Early brain activity and parenting linked to infant anxiety risk
Official title: Precursors of Anxiety: The Role of Lateralized Brain Activation and Maternal Sensitivity
Funded at Washington State University · NIH-11505549 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how infants' early brain activity and mothers' sensitivity relate to fear behavior and later anxiety risk.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Washington State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pullman, United States) |
| Project start | February 1, 2022 |
| Project end | December 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $8,316 |
| NIH project number | 3R01MH125800-05S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11505549 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are infants in their first year of life and their mothers or primary caregivers who can attend in-person EEG and behavioral visits and complete questionnaires.
✕Less likely to help
Adults with long-standing anxiety or people outside the infant age range are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this work.
What this research studies
You and your baby would join regular visits where researchers record your baby's brain activity with EEG, observe fearful behaviors, and collect information about parenting and sensitivity. The team follows changes in left and right frontal brain activation across infancy and compares those shifts with how the baby's fearfulness develops. They also test whether more sensitive caregiving changes how brain patterns connect to anxiety risk. The study follows infants over time to identify early markers tied to later anxiety symptoms.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify infants at higher risk for anxiety earlier and point to parenting-focused strategies to reduce that risk.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have linked fearful temperament and right-frontal EEG patterns to later anxiety, but following dynamic hemispheric changes together with maternal sensitivity across infancy is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Washington State University
Pullman, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gartstein, Maria a. — Washington State University
- Study coordinator: Gartstein, Maria a.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.