About this session

Saturday, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Neural Biomarkers Underlying the Developmental Psychopathology of Internalizing Problems in Early Childhood

Internalizing disorders are the most common manifestation of psychopathology in youth. Vulnerability may arise from aberrant development of neural networks during sensitive periods. Limited research has addressed how early measures of brain activity predict internalizing problems. The three papers comprising this symposium examined several neurophysiology measures (event-related potential [ERP], frontal alpha asymmetry [FAA], functional connectivity [FC]) in relation to internalizing problems in early childhood. The first two papers focused on the role of such measures in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms, as parental histories of depression and anxiety are robust risk factors for child internalizing problems. The first paper, informed by the Adaptive Calibration Model (ACM), examined whether child ERP responses to emotional faces mediated and/or moderated the association between maternal and child symptoms and found a moderation effect: Larger ERP amplitudes at age 3 magnified the effects of maternal symptoms on child symptoms at age 5. The second study similarly applied the ACM to examine the role of FAA and found a mediation effect: Maternal symptoms at age 3 were associated with child right FAA at age 5, which was associated with child symptoms at age 7. The final paper examined associations of FAA and FC with temperament in early childhood and internalizing problems in middle childhood and found evidence that these brain measures may represent shared neural circuitry that link temperament with later psychopathology. Together, these papers highlight neural markers that may influence risk for childhood internalizing problems. Such information may enhance identification, prevention, and treatment efforts.

Paper #1
Title	The Role of Children’s Neural Responses to Emotional Faces in the Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety
Presenting author	Finola Eileen Kane-Grade, University of Minnesota, United States

Paper #2
Title	EEG Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Mediates the Association between Maternal and Child Internalizing Symptoms in Childhood
Presenting author	Dr. Dashiell Sacks, Harvard Medical School, United States

Paper #3
Title	From Temperament to Psychopathology: Roles of Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Brain Connectivity in Early Childhood
Presenting author	Dr. Wanze Xie, Peking University, China

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Session chair
Dr. Michelle Bosquet Enlow, Ph.D., Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States

Discussant
Charles A. Nelson, III, Ph.D., Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, United States

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