UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Brain-behavior correlations during proposed transitions in the mother-child relationship : an examination of behavior and face-processing in six-month- olds and toddlers Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5bn0p573 Author Swingler, Margaret M. Publication Date 2008 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Brain-behavior correlations during proposed transitions in the mother-child relationship: An examination of behavior and face processing in six-month-olds and toddlers A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology by Margaret M. Swingler Committee in charge: Professor Leslie J. Carver, Chair Professor Mark Appelbaum Professor Eric Courschesne Professor Gail Heyman Professor Jaime Pineda 2008 Copyright Margaret M. Swingler, 2008 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Margaret M. Swingler is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2008 iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, for their endless reminders to just keep going. To Riley and Aaron, who made the long journey to California, and the even longer journey through graduate school, with me. And to my sister, who is tired of all of the psychology talk. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page…………………………………………………………………..……iii Dedication.....................................................................................................................iv Table of contents……………………………………………………………………...v List of tables………………………...……………………………….......…………..vii List of figures……………………………………………………………...………...viii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….………..ix Curriculum Vita…..…….………………………………………………………….....xi Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...xiv Chapter I: Introduction……………………………………………………………….1 Chapter II: Relations between mother-child interactions and the neural correlates of face processing in 6-month-olds………..……………………………........................19 Abstract………………………………………………………………………20 Methods……………………………………………………………………....29 Results………………………………………………………………………..37 Discussion……………………………………………………………………42 References……………………………………………………………………50 Chapter III: Brain-behavior correlations in the development of the mother-child relationship……………………………………………………………...….……..….64 Abstract………………………………………………………………………65 Methods………………………………………………………………………77 Results…………………………………………………………………….….86 Discussion……………………………………………………………………90 References…………………………………………………………………..107 Chapter IV: Relations between age, behavior, and neural correlates of face recognition in toddlers……………….……………….………………………….…113 Abstract……………………………………………………………………..114 Methods……………………………………………………………………..122 Results………………………………………………………………………134 v Discussion……..……………………………………………………………141 References…………………………………………………………………..159 Chapter V: General Discussion…………………………….………………………162 References…………………………………………………………………..170 vi LIST OF TABLES Chapter II, Table 1: Description of behavioral procedure intervals, timing and activities for 6-month-old paper 1…..…............................................................……..56 Chapter II, Table 2: Descriptive statistics for FACE condition x LEAD location x HEMISPHERE groups in 6-month-old paper 1... ……………………………….......57 Chapter II, Table 3: Estimates of the relationship between proximity-seeking behaviors and Nc amplitude responses to the mother and stranger faces in 6-month- old paper 1 ……………………………………………………………... ...……........58 Chapter III, Table 1: Description of behavioral procedure intervals, timing and activities for 6-month-old paper 2……………………………………………............99 Chapter III, Table 2: Mother-child behavioral variables and P400 responses to mother and stranger faces.......................................................................................................100 Chapter III, Table 3: Infant distress upon separations and Nc amplitude at lateral electrode leads ………………………………………………........………...............101 Chapter III, Table 4: Mother-child behavioral variables and Nc latency at lateral electrode leads ……………………………………………………………………...102 Chapter IV, Table 1: Age and gender information for three groups of toddler participants………………………………………………………………………….151 Chapter IV, Table 2: Description of behavioral procedure intervals, timing and activities for the toddler study………………………………………………………152 Chapter IV, Table 3: Attachment behaviors coded on intervals of the behavioral procedure for the toddler study……………………………………………………..153 vii LIST OF FIGURES Chapter II, Figure 1: Schematic of electrode locations on the scalp for the ERP data collection with six-month-old participants…………………………………………..60 Chapter II, Figure 2: Grand Mean ERP response at each electrode averaged across all 6-month-old subjects for both conditions. Thick black lines represent the mean waveform response to the picture of the Mother and thin lines are the response to the picture of the Stranger. Arrow at F4 lead points to the Nc component……………...61 Chapter II, Figure 3: Relationship between 6-month-olds Proximity-Seeking Behaviors and Nc Amplitudes in Response to Mother's Face at left frontal electrode F3…………………………………………………………………………………….62 Chapter II, Figure 4: Relationship between 6-month-olds Proximity-Seeking Behaviors and Nc Amplitudes in Response to Stranger's Face at right frontal electrode F4………………………………………………………………………….63 Chapter III, Figure 1: Schematic of electrode locations on the scalp for the ERP data collection with six-month-old participants ………………………………………...104 Chapter III, Figure 2: Grand mean ERP waveforms exhibited by 6-month-old subjects for both conditions at electrodes included in analyses. Amplitude (µV) on the y axis and latency (ms) on the x axis; (—) mother face and (- - -) stranger face………….105 Chapter IV, Figure 1: Schematic of electrode locations on the scalp for the ERP data collection with toddler participants…………………………………………………155 Chapter IV, Figure 2: Main effect of age group for P400 amplitude to faces at occipital lead O2. Bonferroni corrected pairwise comparisons, Group 1 vs. Group 3, p= .003; Group 1 vs. Group 2, p= .082; Group 2 vs. Group 3, p= ns…......………..156 Chapter IV, Figure 3: Face condition by age group interaction for Nc amplitude at midline lead Fz, p =.062. Bonferroni corrected pairwise comparisons, Group 1 vs. Group 3, p= .023; Group 2 vs. Group 3, p= .10; Group 1 vs. Group 2, p= ns for the response to the stranger’s face only…………………………………………………………….…157 Chapter IV, Figure 4: Main effect of age group for Nc amplitude at lateral leads. Bonferroni corrected pairwise comparisons, Group 1 vs. Group 3, p< .001; Group 2 vs. Group 3, p= .065, Group 1 vs. Group 2, p= ns……………………………………….158 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my advisor, mentor and friend, Leslie Carver. I want to thank her for the gentle guidance she has given me in the last six years and the patience she has shown in allowing me to take a very long and circuitous path to the dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge Monica Sweet for her statistical guidance and for her role in getting work contained in this dissertation published. She has been a wonderful resource for a researcher in training. I would like to thank Lauren Cornew for always being willing to discuss theories, ideas and statistical analyses-- and for listening to complaints and frustrations when those theories, ideas and statistical analyses do not always work out. I am forever indebted to the many undergraduate research assistants who helped to collect and painstakingly code the data contained in this dissertation. I could not have done this work without them. Finally, I would like to thank the members of my committee for their support, guidance and input on this dissertation; I know it is a much stronger dissertation as a result. Chapter 2, in full, is a reprint of the material as it appears in Infancy 2007; Swingler, M.M., Sweet, M.A. & Carver, L.J.; 11(1), 63-86. The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this paper. ix Chapter 3, in full, has been re-submitted following revisions for publication of the material as it may appear in Developmental Psychology, Special issue on the Interplay between Biology and Environment, Swingler, M.M., Sweet, M.A. & Carver, L.J. The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this paper. x VITA Education: 2001 Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, North Carolina State University 2003 Master of Arts in Experimental Psychology, University of California, San Diego 2008 Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, University of California, San Diego Publications: Papers: Swingler, M.M., Sweet, M.A. & Carver, L.J. (2007). Relations between mother-child interactions and the neural correlates of face processing in 6-month-olds. Infancy, 11, 63-86. Swingler, M.M., Sweet, M.A., & Carver, L.J. (re-submitted). Brain-behavior correlations in the development of the mother-child relationship. Developmental Psychology, special issue on the Interplay of Biology and Environment.