The functional neuroanatomy of the evolving parent–infant relationship

The role of acoustic features of maternal infant-directed singing in enhancing infant sensorimotor, language and socioemotional development

The quality of infant-directed speech (IDS) and infant-directed singing (IDSi) are considered vital to children, but empirical studies on protomusical qualities of the IDSi influencing infant development are rare. The current prospective study examines the role of IDSi acoustic features, such as pitch variability, shape and movement, and vocal amplitude vibration, timbre, and resonance, in associating with infant sensorimotor, language, and socioemotional development at six and 18 months. The sample consists of 236 Palestinian mothers from Gaza Strip singing to their six-month-olds a song by their own choice. Maternal IDSi was recorded and analyzed by the OpenSMILE- tool to depict main acoustic features of pitch frequencies, variations, and contours, vocal intensity, resonance formants, and power. The results are based on completed 219 maternal IDSi. Mothers reported about their infants' sensorimotor, language-vocalization, and socioemotional skills at six months, and psychologists tested these skills by Bayley Scales for Infant Development at 18 months. Results show that maternal IDSi characterized by wide pitch variability and rich and high vocal amplitude and vibration were associated with infants' optimal sensorimotor, language vocalization, and socioemotional skills at six months, and rich and high vocal amplitude and vibration predicted these optimal developmental skills also at 18 months. High resonance and rhythmicity formants were associated with optimal language and vocalization skills at six months. To conclude, the IDSi is considered important in enhancing newborn and risk infants' wellbeing, and the current findings argue that favorable acoustic singing qualities are crucial for optimal multidomain development across infancy.

Validation of the Edited Tromsø Infant Faces Database (E-TIF): A study on differences in the processing of children's emotional expressions

Images of emotional facial expressions are often used in emotion research, which has promoted the development of different databases. However, most of these standardized sets of images do not include images from infants under 2 years of age, which is relevant for psychology research, especially for perinatal psychology. The present study aims to validate the edited version of the Tromsø Infant Faces Database (E-TIF) in a large sample of participants. The original set of 119 pictures was edited. The pictures were cropped to remove nonrelevant information, fitted in an oval window, and converted to grayscale. Four hundred and eighty participants (72.9% women) took part in the study, rating the images on five dimensions: depicted emotion, clarity, intensity, valence, and genuineness. Valence scores were useful for discriminating between positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions. Results revealed that women were more accurate at recognizing emotions in children. Regarding parental status, parents, in comparison with nonparents, rated neutral expressions as more intense and genuine. They also rated sad, angry, disgusted, and fearful faces as less negative, and happy expressions as less positive. The editing and validation of the E-TIF database offers a useful tool for basic and experimental research in psychology.

An in-depth analysis of the polyvagal theory in light of current findings in neuroscience and clinical research

The polyvagal theory has led to the understanding of the functions of the autonomic nervous system in biological development in humans, since the vagal system, a key structure within the polyvagal theory, plays a significant role in addressing challenges of the mother-child dyad. This article aims to summarize the neurobiological aspects of the polyvagal theory, highlighting some of its strengths and limitations through the lens of new evidence emerging in several research fields-including comparative anatomy, embryology, epigenetics, psychology, and neuroscience-in the 25 years since the theory's inception. Rereading and incorporating the polyvagal idea in light of modern scientific findings helps to interpret the role of the vagus nerve through the temporal dimension (beginning with intrauterine life) and spatial dimension (due to the numerous connections of the vagus with various structures and systems) in the achievement and maintenance of biopsychosocial well-being, from the uterus to adulthood.

Control over emotional facial expressions: Evidence from facial EMG and ERPs in a Stroop-like task

Facial expressions carry important social signals that must be precisely regulated despite potentially conflicting demands on veridicality, communicative intent, and the social situation. In a sample of 19 participants we investigated the challenges of deliberately controlling two facial expressions (smiles and frowns) by the emotional congruency with the expressions of adult and infant counterparts. In a Stroop-like task requiring participants' deliberate expressions of anger or happiness, we investigated the impact of task-irrelevant background pictures of adults and infants showing negative, neutral, or positive facial expressions. Participants' deliberate expressions were measured with electromyogram (EMG) of the M. zygomaticus major and M. corrugator supercilii. The latencies of EMG onsets revealed similar congruency effects for smiles and frowns with significant facilitation and inhibition components relative to the neutral condition. Interestingly, the facilitation effect for frown responses by negative facial expressions was significantly smaller vis a vis infant as compared to adult background faces. This diminished facilitation of frowns by infant's expressions of distress may relate to the activation of caregiver behavior or empathy. We investigated the neural correlates of the observed performance effects by recording event-related-potentials (ERPs). Increased amplitudes in ERP components were observed in incongruent relative to neutral conditions, revealing interference effects on both types of deliberate facial expressions, at different processing stages, namely, structural facial encoding (N170), conflict monitoring (N2), to semantic analysis (N400).

