Affect-Biased Attention and Social-Emotional Functioning during Early Childhood: The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Affect-biased attention is defined as perceptual preference for an object based on its affective saliency. Affect-biased attention has been suggested to have reciprocal connections with other aspects of social-emotional functioning. However, it is not yet known how these connections manifest and develop during infancy and toddlerhood. The aims of this study were to investigate the associations between affect-biased attention at 8 months and the four aspects of social-emotional functioning being: 1) early behavioral regulatory problems at 3 months (Study I), 2) social-emotional problems and 3) social-emotional competencies at 2 years (Study II) as well as 4) the quality of maternal caregiving behaviors at 8 months (Study III). In addition, to further understand normative development, the change in affect-biased attention was studied between 2.5 and 5 years (Study IV). The sample of this longitudinal study was comprised of children and their parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. The main findings were that an increased attention bias toward fear at 8 months was associated with less regulatory problems at 3 months and higher socioemotional competencies at 2 years. In addition, a higher quality of maternal caregiving behaviors was related to increased attention toward fear. The substudy on developmental changes occurring between 2.5 and 5 years showed increased attention biases in sustained attention for happy, fearful, angry and sad faces compared to a neutral face. The results suggest that attention biases for fear and threat may play a different role in well-being during the early years compared to connections observed later in life. In the present study, an increased attention bias toward fear at 8 months was also related to positive aspects of early development. In addition, all studied attention biases, including attention bias toward fear and anger, increased during typical development between 2.5 and 5 years. However, the associations seem to be complex, as increased attention toward fear was also related to a lower quality of maternal caregiving behaviors.Tunneohjautunut tarkkaavuus ja sosioemotionaaliset toiminnot varhaislapsuuden aikana Tunneohjautunut tarkkaavuus tarkoittaa määritelmän mukaan sitä, että havaittavaa kohdetta suositaan sen tunteisiin liittyvän sisällön vuoksi. Viimeisimmät teoriat esittävät, että tunneohjautuneella tarkkaavuudella on vastavuoroinen vuorovaikutussuhde muun sosioemotionaalisen toiminnan kanssa. Vielä ei kuitenkaan tiedetä, miten nämä yhteydet kehittyvät varhaislapsuudessa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia pelokkaisiin kasvoihin liittyvän tarkkaavuuden vinouman yhteyttä neljään sosioemotionaaliseen tekijään 1) varhaisiin säätelyongelmiin 3 kuukauden iässä (Tutkimus I), 2) sosioemotionaalisiin ongelmiin ja 3) taitoihin 2 vuoden iässä (Tutkimus II) ja 4) äidin vanhemmuuden laatuun (Tutkimus III). Lisäksi tutkittiin tunneohjautuneen tarkkaavuuden tavanomaista kehitystä 2,5 ja 5 vuoden välillä (Tutkimus IV). Tutkittavat lapset ja heidän vanhempansa kuuluvat FinnBrain-tutkimukseen, joka on pitkittäistutkimus. Tutkimuksen päätulosten mukaan lapsilla, joilla oli 8 kuukauden iässävoimakkaampi tarkkaavuuden vinouma pelokkaita kasvoja kohti, oli ollut 3 kuukauden iässä vähemmän säätelyongelmia ja heillä oli paremmat sosioemotionaaliset taidot 2-vuotiaana. Äidin vanhemmuuden heikompi laatu oli yhteydessä tarkkaavuuden voimakkaampaan vinoumaan kohti pelokkaita kasvoja. Lisäksi todettiin, että tarkkaavuuden ylläpitoon liittyvät vinoumat kohti iloisia, pelokkaita, vihaisia ja surullisia kasvoja voimistuvat 2,5 ja 5 ikävuoden välillä. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset viittaavat siihen, että pelkoon ja uhkaan liittyvillä tarkkaavuuden vinoumilla on erilainen merkitys hyvinvoinnille ensimmäisten elinvuosien aikana verrattuna myöhempiin vuosiin. Tässä tutkimuksessa pelkoon liittyvä tarkkaavuuden vinouma oli yhteydessä myös myönteisiin kehityksen piirteisiin. Lisäksi kaikki tutkitut tarkkaavuuden vinoumat mukaan lukien vinoumat pelokkaita ja vihaisia kasvoja kohti voimistuivat tyypillisessä kehityksessä 2,5 ja 5 ikävuoden välillä. Yhteydet vaikuttavat kuitenkin olevan monimutkaisia, sillä voimakkaampi tarkkaavuuden vinouma kohti pelokkaita kasvoja oli yhteydessä myös äidin vanhemmuuden heikompaan laatuun

Exploring perceptions of the COVID-19 infodemic

The flow of information about Covid-19 has caused an infodemic worldwide. This paper presents results from a survey study conducted in Finland in the spring of 2020. The aim is to explore the most important sources or channels for corona-related information in that early stage of the pandemic, as well as how the amount of information was perceived and which emotions were related to this information among 208 respondents aged 30 years and over. News media, social media and official information were most important. The amount of information was perceived as suitable by many, but others experienced an overload, and the obtained information largely raised negative emotions including concern, fatigue and irritation. The results hence largely follow earlier studies

