Does neural face processing explain effects of an attachment-based intervention on maternal sensitivity? A randomized controlled study including pre- and postintervention measures.

Background: Although there is a large body of literature highlighting the behavioral effects of parenting interventions, studies on the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in such intervention effects remain scarce.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to test whether changes in neural face processing (as reflected in N170 amplitudes) would act as a mediator in the association between the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) and maternal sensitivity.

Methods: A total of 66 mothers of whom a random 33% received the VIPP-SD and the others a "dummy" intervention participated in pre- and postintervention assessments.

Does maternal inhibitory control mediate effects of a parenting intervention on maternal sensitive discipline? Evidence from a randomized-controlled trial.

The quality of parenting greatly impacts child development, highlighting the importance of support programs that effectively improve parenting. Studies on successful intervention programs define their efficacy by gains in parenting and/or child development. However, much remains unknown about the internal processes that explain how parenting interventions bring about their effects.

Video-feedback promotes sensitive limit-setting in parents of twin preschoolers: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Primary aim of the current randomized controlled trial was to test the effectiveness of the parenting intervention 'Video-feedback to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline' (VIPP-SD) in a sample of parents of preschool-aged twins, as well as differential susceptibility to intervention efforts, that is, whether more temperamentally reactive parents would profit more from the VIPP-SD than parents with lower reactivity.

Methods: The sample consisted of 202 families with same-sex twins [N = 404 children, mean age 45 months (SD = 6.81)].

Neural and behavioral signatures of social evaluation and adaptation in childhood and adolescence: The Leiden consortium on individual development (L-CID).

The transition period between early childhood and late adolescence is characterized by pronounced changes in social competence, or the capacity for flexible social adaptation. Here, we propose that two processes, self-control and prosociality, are crucial for social adaptation following social evaluation. We present a neurobehavioral model showing commonalities in neural responses to experiences of social acceptance and rejection, and multiple pathways for responding to social context.

How Heritable are Parental Sensitivity and Limit-Setting? A Longitudinal Child-Based Twin Study on Observed Parenting.

We examined the relative contribution of genetic, shared environmental and non-shared environmental factors to the covariance between parental sensitivity and limit-setting observed twice in a longitudinal study using a child-based twin design. Parental sensitivity and parental limit-setting were observed in 236 parents with each of their same-sex toddler twin children (M  = 3.8 years; 58% monozygotic).

Effects of parental sensitivity in different contexts on children's hot and cool effortful control.

To thrive as an individual and within society, children need to develop the ability to control their behavior. Using a twin design, we estimated the relative influence of genetic, shared, and unique environmental factors on hot and cool effortful control (EC). Furthermore, we investigated whether parental sensitivity in a play, task, or discipline context when the children were on average 3.

Effects of the Video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting and sensitive discipline on mothers' neural responses to child faces: A randomized controlled ERP study including pre- and post-intervention measures.

Parenting interventions have proven to be effective in enhancing positive parenting behavior and child outcomes. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms explaining the efficacy remain largely unknown. We tested effects of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) on mothers' neural processing of child faces.

Behavioral genetics of temperament and frontal asymmetry in early childhood.

Temperament has been suggested to be influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The current study examined genetic shared environmental and unique environmental factors accounting for variation in Fear, Effortful Control (EC), and Frontal Asymmetry (FA) in 4- to 6-year-old children using bivariate behavioral genetic modeling. We included a total of 214 same-sex twin pairs: 127 monozygotic (MZ) and 87 dizygotic (DZ) pairs.

The neural correlates of dealing with social exclusion in childhood.

Observing social exclusion can be a distressing experience for children that can be followed by concerns for self-inclusion (self-concerns), as well as prosocial behavior to help others in distress (other-concerns). Indeed, behavioral studies have shown that observed social exclusion elicits prosocial compensating behavior in children, but motivations for the compensation of social exclusion are not well understood. To distinguish between self-concerns and other-concerns when observing social exclusion in childhood, participants (aged 7-10) played a four-player Prosocial Cyberball Game in which they could toss a ball to three other players.

