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The sleeping brain's connectivity and family environment: characterizing sleep EEG coherence in an infant cohort

Andjela Markovic1,2,3, Sarah F Schoch4,5,6, Reto Huber5,7,8

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. andjela.markovic@unifr.ch.

Scientific Reports
|February 4, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Infant sleep EEG coherence is linked to family environment. Co-sleeping and maternal anxiety are associated with specific brain connectivity patterns in babies, offering targets for early health interventions.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Sleep Science

Background:

  • Brain connectivity, measured by sleep EEG coherence, changes during development.
  • Environmental factors influence brain connectivity, but family environment's role in infant sleep EEG coherence is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between family environment factors and sleep EEG coherence in 6-month-old infants.
  • To identify specific brain connectivity patterns related to co-sleeping and maternal anxiety.

Main Methods:

  • High-density sleep EEG was recorded in 31 healthy infants.
  • A data-driven approach identified strongly synchronized clusters of EEG coherence.
  • Associations between coherence in these clusters and family environment factors were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Greatest coherence clusters were found in the frontal lobe.
  • Infants sleeping in parents' rooms showed higher left frontal delta coherence.
  • Sharing a room with siblings correlated with greater central frontal delta coherence.
  • Lower occipital delta coherence was linked to maternal anxiety about infant sleep.

Conclusions:

  • Infant sleep EEG coherence is associated with family environment factors like co-sleeping and maternal anxiety.
  • These findings suggest potential targets within the immediate family environment for early health interventions.
  • Specific brain connectivity patterns in infants may reflect early social and emotional experiences.

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