Relationships among autistic traits, depression, anxiety, and maternal-infant bonding in postpartum women

BACKGROUND

Although several studies have found significant relationships between autistic traits and depression/anxiety, the relationships between autistic traits and postpartum depression/anxiety remain unclear. Moreover, few studies have examined the relationships between autistic traits and mother-infant bonding while considering depression or anxiety.

METHODS

This study used a cross-sectional data analysis design. Participants were 2692 women who completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) at 1 month postpartum. We performed path analysis that included parity, the five AQ subscales (social skills, attention switching, attention to detail, communication, and imagination), both HADS subscales (anxiety and depression), and the two MIBS subscales (lack of affection and anger and rejection).

RESULTS

Our path analysis revealed that higher scores for social skills, attention switching, communication, and imagination were associated with higher scores for depression. Higher scores for social skills, attention switching, attention to detail, and communication were associated with higher scores for anxiety. Moreover, difficulties in social skills and imagination were associated with failure of maternal-infant bonding. However, more attention to detail was associated with better maternal-infant bonding.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that maternal autistic traits are related to anxiety and depression to a certain degree, but only slightly related to maternal-infant bonding at 1 month postpartum. To improve autistic women's quality of life and that of their newborns, perinatal mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and maternal-fetal bonding difficulties should be appropriately addressed.

Channeling of Brain Towards Engaging Sensorimotor Tasks for Inducing Hedonic Pleasure to Alleviate Blood Pressure in Hypertension

Background

Hypertension is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is responsible for major deaths due to stroke and coronary heart disease. Several pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for reducing blood pressure have been tried earlier. Modulating brain regions such as prefrontal cortex (PFC) to channelize activities is an effective tool to target blood pressure.

Purpose

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) exerts inhibitory control over sympathoexcitatory circuits, which was explored using a novel reaction time paradigm.

Methods

Thirty participants of both genders in the age group 40-70 years with established hypertension were included. A structured reaction time paradigm was designed to include psychomotor and visuomotor elements with integrated sensory attention and motor performance tasks. Blood pressure, Lead II ECG, and EEG from F3 and F4 were recorded. A paired t-test was used to examine the variations in these parameters across tasks.

Results

A significant reduction in mean arterial pressure by 4.04 mmHg (p = .0232) during the visuomotor task and a reduction of 3.38 mmHg during the auditory cue task (p = .0446) were observed. Analysis of the difference in heart rate has shown a profound decrease after passive listening tasks by 3.7 beats (p < .0001*). Spectral analysis from F3 and F4 shows high power in low-frequency zone of EEG indicating a relaxed state during auditory cues and passive listening.

Conclusion

The reaction time paradigm, when applied to hypertensives, helped decrease blood pressure and heart rate and improved the high frequency (HF) component of heart rate variability, indicating parasympathetic dominance. Such reward-oriented paradigms may act as biofeedback modules that cause hyperactivity of the PFC to suppress the sympathoexcitatory circuit with increased parasympathetic activity beneficial to hypertensive individuals.

Systematic Review of Affective Computing Techniques for Infant Robot Interaction

Research studies on social robotics and human-robot interaction have gained insights into factors that influence people’s perceptions and behaviors towards robots. However, adults’ perceptions of robots may differ significantly from those of infants. Consequently, extending this knowledge also to infants’ attitudes toward robots is a growing field of research. Indeed, infant-robot interaction (IRI) is emerging as a critical and necessary area of research as robots are increasingly used in social environments, such as caring for infants with all types of disabilities, companionship, and education. Although studies have been conducted on the ability of robots to positively engage infants, little is known about the infants’ affective state when interacting with a robot. In this systematic review, technologies for infant affective state recognition relevant to IRI applications are presented and surveyed. Indeed, adapting techniques currently employed for infant’s emotion recognition to the field of IRI results to be a complex task, since it requires timely response while not interfering with the infant’s behavior. Those aspects have a crucial impact on the selection of the emotion recognition techniques and the related metrics to be used for this purpose. Therefore, this review is intended to shed light on the advantages and the current research challenges of the infants’ affective state recognition approaches in the IRI field, elucidates a roadmap for their use in forthcoming studies as well as potentially provide support to future developments of emotion-aware robots.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy is a useful tool for multi-perspective psychobiological study of neurophysiological correlates of parenting behaviour

