Infant and Child Temperament and Cerebral Asymmetry

Over the last number of years we have been following two cohorts of children, starting with assessments at 4 months of age and continuing until 7 years of age. This project focuses on the investigation of two behavioral types of children: fearful and exuberant. At various points throughout this time period we assessed social behavior in the laboratory and we also collected a variety of psychophysiological measures from the children. The focus of the psychophysiological analyses has been on frontal EEG asymmetry: A variety of data from a number of different sources suggest that the frontal cortex is differentially specialized for the experience and expression of different types of emotions. Rather than view these differences as reflecting the valence of emotion (positive/negative) we view frontal lateral specialization as revolving around two different motivational systems: the approach system and the withdrawal system. In these two cohorts of children, we have investigated the degree to which individuals display resting frontal EEG asymmetry and the relations between that asymmetry and their tendency to express emotions involved in either approach or withdrawal.

This study is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) HD# 17899.

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Nathan A. Fox

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