Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

Development of neural mechanisms underlying joint attention during infancy using live-interaction electroencephalography (EEG).

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Ana Badal¹ (anabadal@yorku.ca), Lara Pierce¹; ¹York University

Understanding how socioeconomic disparities affect infants is crucial for optimizing long-term development. While prior research has explored the effects of low socioeconomic status (SES) and caregiver stress on developmental outcomes, less is known about how SES influences neural processes critical for social cognition and language through the infant’s interactions with their caregivers. Joint attention (JA), the shared focus between caregiver and infant, plays a key role in these neural pathways and serves as a valuable measure of interaction quality. This study examines whether JA engagement mediates the relationship between socioeconomic stress (SE-Stress) and infant neural activity during JA, and whether JA can buffer the negative effects of SE-Stress on neurodevelopment. Data from an ongoing longitudinal study of 6- to 12-month-old infants will be analyzed. Electroencephalography (EEG) will be recorded at baseline and during a novel live JA task, where caregivers and infants share attention over a picture book. Relative frontal alpha and theta power will be extracted. JA behaviors will be coded during a 10-minute free-play session. SE-Stress will be assessed via parent-report scales. Path analyses will test whether SE-Stress predicts changes in EEG power during JA, with JA engagement as a potential mediator. Associations between high SE-Stress and less and lower-quality JA, leading to altered neural activity in infants are predicted. However, higher-quality JA may buffer the impact of SE-Stress, preserving typical neural patterns. This study aims to clarify how early SE-stress affects early neural development to inform policies which aim to support families from underserved communities.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Development & aging