Social judgments, frontal asymmetry, and aggressive behavior in young children: A replication study using EEG.

Early in their lives young children are confronted with social judgments by peers. Previous studies have shown that in adults negative social judgments are associated with more aggressive behavior. However, little is known about the relation between social judgments and aggressive behavior, or the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms, in early childhood.

Which neural mechanisms mediate the effects of a parenting intervention program on parenting behavior: design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) has proven effective in increasing parental sensitivity. However, the mechanisms involved are largely unknown. In a randomized controlled trial we examine parental neurocognitive factors that may mediate the intervention effects on parenting behavior.

Amygdala habituation to emotional faces in adolescents with internalizing disorders, adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related PTSD and healthy adolescents.

Adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related post-traumatic stress disorder (CSA-related PTSD) show a large overlap in symptomatology. In addition, brain research indicated hyper-responsiveness and sustained activation instead of habituation of amygdala activation to emotional faces in both groups. Little is known, however, about whether the same patterns of amygdala habituation are present in these two groups.

The Prosocial Cyberball Game: Compensating for social exclusion and its associations with empathic concern and bullying in adolescents.

In this study we examined prosocial compensating behavior towards socially excluded ingroup and outgroup members by using a 'Prosocial Cyberball Game' in 9-17 year old Dutch adolescents (N = 133). Results showed that adolescents compensated for the social exclusion of an unknown peer in a virtual ball tossing game, by tossing the ball more often to that player in compensation conditions compared to the fair play condition. The proportion of tosses towards the excluded player did not significantly differ as a function of the group status of that player.

Efficacy of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline in Twin Families (VIPP-Twins): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Intervention programs with the aim of enhancing parenting quality have been found to be differentially effective in decreasing negative child outcomes such as externalizing behavioral problems, resulting in modest overall effect sizes. Here we present the protocol for a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline for Twin Families (VIPP-Twins) on parenting quality and children's behavioral control and social competence. In addition, we aim to test the differential susceptibility theory; we examine differential efficacy of the intervention based on genetic make-up or temperament for both parents and children.

Amygdala activation during emotional face processing in adolescents with affective disorders: the role of underlying depression and anxiety symptoms.

Depressive and anxiety disorders are often first diagnosed during adolescence and it is known that they persist into adulthood. Previous studies often tried to dissociate depressive and anxiety disorders, but high comorbidity makes this difficult and maybe even impossible. The goal of this study was to use neuroimaging to test what the unique contribution is of depression and anxiety symptomatology on emotional processing and amygdala activation, and to compare the results with a healthy control group.

Aberrant resting-state functional connectivity in limbic and salience networks in treatment--naïve clinically depressed adolescents.

Background: Depression is prevalent and typically has its onset in adolescence. Resting-state fMRI could help create a better understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms during this critical period. In this study, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is examined using seed regions-of-interest (ROIs) associated with three networks: the limbic network, the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network.

How stable is activation in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex in adolescence? A study of emotional face processing across three measurements.

Prior developmental functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated elevated activation patterns in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC) in response to viewing emotional faces. As adolescence is a time of substantial variability in mood and emotional responsiveness, the stability of activation patterns could be fluctuating over time. In the current study, 27 healthy adolescents (age: 12-19 years) were scanned three times over a period of six months (mean test-retest interval of three months; final samples N=27, N=22, N=18).

Better than expected or as bad as you thought? The neurocognitive development of probabilistic feedback processing.

Learning from feedback lies at the foundation of adaptive behavior. Two prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that there are qualitative differences in how children and adults use feedback by demonstrating that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and parietal cortex were more active after negative feedback for adults, but after positive feedback for children. In the current study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test whether this difference is related to valence or informative value of the feedback by examining neural responses to negative and positive feedback while applying probabilistic rules.