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Electroencephalogram asymmetry in response to the approach of a stranger and maternal separation in 10-month-old infants
Developmental Psychology
Format: Journal Article
Publication Year: 1987
Pages: 233-240
Library/Archive: (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved
Sources ID: 22640
Visibility: Private
Zotero Collections: Contexts of Contemplation Project
Abstract: (Show)

We recently reported the presence of reliable asymmetries in frontal-brain electrical activity in infants that distinguished between certain positive- and negative-affect elicitors. In order to explore the degree to which these asymmetries in brain activity are associated with individual differences in affective response, 35 ten-month-old female infants were presented with a stranger-approach, mother-approach, and maternal-separation experience while an electroencephalogram (EEG) from the left- and right-frontal and left- and right-parietal scalp regions was recorded and facial and other behavioral responses were videotaped. Changes in frontal-EEG asymmetry reflected behavioral changes between conditions. In addition, individual differences in affective response to separation were related to differences in frontal-brain asymmetries. These findings indicate that lawful changes exist in asymmetries of frontal-brain activation during the expression of certain emotions in the first year of life and that individual differences in emotional responsivity are related to these measures of brain activity.

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