On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond

Endogenous testosterone and exogenous oxytocin influence the response to baby schema in the female brain

Nurturing behavior may be critically influenced by the interplay of different hormones. The neuropeptide oxytocin is known to promote maternal behavior and its reduction has been associated with postpartum depression risk and child neglect. Contrariwise, the observed decrease in testosterone level during early parenthood may benefit caretaking behavior, whereas increased testosterone may reduce attention to infants. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the interactive influence of testosterone and oxytocin on selective attention to and neural processing of the baby schema (BS). 57 nulliparous women performed a target detection task with human faces with varying degree of BS following double-blinded placebo-controlled oxytocin administration in a between-subjects design. Our results support the idea that oxytocin enhances attention to the BS. Oxytocin had a positive effect on activation of the inferior frontal junction during identification of infant targets with a high degree of BS that were presented among adult distractors. Further, activation of the putamen was positively correlated with selective attention to the BS, but only in women with high endogenous testosterone who received oxytocin. These findings provide initial evidence for the neural mechanism by which oxytocin may counteract the negative effects of testosterone in the modulation of nurturing behavior.

Subclinical maternal depressive symptoms modulate right inferior frontal response to inferring affective mental states of adults but not of infants

BACKGROUND

Being a mother of young children increases the risk of depression characterised by deficits in inferring what a person is feeling, i.e., affective theory of mind (aToM). Despite the adverse consequences for mothers, children, families, and society as a whole, little is known of how the brain functions underlying aToM ability are affected by subclinical maternal depressive symptoms, and act as a risk indicator for major depressive disorders (MDD).

METHODS

Thirty healthy mothers with varying levels of depressive symptoms underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing mind-reading tasks based on the emotional expressions of adult eyes and infant faces.

RESULTS

In the adult eyes-based mind-reading task, mothers with more severe depressive symptoms showed less activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a central part of the putative mirror neuron system (pMNS). This was unrelated to behavioural performance decline in the task. However, brain activation involved in the infant face-based mind-reading task was not affected by depressive symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

Although aToM ability, assessed by mind-reading tasks, can be distinguished from empathy, these can be interacting functions of the pMNS, wherein they could mutually affect each other.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that functional activation of the right IFG, which underlies aToM ability, has variable vulnerability to maternal depressive symptoms according to the type of social signal. This functional decline of the right IFG may be a risk indicator for clinical maternal depression, which is associated with impaired social functioning and communication conflicts with family members and other social supporters.

Neurobiology of culturally common maternal responses to infant cry

This report coordinates assessments of five types of behavioral responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries with neurobiological responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries and in experienced mothers and inexperienced nonmothers to infant cries and other emotional and control sounds. We found that 684 new primipara mothers in 11 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Kenya, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the United States) preferentially responded to their infants' vocalizing distress by picking up and holding and by talking to their infants, as opposed to displaying affection, distracting, or nurturing. Complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses of brain responses to their own infants' cries in 43 new primipara US mothers revealed enhanced activity in concordant brain territories linked to the intention to move and to speak, to process auditory stimulation, and to caregive [supplementary motor area (SMA), inferior frontal regions, superior temporal regions, midbrain, and striatum]. Further, fMRI brain responses to infant cries in 50 Chinese and Italian mothers replicated, extended, and, through parcellation, refined the results. Brains of inexperienced nonmothers activated differently. Culturally common responses to own infant cry coupled with corresponding fMRI findings to own infant and to generic infant cries identified specific, common, and automatic caregiving reactions in mothers to infant vocal expressions of distress and point to their putative neurobiological bases. Candidate behaviors embedded in the nervous systems of human caregivers lie at the intersection of evolutionary biology and developmental cultural psychology.