The quality of the relationship between caregiver and child has long-term effects on the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children. A process involved in human parenting is the bio-behavioural synchrony that occurs between the partners in the relationship during interaction. Through interaction, bio-behavioural synchronicity allows the adaptation of the physiological systems of the parent to those of the child and promotes the positive development and modelling of the child's social brain. The role of bio-behavioural synchrony in building social bonds could be investigated using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In this paper we have (a) highlighted the importance of the quality of the caregiver-child relationship for the child's cognitive and socio-emotional development, as well as the relevance of infantile stimuli in the activation of parenting behaviour; (b) discussed the tools used in the study of the neurophysiological substrates of the parental response; (c) proposed fNIRS as a particularly suitable tool for the study of parental responses; and (d) underlined the need for a multi-systemic psychobiological approach to understand the mechanisms that regulate caregiver-child interactions and their bio-behavioural synchrony. We propose to adopt a multi-system psychobiological approach to the study of parental behaviour and social interaction.

A magnetoencephalography study of first-time mothers listening to infant cries

Studies using magnetoencephalography (MEG) have identified the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to be an important early hub for a “parental instinct” in the brain. This complements the finding from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies linking reward, emotion regulation, empathy, and mentalization networks to the “parental brain.” Here, we used MEG in 43 first-time mothers listening to infant and adult cry vocalizations to investigate the link with mother–infant postpartum bonding scores and their level of sleep deprivation (assessed using both actigraphy and sleep logs). When comparing brain responses to infant versus adult cry vocalizations, we found significant differences at around 800–1,000 ms after stimuli onset in the primary auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus, hippocampal areas, insula, precuneus supramarginal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and posterior cingulate gyrus. Importantly, mothers with weaker bonding scores showed decreased brain responses to infant cries in the auditory cortex, middle and superior temporal gyrus, OFC, hippocampal areas, supramarginal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus at around 100–300 ms after the stimulus onset. In contrast, we did not find correlations with sleep deprivation scores. The significant decreases in brain processing of an infant’s distress signals could potentially be a novel signature of weaker infant bonding in new mothers and should be investigated in vulnerable populations.

The frontal sharp transient in newborns: An endogenous neurobiomarker concomitant to the physiological and critical transitional period around delivery?

The frontal sharp transient (FST) consists of transient electrical activity recorded around the transitional period from the in to ex utero environment. Although its positive predictive value is assumed, nothing is known about its functionality or origin. The objectives were (i) to define its characteristics and (ii) to develop functional hypothesis. The 128-channels high-resolution electroencephalograms of 20 healthy newborns (37.1-41.6 weeks) were studied. The morphological and time-frequency characteristics of 418 FSTs were analyzed. The source localization of the FSTs was obtained using a finite element head model (5 layers and fontanels) and various source localization methods (distributed and dipolar). The characteristics (duration, slopes, and amplitude) and the localization of FSTs were not modulated by the huge developmental neuronal processes that occur during the very last period of gestation. The sources were located beneath the ventral median part of the frontal lobe around the interhemispheric fissure, suggesting that the olfactory bulbs and orbitofrontal cortex, essential in olfaction and the mother-infant attachment relationship, are likely candidates for the generation of FSTs. FSTs may contribute to the implementation of the functionalities of brain structures involved in the higher-order processing necessary for survival ahead of delivery, with a genetic fingerprint.

The Influence of Infant Schema Cues on Donation Intention in Charity Promotion

This research performed four experiments to investigate the influence of infant schema cues on charitable donation intention and examine the moderating effect of gender. The results indicate that: (1) individuals stimulated by infant schema (vs. adult schema) cues had a higher willingness to donate when facing charity promotion; (2) the main effect was not due to the perceived cuteness of character in posters; (3) empathy played an entirely mediating role in the relationship between infant schema cues and donation intention; (4) gender moderated the influence of infant schema on donation intention: infant schema cues are effective for improving females’ donation intention, but ineffective for males. These findings contributed to the literature on infant schema and provide practical significance for introducing infant schema in charity promotion.

Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment

Specific facial features in infants automatically elicit attention, affection, and nurturing behaviour of adults, known as the baby schema effect. There is also an innate tendency to categorize people into in-group and out-group members based on salient features such as ethnicity. Societies are becoming increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, and there are limited investigations into the underlying neural mechanism of the baby schema effect in a multi-ethnic context. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine parents' (N = 27) neural responses to (a) non-own ethnic in-group and out-group infants, (b) non-own in-group and own infants, and (c) non-own out-group and own infants. Parents showed similar brain activations, regardless of ethnicity and kinship, in regions associated with attention, reward processing, empathy, memory, goal-directed action planning, and social cognition. The same regions were activated to a higher degree when viewing the parents' own infant. These findings contribute further understanding to the dynamics of baby schema effect in an increasingly interconnected social world.

Examining the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Sensitivity in Predicting Functional Brain Network Connectivity in 5-Month-Old Infants

Infancy is a sensitive period of human brain development that is plastically shaped by environmental factors. Both proximal factors, such as sensitive parenting, and distal factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES), are known predictors of individual differences in structural and functional brain systems across the lifespan, yet it is unclear how these familial and contextual factors work together to shape functional brain development during infancy, particularly during the first months of life. In the current study, we examined pre-registered hypotheses regarding the interplay between these factors to assess how maternal sensitivity, within the broader context of socioeconomic variation, relates to the development of functional connectivity in long-range cortical brain networks. Specifically, we measured resting-state functional connectivity in three cortical brain networks (fronto-parietal network, default mode network, homologous-interhemispheric connectivity) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and examined the associations between maternal sensitivity, SES, and functional connectivity in a sample of 5-month-old infants and their mothers (N = 50 dyads). Results showed that all three networks were detectable during a passive viewing task, and that maternal sensitivity was positively associated with functional connectivity in the default mode network, such that infants with more sensitive mothers exhibited enhanced functional connectivity in this network. Contrary to hypotheses, we did not observe any associations of SES with functional connectivity in the brain networks assessed in this study. This suggests that at 5 months of age, maternal sensitivity is an important proximal environmental factor associated with individual differences in functional connectivity in a long-range cortical brain network implicated in a host of emotional and social-cognitive brain processes.

Complex Perinatal Syndromes Affecting Early Human Growth and Development: Issues to Consider to Understand Their Aetiology and Postnatal Effects

Complex perinatal syndromes (CPS) affecting pregnancy and childhood, such as preterm birth, and intra- and extra-uterine growth restriction, have multiple, diverse contexts of complexity and interaction that determine the short- and long-term growth, health and development of all human beings. Early in life, genetically-guided somatic and cerebral development occurs alongside a psychism "in statu nascendi," with the neural structures subjected to the effects of the intra- and extra-uterine environments in preparation for optimal postnatal functioning. Different trajectories of fetal cranial and abdominal growth have been identified before 25 weeks' gestation, tracking differential growth and neurodevelopment at 2 years of age. Similarly, critical time-windows exist in the first 5-8 months of postnatal life because of interactions between the newborn and their environment, mother/care-givers and feeding practices. Understanding these complex relational processes requires abandoning classical, linear and mechanistic interpretations that are placed in rigid, artificial biological silos. Instead, we need to conduct longitudinal, interdisciplinary research and integrate the resulting new knowledge into clinical practice. An ecological-systemic approach is required to understand early human growth and development, based on a dynamic multidimensional process from the molecular or genomic level to the socio-economic-environmental context. For this, we need theoretical and methodological tools that permit a global understanding of CPS, delineating temporal trajectories and their conditioning factors, updated by the incorporation of new scientific discoveries. The potential to optimize human growth and development across chronological age and geographical locations - by implementing interventions or "treatments" during periods of greatest instability or vulnerability - should be recognized. Hence, it is imperative to take a holistic view of reproductive and perinatal issues, acknowledging at all levels the complexity and interactions of CPS and their sensitive periods, laying the foundations for further improvements in growth and development of populations, to maximize global human potential. We discuss here conceptual issues that should be considered for the development and implementation of such a strategy aimed at addressing the perinatal health problems of the new millenium.

