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An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children
Published on: October 4, 2018
Children's shyness and frontal electroencephalogram delta-beta correlation in the pediatric surgical setting
Jhanahan Sriranjan1,2, Cheryl H T Chow2, Kristie L Poole3
1Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Surgery
Background:
- Surgery presents a psychologically threatening situation for children, often causing preoperative anxiety.
- Children's temperament, including shyness, may influence their response to surgical settings.
- Frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) delta-beta correlation is a potential neural marker for emotion regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between shyness and frontal EEG delta-beta correlation in children anticipating surgery.
- To explore how shyness relates to preoperative anxiety and neural correlates of emotion regulation.
Main Methods:
- Seventy-one children undergoing elective surgery were assessed for shyness (self- and parent-reported).
- Frontal EEG measures and state anxiety were collected preoperatively and on the day of surgery.
- Latent cluster analysis identified low-shy and high-shy groups for comparison.
Main Results:
- High-shy children reported higher state anxiety compared to low-shy children.
- Frontal EEG delta-beta correlation increased from preoperative visit to surgery day only in low-shy children.
- This suggests differing emotion regulation strategies between shy and less shy children.
Conclusions:
- Shyness is associated with higher preoperative anxiety in children.
- Low-shy children may exhibit adaptive emotion regulation strategies during surgical anticipation, as indicated by EEG changes.
- Frontal EEG delta-beta correlation may differentiate emotion regulation patterns in children facing surgery.
Abstract:
The prospect of surgery is a unique psychologically threatening context for children, often leading to experiences of preoperative anxiety. Recent research suggests that individual differences in children's temperament may influence responses to the surgical setting. In the present study, we examined whether individual differences in shyness were related to differences in frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) delta-beta correlation, a proposed neural correlate of emotion regulation and dysregulation, among children anticipating surgery. Seventy-one children (36 boys, Mage = 10.3 years, SDage = 1.7 years) undergoing elective surgery self-reported on their own shyness, and their parents also reported on their child's shyness. Using a mobile, dry sensor EEG headband, frontal EEG measures were collected and self- and observer-reported measures of state anxiety were obtained at the children's preoperative visit (Time 1) and on the day of surgery (Time 2). A latent cluster analysis derived classes of low shy (n = 37) and high shy (n = 34) children using the child- and parent-reported shyness measures. We then compared the two classes on frontal EEG delta-beta correlation using between- and within-subjects analyses. Although children classified as high versus low in shyness had higher self- and observer-reported state anxiety across both time periods, frontal EEG delta-beta correlation increased from T1 to T2 only among low shy children using a between-subjects delta-beta correlation measure. We discuss the interpretation of a relatively higher delta-beta correlation as a correlate of emotion regulatory versus dysregulatory strategies for some children in a "real-world," surgical context.
