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Sensorimotor Activity and Network Connectivity to Dynamic and Static Emotional Faces in 7-Month-Old Infants

Ermanno Quadrelli1,2, Elisa Roberti1,2, Silvia Polver1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Edificio U6, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milano, Italy.

Brain Sciences
|November 27, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Seven-month-old infants show sensorimotor brain activation when viewing happy faces dynamically. Dynamic emotional faces are processed more efficiently by infant brain networks compared to static ones.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Infant Psychology

Background:

  • Adults recruit sensorimotor brain areas when observing emotional facial expressions.
  • Understanding early infant responses to emotional stimuli is crucial for developmental research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if 7-month-old infants' sensorimotor brain areas activate in response to observing emotional facial expressions.
  • To compare the processing of static versus dynamic emotional facial expressions in infants.
  • To explore the functional localization and network efficiency of neural activity during emotional face perception.

Main Methods:

  • Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded sensorimotor cortex activity (µ rhythm suppression) in 38 infants (7 months old).
  • Infants observed neutral, happy, and angry facial expressions in static and dynamic conditions.
  • Graph theory analysis assessed functional localization and network properties of neural activity.

Main Results:

  • Dynamic happy facial expressions elicited greater sensorimotor activation than angry faces in infants.
  • Happy expressions showed significant right-lateralized sensorimotor activation in the dynamic condition.
  • Dynamic emotional faces led to more efficient brain network processing (higher global efficiency, lower network diameter) than static faces.

Conclusions:

  • Happy facial expressions, unlike neutral or angry ones, activate sensorimotor areas in 7-month-old infants.
  • Dynamic emotional faces are processed more efficiently by infant functional brain networks.
  • Evidence suggests right-lateralized brain activity for processing happy facial expressions in early infancy.

Keywords:
emotionfacesfunctional connectivityinfantmu rhythmsensorimotor cortex

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