Seeing overweight adults as babies: Physical cues and implications for stigmatization

Human babies not only are reliable triggers of tender feelings and protective tendencies, they also happen to be exceptionally fat compared to the newborns of most other species. These two facts are used to formulate a hypothesis predicting that overweight males, due to their great physical resemblance to babies, not only are perceived as cute, but also are associated with negatively evaluated traits (e.g., immaturity, lack of willpower) that are saliently inconsistent with traits required for adults. In this study, a great many physical features of adult males varying widely in weight were measured and correlated with subjective judgements. Providing preliminary support for the hypothesis, it was found that the features that were correlated with objective and perceived fatness (e.g., circularity of body parts, relatively large head, short and thick neck) also correlated with perceived babyishness. Perceived fatness and babyishness had curvilinear influences on the positive and prosocial appraisal of cuteness, but were primarily negatively related to perceived willpower and beauty. Results are used to formulate an alternative evolutionary perspective on social responses to overweight and obese individuals, emphasizing the uniquely human adaptive value of fatness and the misfiring of the underlying response mechanism under modern conditions of living.

The Affective Core of Emotion: Linking Pleasure, Subjective Well-Being, and Optimal Metastability in the Brain

Arguably, emotion is always valenced-either pleasant or unpleasant-and dependent on the pleasure system. This system serves adaptive evolutionary functions; relying on separable wanting, liking, and learning neural mechanisms mediated by mesocorticolimbic networks driving pleasure cycles with appetitive, consummatory, and satiation phases. Liking is generated in a small set of discrete hedonic hotspots and coldspots, while wanting is linked to dopamine and to larger distributed brain networks. Breakdown of the pleasure system can lead to anhedonia and other features of affective disorders. Eudaimonia and well-being are difficult to study empirically, yet whole-brain computational models could offer novel insights (e.g., routes to eudaimonia such as caregiving of infants or music) potentially linking eudaimonia to optimal metastability in the pleasure system.

Changes in face-specific neural processing explain reduced cuteness and approachability of infants with cleft lip

The current study investigated whether changes in the neural processing of faces of infants with a facial abnormality - a cleft lip - mediate effects of the cleft lip on judgments of infant cuteness and approachability. Event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to pictures of faces of healthy infants and infants with a cleft lip, and ratings of cuteness and approachability of these infant faces, were obtained from 30 females. Infants with a cleft lip were rated as less attractive (less cute and approachable) than healthy infants, and both the N170 and P2 components of the ERP were of reduced amplitude in response to pictures of infants with a cleft lip. Importantly, decreased configural processing of infant faces with a cleft lip, as evidenced by reduced N170 amplitudes, mediated the reduced attractiveness ratings for infants with a cleft lip compared to healthy infants. Our findings help elucidate the mechanisms behind the less favorable responses to infants with a cleft lip, highlighting the role of face-specific rather than domain-general neural processes.

Parenting and addiction: neurobiological insights

Addiction remains a significant public health concern that affects multiple generations within families, and in particular the early relationship between parents and their developing child. This article will discuss recent advances in our understanding of the neurobiology of parenting and addiction. Specifically, the discussion will focus on the reward-stress dysregulation model of addicted parenting, which proposes that the dysregulation of stress and reward neural circuits by addiction represents a neurobiological pathway through which to understand how caregiving may be compromised in addicted parents. Empirical research in parents and non-parents will be discussed in support of this model and critical consideration of the model and its limitations will be provided.

Duration of motherhood has incremental effects on mothers' neural processing of infant vocal cues: a neuroimaging study of women

The transition to motherhood, and the resultant experience of caregiving, may change the way women respond to affective, infant signals in their environments. Nonhuman animal studies have robustly demonstrated that mothers process both infant and other salient signals differently from nonmothers. Here, we investigated how women with and without young infants respond to vocalisations from infants and adults (both crying and neutral). We examined mothers with infants ranging in age (1-14 months) to examine the effects of duration of maternal experience. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that mothers showed greater activity than nonmothers to vocalisations from adults or infants in a range of cortical regions implicated in the processing of affective auditory cues. This main effect of maternal status suggests a general difference in vocalisation processing across infant and adult sounds. We found that a longer duration of motherhood, and therefore more experience with an infant, was associated with greater infant-specific activity in key parental brain regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. We suggest that these incremental differences in neural activity in the maternal brain reflect the building of parental capacity over time. This is consistent with conceptualizations of caregiving as a dynamic, learning process in humans.