Empathy at birth: Mother's cortex synchronizes with that of her newborn in pain

Early neonatal relation with the caregiver is vital for newborn survival and for the promotion of an appropriate neural development. The aim of this study was to assess if the empathic cortical response of a mother to her baby's pain is synchronized with the neonatal cortical response to the painful stimulation. We used hyperscanning, a functional neuroimaging approach that allows studying functional synchronization between two brains. Sixteen mother-newborn dyads were recruited. Maternal and neonatal cortical activities were simultaneously monitored, by near-infrared spectroscopy, during a heel prick performed on the baby and observed by the mother. Multiple paired t test was used to identify cortical activation, and wavelet transform coherence method was used to explore possible synchronization between the maternal and neonatal cortical areas. Activations were observed in mother's parietal cortex, bilaterally, and in newborn's superior motor/somatosensory cortex. The main functional synchronization analysis showed that mother's left parietal cortex activity cross-correlated with that of her newborn's superior motor/somatosensory cortex. Such synchronization dynamically changed throughout assessment, becoming positively cross-correlated only after the leading role in synchronizing cortical activities was taken up by the newborn. Thus, maternal empathic cortical response to baby pain was guided by and synchronized to the newborn's cortical response to pain. We conclude that, in case of potential danger for the infant, brain areas involved in mother-newborn relationship appear to be already co-regulated at birth.

Adult attachment style moderates the effect of oxytocin on neural responses to infant emotional faces

Oxytocin (OT) is known for its positive influence on maternal motivation and behavior, however, the effects of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) on neural activity during the perception of infant stimuli are often inconsistent. These discrepancies further reveal the need to take into account individual differences in IN-OT research. The present study aims to examine whether the effects of IN-OT on maternal-related neural responses to infant faces were moderated by participants' attachment style. Using a between-groups, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 65 nulliparous females were randomly assigned to groups receiving a single dose of 24 IU oxytocin or a placebo via intranasal administration. The neural responses of participants were assessed during a facial recognition task with joy, neutral, and crying infant faces. The results indicated that females with high levels of attachment anxiety exhibited decreased right amygdala activity in response to infant joy faces and decreased bilateral insula activity in response to infant crying faces following IN-OT. Meanwhile, IN-OT enhanced bilateral amygdala and left inferior orbital frontal cortex (OFC) activity in response to infant crying faces in females with high levels of attachment avoidance. In addition, some beneficial effects of IN-OT were also observed in females with low levels of attachment avoidance or anxiety. Our findings demonstrated that the beneficial effects of IN-OT on neural responses to infant faces may depend on individual differences in adult attachment style, thereby contributing to our understanding of the role of OT in maternal caregiving.

Secure Attachment Priming Amplifies Approach Motivation for Infant Faces Among Childless Adults

Existing studies have indicated that priming secure attachment alters adults' neural responses to infant faces. However, no study has examined whether this effect exists for motivational behavioral responses, and none of the previous studies included adult faces as a baseline to determine whether the security prime enhances responses to human faces in general or infant faces alone. To address this limitation, the current study recruited 160 unmarried and childless adults in the first phase, and all of them completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Interest in Infants, the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR), and State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM). A week later, after priming, 152 (76 security-primed vs. 76 neutrally primed) participants completed the SAAM and a behavioral program assessing their motivational responses to both adult and infant faces (i.e., liking, representational, and evoked responses). A manipulation check showed that the security prime was effective. Then, generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) showed that security priming enhances adults' liking, representational, and evoked responses (three components of the motivational system) only to infant faces and not to adult faces. Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that, even after security priming, there was a substantial linear relationship between positive motivation toward infant faces and the state of adult secure attachment. In summary, this study demonstrated for the first time that promoting the state of adult secure attachment can effectively enhance the effect size of the baby face schema. The current results were interpreted according to Bowlby's view of the attachment behavioral system.