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Executive functioning (EF) is one of the building blocks in parental caregiving behavior, and contextual variables have been reported to moderate the link between EF and caregiving behavior. Although psychological distress due to various factors is prevalent during early parenthood and is negatively associated with adult EF, it is not known whether psychological distress influences the maternal EF/caregiving link. This study explored the association between maternal EF and caregiving behavior (more specifically, Emotional Availability/EA), and whether single and cumulative maternal psychological distress domains moderated the EF/EA association in a general population sample of 137 Finnish birth cohort mothers with 2.5-year-old children. EF was measured with a composite of five computerized Cogstate tasks, EA with the Emotional Availability Scales, and three psychological distress domains with self-report questionnaires (depression: EPDS, anxiety: SCL-90, insomnia: AIS). Better EF was significantly associated with more positive, sensitive caregiving, but this association was no longer significant when controlling for education level. Neither individual nor cumulative distress domains moderated the EF/EA association significantly, although the observed moderation effects were in the expected direction. These findings suggest that EF should be recognized alongside socioemotional factors as variables that are associated with parental caregiving behavior during toddlerhood. Furthermore, if the non-significant moderation results are replicated, they indicate that mothers in community samples are not at great risk for psychological distress that would compromise their capacity to utilize their EF while caring for their child. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, as well as to examine these associations among fathers and in samples that have higher levels of chronic stressors. Studies with more diverse samples in terms of distress levels and EF performance would provide further insight into early childhood parenting and its risk factors

Behavioral regulatory problems are associated with a lower attentional bias to fearful faces during infancy

To investigate the role of early regulatory problems (RP), such as problems in feeding, sleeping, and calming down during later development, the association between parent‐reported RP at 3 months (no‐RP, n = 110; RP, n = 66) and attention to emotional faces at 8 months was studied. Eight‐month‐old infants had a strong tendency to look at faces and to specifically fearful faces, and the individual variance in this tendency was assessed with eye tracking using a face‐distractor paradigm. The early RPs were related to a lower attention bias to fearful faces compared to happy and neutral faces after controlling for temperamental negative affectivity. This suggests that early RPs are related to the processing of emotional information later during infancy.</p

Sleep during infancy, inhibitory control and working memory in toddlers: findings from the FinnBrain cohort study

Sleep difficulties are associated with impaired executive functions (EFs) in school-aged children. However, much less is known about how sleep during infancy relates to EF in infants and toddlers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parent-reported sleep patterns at 6 and 12 months were associated with their inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) performances at 30 months.Peer reviewe

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Executive functioning (EF) is one of the building blocks in parental caregiving behavior, and contextual variables have been reported to moderate the link between EF and caregiving behavior. Although psychological distress due to various factors is prevalent during early parenthood and is negatively associated with adult EF, it is not known whether psychological distress influences the maternal EF/caregiving link. This study explored the association between maternal EF and caregiving behavior (more specifically, Emotional Availability/EA), and whether single and cumulative maternal psychological distress domains moderated the EF/EA association in a general population sample of 137 Finnish birth cohort mothers with 2.5-year-old children. EF was measured with a composite of five computerized Cogstate tasks, EA with the Emotional Availability Scales, and three psychological distress domains with self-report questionnaires (depression: EPDS, anxiety: SCL-90, insomnia: AIS). Better EF was significantly associated with more positive, sensitive caregiving, but this association was no longer significant when controlling for education level. Neither individual nor cumulative distress domains moderated the EF/EA association significantly, although the observed moderation effects were in the expected direction. These findings suggest that EF should be recognized alongside socioemotional factors as variables that are associated with parental caregiving behavior during toddlerhood. Furthermore, if the non-significant moderation results are replicated, they indicate that mothers in community samples are not at great risk for psychological distress that would compromise their capacity to utilize their EF while caring for their child. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, as well as to examine these associations among fathers and in samples that have higher levels of chronic stressors. Studies with more diverse samples in terms of distress levels and EF performance would provide further insight into early childhood parenting and its risk factors.</p

The Stability of Early Developing Attentional Bias for Faces and Fear From 8 to 30 and 60 Months in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Most infants exhibit an attentional bias for faces and fearful facial expressions. These biases reduce toward the third year of life, but little is known about the development of the biases beyond early childhood. We used the same methodology longitudinally to assess attention disengagement patterns from nonface control pictures and faces (neutral, happy, and fearful expressions) in a large sample of children at 8, 30, and 60 months (N = 389/393/492, respectively; N = 72 for data in all three assessment; girls >45.3% in each assessment). "Face bias" was measured as a difference in disengagement probability (DP) from faces (neutral/happy) versus nonface patterns. "Fear bias" was calculated as a difference in DP for fearful versus happy/neutral faces. At group level, DPs followed a nonlinear longitudinal trajectory in all face conditions, being lowest at 8 months, highest at 30 months, and intermediate at 60 months. Face bias declined between 8 and 30 months, but did not change between 30 and 60 months. Fear bias declined linearly from 8 to 60 months. Individual differences in disengagement were generally not stable across age, but weak correlations were found in face bias between 8- and 60-month, and in DPs between 30- and 60-month (rs = .22-.41). The results suggest that prioritized attention to faces-that is, a hallmark of infant cognition and a key aspect of human social behavior-follows a nonlinear trajectory in early childhood and may have only weak continuity from infancy to mid childhood