The other-race effect does not apply to infant faces: An ERP attentional study

It is known that paedomorphic characteristics, called "baby schema" by Lorenz, trigger an orienting response in adults, are judged as attractive and stimulate parental care. On the other hand, it is known that ethnicity may influence face encoding, with an advantage in recognizing faces of their own ethnicity (called own-race effect). Some have argued that this effect holds also for infant faces, which conflicts with the "baby schema" phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate the possible presence of the own-race effect on infant vs. adult face processing. Seventeen Caucasian students participated to the study. Their EEG/ERPs were recorded as they watched 400 pictures of adult and infant faces of different ethnicity (half Caucasian, half non-Caucasian), and subsequently responded to a target orientation. The behavioral results showed that responses were faster when the target was preceded by a child face, which enhanced the arousal level, regardless of ethnicity. The electrophysiological results showed an enhanced anterior N2 response to infant than adult faces, and a lack of ORE effect only for infant faces. Overall, the data indicate that baby faces automatically attract the adult viewer's attention and that face ethnicity has no effect on this innate response.

Do women tend while men fight or flee? Differential emotive reactions of stressed men and women while viewing newborn infants

Infant care often is carried out under stressful circumstances. Little is known about differences in caretaking motivation between men and women under stress. In the present study, stress was induced in 40 participants (21 women, 19 men) by means of the cold pressor stress test, 40 (22 women, 18 men) serving as controls. Participants then rated their urge to care for newborn infants shown on 20 short video clips. The infants in the videos were either crying (N=10) or were showing typical neonatal facial movements (N=10). Skin conductance was obtained while participants viewed the videos and salivary cortisol was measured to capture stress responses. We found sex differences in caretaking motivation, such that stress led to decreased caretaking motivation in men but not in women. Furthermore, stressed men elicited a stronger skin conductance change while viewing infant videos than stressed women. These findings provide further evidence for differential stress reactions in men and women and may have crucial implications for parental care.

Endogenous Testosterone and Exogenous Oxytocin Modulate Attentional Processing of Infant Faces

Evidence indicates that hormones modulate the intensity of maternal care. Oxytocin is known for its positive influence on maternal behavior and its important role for childbirth. In contrast, testosterone promotes egocentric choices and reduces empathy. Further, testosterone decreases during parenthood which could be an adaptation to increased parental investment. The present study investigated the interaction between testosterone and oxytocin in attentional control and their influence on attention to baby schema in women. Higher endogenous testosterone was expected to decrease selective attention to child portraits in a face-in-the-crowd-paradigm, while oxytocin was expected to counteract this effect. As predicted, women with higher salivary testosterone were slower in orienting attention to infant targets in the context of adult distractors. Interestingly, reaction times to infant and adult stimuli decreased after oxytocin administration, but only in women with high endogenous testosterone. These results suggest that oxytocin may counteract the adverse effects of testosterone on a central aspect of social behavior and maternal caretaking.

Prenatal Intuitive Coparenting Behaviors

Micro-analytic research on intuitive parenting behaviors has shed light on the temporal dynamics of parent and child interactions. Observations have shown that parents possess remarkable implicit communicative abilities allowing them to adapt to the clues infants give and therefore stimulate the development of many of the infants’ abilities, such as communication skills. This work focused on observing intuitive parenting behaviors that were synchronized and coordinated between the parents. We call them “prenatal intuitive coparenting behaviors” and used an observation task – the Prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play procedure – to observe them. For this task, the parents role-play their first encounter with their future baby, represented by a doll. Two cases from a study on pregnancy after assisted reproductive technology are provided to illustrate how these behaviors manifest themselves. The observations from the first case suggest that expectant parents can offer the baby a coparental framework, whereas the observations from the second case show that opportunities for episodes of prenatal intuitive coparenting can be missed due to certain relationship dynamics. These kinds of observations deepen our knowledge of the prenatal emergence of the coparenting relationship and allow us to hone our strategies for intervening during pregnancy with couples who experience coparenting difficulties. Furthermore, these observations provide a novel and complementary perspective on prenatal intuitive parenting and coparenting behaviors.