the neural satiation duration and led to decreased reversal rates in older adults

Novelty N2-P3a Complex and Theta Oscillations Reflect Improving Neural Coordination Within Frontal Brain Networks During Adolescence

Adolescents are easily distracted by novel items than adults. Maturation of the frontal cortex and its integration into widely distributed brain networks may result in diminishing distractibility with the transition into young adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate maturational changes of brain activity during novelty processing. We hypothesized that during adolescence, timing and task-relevant modulation of frontal cortex network activity elicited by novelty processing improves, concurrently with increasing cognitive control abilities. A visual novelty oddball task was utilized in combination with EEG measurements to investigate brain maturation between 8–28 years of age (n = 84). Developmental changes of the frontal N2-P3a complex and concurrent theta oscillations (4–7 Hz) elicited by rare and unexpected novel stimuli were analyzed using regression models. N2 amplitude decreased, P3a amplitude increased, and latency of both components decreased with age. Pre-stimulus amplitude of theta oscillations decreased, while inter-trial consistency, task-related amplitude modulation and inter-site connectivity of frontal theta oscillations increased with age. Targets, intertwined in a stimulus train with regular non-targets and novels, were detected faster with increasing age. These results indicate that neural processing of novel stimuli became faster and the neural activation pattern more precise in timing and amplitude modulation. Better inter-site connectivity further implicates that frontal brain maturation leads to global neural reorganization and better integration of frontal brain activity within widely distributed brain networks. Faster target detection indicated that these maturational changes in neural activation during novelty processing may result in diminished distractibility and increased cognitive control to pursue the task

Neural correlates of contour integration

Three studies are presented:-B Mathes, D Trenner, M Fahle (2006). The electrophysiological correlate of contour integration is modulated by task demands, Brain Research, 1114, 98-112It is shown that contour integration elicits a negative shift over posterior recording sites. This effect started about 150 ms after stimulus onset but was delayed for more difficult contour integration. Difficult contour integration may in addition elicit a frontal selection positivity. The result indicate that contours are processed similar to textures and that decreasing saliency of detectable contours is compensated by increasing processing time which possibly results from increasing allocation of visual selective attention.-B Mathes, M Fahle (2007). The electrophysiological correlate of contour integration is similar for colour and luminance mechanisms, Psychophysiology ,in pressTo investigate how contour integration depends on early sensory processing, the electrophysiological correlate of contour integration of elements defined by luminance or isoluminant colour contrasts was measured. Detectable contours elicit a negative shift over posterior recording sites which is similar for luminance and colour contrasts. This indicates a common physiological processing stream for contour integration of red-and-green and black-and-white elements.-B Mathes, M Fahle (2007). Closure facilitates contour integration in smooth and short contours, Vision Research, in pressThe facilitation of contour integration by closure has been questioned. Our results demonstrate that closure improves contour integration, even when shortcomings of earlier studies are controlled for. However, the advantage of closure might be minor

Neuronale Korrelate der Konturintegration

Three studies are presented:-B Mathes, D Trenner, M Fahle (2006). The electrophysiological correlate of contour integration is modulated by task demands, Brain Research, 1114, 98-112It is shown that contour integration elicits a negative shift over posterior recording sites. This effect started about 150 ms after stimulus onset but was delayed for more difficult contour integration. Difficult contour integration may in addition elicit a frontal selection positivity. The result indicate that contours are processed similar to textures and that decreasing saliency of detectable contours is compensated by increasing processing time which possibly results from increasing allocation of visual selective attention.-B Mathes, M Fahle (2007). The electrophysiological correlate of contour integration is similar for colour and luminance mechanisms, Psychophysiology ,in pressTo investigate how contour integration depends on early sensory processing, the electrophysiological correlate of contour integration of elements defined by luminance or isoluminant colour contrasts was measured. Detectable contours elicit a negative shift over posterior recording sites which is similar for luminance and colour contrasts. This indicates a common physiological processing stream for contour integration of red-and-green and black-and-white elements.-B Mathes, M Fahle (2007). Closure facilitates contour integration in smooth and short contours, Vision Research, in pressThe facilitation of contour integration by closure has been questioned. Our results demonstrate that closure improves contour integration, even when shortcomings of earlier studies are controlled for. However, the advantage of closure might be minor

Closure facilitates contour integration

AbstractClosed contours are often better perceived than those not fully enclosing an area, i.e., open contours. This facilitation of contour integration by closure, however, has been questioned arguing that in earlier studies closed contours were often “smoother” than open ones, because open contours usually had turning points. To solve this controversy, we compared detection performance for closed circles or ellipses of a higher curvature with open contours of a lower curvature neither having any turning points. Performance for circles and ellipses declined with increasing gap size and recovered only for contours with very low curvatures. Furthermore, performance increased with increasing number of contour elements and was better for smooth compared to S-shaped contours that change direction of curvature. Our results clearly demonstrate that closure improves contour detection, even though this advantage might be minor. The advantage of closed contours is maximal compared to open contours of similar curvature