2-Brain Regulation to Achieve Improved Neuroprotection During Early Development

Each year 15 million infants are born preterm (PT). Even without severe comorbidities, they are exposed to sensory stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay and are at greater risk of neurodevelopmental problems compared to full-term (FT) counterparts in the short- and long-term period. Altered biobehavioral interpersonal synchrony patterns are documented in PT parent-infant dyads and might contribute to detrimental outcomes. Electroencephalographic (EEG) hyperscanning provides innovative real-time central biomarkers of brain-to-brain co-regulation; it was never applied to PT mother-infant dyads. Early parenting video-feedback (VF) interventions promote at-risk infants' neurodevelopment, yet action mechanisms are partially unknown. The present longitudinal project aims (a) to compare indexes of brain-to-brain co-regulation between dyads of full-term (FT) and VPT infants interacting with their mothers and (b) to investigate the effect of an early post-discharge VF intervention on the brain-to-brain co-regulation indexes of VPT dyads. This study will establish translational hyperscanning as a new field of innovative research with crucial clinical implications.