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The development of regulatory functions from birth to 5 years: insights from premature infants

Ruth Feldman1

  • 1Department of Psychology and the Gonda Brain Sciences Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel 52900. feldman@mail.viu.ac.il

Child Development
|May 27, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Early physiological regulation, including vagal tone, significantly predicts later self-regulation in children. This developmental pathway involves emotional and attentional processes, highlighting the coherence of regulatory functions.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Child Development

Background:

  • Self-regulation is crucial for cognitive and social development.
  • Understanding the developmental origins of self-regulation is key.
  • Early regulatory functions may predict later self-regulatory capacities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine physiological, emotional, and attentional regulatory functions as predictors of self-regulation.
  • To investigate the developmental trajectory of regulatory functions from birth to five years.
  • To explore the coherence of the regulation construct and its neurobiological underpinnings.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 125 infants from birth to 5 years, with 7 assessment points.
  • Assessment of neonatal vagal tone and sleep-wake cyclicity for physiological regulation.
  • Measurement of emotion regulation (stress response) and attention regulation (focused attention, delayed response).
  • Evaluation of executive functions, behavioral adaptation, and self-restraint at 5 years.
  • Application of structural modeling to analyze developmental pathways.

Main Results:

  • Regulatory functions demonstrated stability across time, measures, and developmental levels.
  • Structural modeling revealed mediated paths from physiological regulation to self-regulation via emotional and attentional processes.
  • Direct continuity was observed between neonatal vagal tone and all levels of self-regulation.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support the coherence of the regulation construct across different domains and developmental stages.
  • Results align with neurobiological models of self-regulation and consciousness.
  • Early physiological regulation is a foundational element for developing self-regulatory capacities.

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