Natalie Brito

nataliebrito.bsky.social

16 September 2026 15:44

Greater maternal anxiety was linked to lower infant RSA among highly synchronous dyads, but not less synchronous dyads. This suggests that the physiological attunement that may support infant regulation could also intensify transmission of maternal emotional states. Context matters!

Natalie Brito

nataliebrito.bsky.social

16 September 2026 15:44

And babies develop these regulatory systems in close connection with their caregivers. A second paper examined how mother–infant physiological synchrony and maternal anxiety relate to infant autonomic and neural function at 3 and 9 months. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42585979/

Natalie Brito

nataliebrito.bsky.social

16 September 2026 15:44

These findings suggest that coordination between parasympathetic signals and cortical activity may help set the stage for attention, even in the first few months of life. An early glimpse of how brain and body work together to support engagement with the world!

Natalie Brito

nataliebrito.bsky.social

16 September 2026 15:44

Coupling was strongest for frontal theta activity, and its temporal pattern was associated with infant sustained attention. One especially interesting finding: theta–RSA and alpha–RSA coupling peaked as babies oriented to the video, just before sustained attention began.

Natalie Brito

nataliebrito.bsky.social

16 September 2026 15:44

Simultaneous EEG and ECG were recorded from 81 infants watching an engaging video. Results revealed frequency- and region-specific coupling: theta and alpha amplitude were positively linked to RSA, peaking when RSA preceded neural activity. Frontal beta amplitude showed inverse coupling.