Elsevier

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume 14, Issue 1, January–March 1991, Pages 37-50
Infant Behavior and Development

Psychophysiological characteristics of the regulatory disordered infant

https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-6383(91)90053-UGet rights and content

Abstract

This study examined the psychophysiological responses to sensory and cognitive challenges of 24 normal and 11 regulatory disordered infants (8–11 months). Regulatory disordered infants were defined as being behaviorally difficult and exhibiting disturbances in sleep, feeding, state control, self-calming, and mood regulation. Heart period and cardiac vagal tone were measured during baseline and during sensory and cognitive challenges. The regulatory disordered infants tended to have higher baseline vagal tone. Across groups there was a significant suppression of vagal tone during cognitive processing. Baseline vagal tone was correlated with the suppression of vagal tone during the cognitive task only for the normal infants. In contrast, the responses of the infants with regulatory disorders were heterogeneous. The results provide preliminary support for the hypothesized relationship between vagal tone and the regulatory disorder.

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    This research was supported, in part, by a National Institutes of Health grant (HD#22628) awarded to Stephen W. Porges and by the Cecil and Ida Green Research and Training Institute at the Regional Center for Infants and Young Children. Special thanks are expressed to Lisa Swenson for aiding in the data collection, to Evan Byrne for assistance in data analyses, and to Sue Carter and Jane Doussard-Roosevelt for editorial comments.

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