Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism?
Young children transition in and out of synchronous states with their caregivers across physiology, behavior, and brain activity, but what do these synchronous periods mean? One body of two-brain studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) finds that individual, family, and moment-to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929324001439 |
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| author | Ellen C. Roche Elizabeth Redcay Rachel R. Romeo |
| author_facet | Ellen C. Roche Elizabeth Redcay Rachel R. Romeo |
| author_sort | Ellen C. Roche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Young children transition in and out of synchronous states with their caregivers across physiology, behavior, and brain activity, but what do these synchronous periods mean? One body of two-brain studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) finds that individual, family, and moment-to-moment behavioral and contextual factors are associated with caregiver-child neural synchrony, while another body of literature finds that neural synchrony is associated with positive child outcomes. Taken together, it is tempting to conclude that caregiver-child neural synchrony may act as a foundational developmental mechanism linking children’s experiences to their healthy development, but many questions remain. In this review, we synthesize recent findings and open questions from caregiver-child studies using fNIRS, which is uniquely well suited for use with caregivers and children, but also laden with unique constraints. Throughout, we highlight open questions alongside best practices for optimizing two-brain fNIRS to examine hypothesized developmental mechanisms. We particularly emphasize the need to consider immediate and global stressors as context for interpretation of neural synchrony findings, and the need for full inclusion of socioeconomically and racially diverse families in future studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-746b2064b1944121be2cc2c0d6caabad |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1878-9293 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-746b2064b1944121be2cc2c0d6caabad2025-01-22T05:41:16ZengElsevierDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience1878-92932025-01-0171101482Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism?Ellen C. Roche0Elizabeth Redcay1Rachel R. Romeo2Corresponding author.; Language, Experience, and Development (LEAD) Lab, Benjamin Building (4th Floor), 3942 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20742, United StatesLanguage, Experience, and Development (LEAD) Lab, Benjamin Building (4th Floor), 3942 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20742, United StatesLanguage, Experience, and Development (LEAD) Lab, Benjamin Building (4th Floor), 3942 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20742, United StatesYoung children transition in and out of synchronous states with their caregivers across physiology, behavior, and brain activity, but what do these synchronous periods mean? One body of two-brain studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) finds that individual, family, and moment-to-moment behavioral and contextual factors are associated with caregiver-child neural synchrony, while another body of literature finds that neural synchrony is associated with positive child outcomes. Taken together, it is tempting to conclude that caregiver-child neural synchrony may act as a foundational developmental mechanism linking children’s experiences to their healthy development, but many questions remain. In this review, we synthesize recent findings and open questions from caregiver-child studies using fNIRS, which is uniquely well suited for use with caregivers and children, but also laden with unique constraints. Throughout, we highlight open questions alongside best practices for optimizing two-brain fNIRS to examine hypothesized developmental mechanisms. We particularly emphasize the need to consider immediate and global stressors as context for interpretation of neural synchrony findings, and the need for full inclusion of socioeconomically and racially diverse families in future studies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929324001439Neural synchronyFNIRSInclusionStress |
| spellingShingle | Ellen C. Roche Elizabeth Redcay Rachel R. Romeo Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Neural synchrony FNIRS Inclusion Stress |
| title | Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? |
| title_full | Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? |
| title_fullStr | Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? |
| title_short | Caregiver-child neural synchrony: Magic, mirage, or developmental mechanism? |
| title_sort | caregiver child neural synchrony magic mirage or developmental mechanism |
| topic | Neural synchrony FNIRS Inclusion Stress |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929324001439 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ellencroche caregiverchildneuralsynchronymagicmirageordevelopmentalmechanism AT elizabethredcay caregiverchildneuralsynchronymagicmirageordevelopmentalmechanism AT rachelrromeo caregiverchildneuralsynchronymagicmirageordevelopmentalmechanism |