Career: using novel neural measures to investigate attention bias

The National Science Foundation SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities awarded the University of Southern California $884,290 on October 1, 2026, under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075) to investigate developmental trajectories of infant attention to emotional information using novel electroencephalography measures.

The project employs a longitudinal design to examine how infants process emotional information in facial expressions across early development and how attention patterns relate to later developmental outcomes and established early risk factors for anxiety, including infant temperament and maternal anxiety. The research integrates infant brain activity measures with behavioral observations, parent reports of maternal mental health and infant socioemotional development, and ecological momentary assessment protocols capturing mothers' moment-to-moment emotional experiences. The work aims to improve early identification of mental health risk and inform prevention of anxiety disorders. Broader impacts include expanding neuroscience training and partnering with participants to create science-based parenting resources for families and the public to promote science literacy.

Performance occurs at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, with a period of performance from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2031. The assistance type is a Project Grant.

Abstract

Attention is an important aspect of cognition. Attention to emotional information, in particular, shapes how individuals develop and, in some cases, contributes to mental health problems. From infancy, individuals preferentially attend to emotionally salient information, such as information in facial expressions. However, how these patterns of attention develop during the first months of life, a period of rapid brain growth, remains poorly understood. Understanding these attention processes could improve early identification of risk for mental health problems and inform the prevention of disorders such as anxiety. Using new measures of infant brain activity, this project seeks to examine how infants process emotional information, how attention to this information emerges and changes across development, and how these attention processes relate to later developmental outcomes. Broader impacts include expanding training in neuroscience and, in partnership with participants, creating science-based parenting resources for families and the broader public to promote science literacy. This project uses a longitudinal design and novel electroencephalography (EEG) measures to characterize developmental trajectories of attention to emotional information in facial expressions and their relations to emotional development. The project aims to (1) examine developmental changes in attention across infancy and (2) test how brain-based measures of attention relate to established early risk factors for anxiety, including infant temperament and maternal anxiety. The project integrates measures of infant brain activity with behavioral observations, parent reports of maternal mental health and infant socioemotional development, as well as a novel ecological momentary assessment protocol to capture mothers? Moment-to-moment emotional experiences in daily life. This work aims to advance understanding of early attention processes and their neural bases, with implications for identifying risk and resilience, as well as broader theories of how infant and contextual factors shape brain development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.