The Power of Smiling: The Adult Brain Networks Underlying Learned Infant Emotionality

The perception of infant emotionality, one aspect of temperament, starts to form in infancy, yet the underlying mechanisms of how infant emotionality affects adult neural dynamics remain unclear. We used a social reward task with probabilistic visual and auditory feedback (infant laughter or crying) to train 47 nulliparous women to perceive the emotional style of six different infants. Using functional neuroimaging, we subsequently measured brain activity while participants were tested on the learned emotionality of the six infants. We characterized the elicited patterns of dynamic functional brain connectivity using Leading Eigenvector Dynamics Analysis and found significant activity in a brain network linking the orbitofrontal cortex with the amygdala and hippocampus, where the probability of occurrence significantly correlated with the valence of the learned infant emotional disposition. In other words, seeing infants with neutral face expressions after having interacted and learned their various degrees of positive and negative emotional dispositions proportionally increased the activity in a brain network previously shown to be involved in pleasure, emotion, and memory. These findings provide novel neuroimaging insights into how the perception of happy versus sad infant emotionality shapes adult brain networks.

Do Infant Faces Maintain the Attention of Adults With High Avoidant Attachment?

We investigated whether adults have attentional bias toward infant faces, whether it is moderated by infant facial expression, and the predictive effect of the adult attachment state on it. One hundred unmarried nulliparous college students [50 men and 50 women; aged 17–24 years (M = 19.70, SD = 1.35)] were recruited. Each completed a self-report questionnaire—the Chinese version of the State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM), and a dot-probe task with a stimulus presentation duration of 500 ms, which used 192 black-and-white photographs of 64 people (32 infants and 32 adults; each person displayed three expressions: happy, neutral, and sad) as the experimental stimuli. The results showed that, at the duration of 500 ms, individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces disappeared, regardless of the facial expression. However, when the interaction between avoidant attachment state and face was controlled, the attentional bias was significant again, and the avoidant attachment state negatively predicted individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This indicates that at the suprathreshold stage, there are individual differences in the attentional bias toward infant faces, and high avoidant attachment will weaken individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This study advances previous studies that focused only on individuals' attention to infant faces occurring at the early processing stage of attention. The results provide direction for interventions; specifically, changing the attachment state of avoidant individuals can affect their attention to infants, which may promote the establishment of parent–child relationships.

A Dynamic Systems Framework for Gender/Sex Development: From Sensory Input in Infancy to Subjective Certainty in Toddlerhood

From birth to 15 months infants and caregivers form a fundamentally intersubjective, dyadic unit within which the infant's ability to recognize gender/sex in the world develops. Between about 18 and 36 months the infant accumulates an increasingly clear and subjective sense of self as female or male. We know little about how the precursors to gender/sex identity form during the intersubjective period, nor how they transform into an independent sense of self by 3 years of age. In this Theory and Hypothesis article I offer a general framework for thinking about this problem. I propose that through repetition and patterning, the dyadic interactions in which infants and caregivers engage imbue the infant with an embodied, i.e., sensori-motor understanding of gender/sex. During this developmental period (which I label Phase 1) gender/sex is primarily an intersubjective project. From 15 to 18 months (which I label Phase 2) there are few reports of newly appearing gender/sex behavioral differences, and I hypothesize that this absence reflects a period of developmental instability during which there is a transition from gender/sex as primarily inter-subjective to gender/sex as primarily subjective. Beginning at 18 months (i.e., the start of Phase 3), a toddler's subjective sense of self as having a gender/sex emerges, and it solidifies by 3 years of age. I propose a dynamic systems perspective to track how infants first assimilate gender/sex information during the intersubjective period (birth to 15 months); then explore what changes might occur during a hypothesized phase transition (15 to 18 months), and finally, review the emergence and initial stabilization of individual subjectivity-the period from 18 to 36 months. The critical questions explored focus on how to model and translate data from very different experimental disciplines, especially neuroscience, physiology, developmental psychology and cognitive development. I close by proposing the formation of a research consortium on gender/sex development during the first 3 years after birth.

"The First Thousand Days" Define a Fetal/Neonatal Neurology Program

Gene-environment interactions begin at conception to influence maternal/placental/fetal triads, neonates, and children with short- and long-term effects on brain development. Life-long developmental neuroplasticity more likely results during critical/sensitive periods of brain maturation over these first 1,000 days. A fetal/neonatal program (FNNP) applying this perspective better identifies trimester-specific mechanisms affecting the maternal/placental/fetal (MPF) triad, expressed as brain malformations and destructive lesions. Maladaptive MPF triad interactions impair progenitor neuronal/glial populations within transient embryonic/fetal brain structures by processes such as maternal immune activation. Destructive fetal brain lesions later in pregnancy result from ischemic placental syndromes associated with the great obstetrical syndromes. Trimester-specific MPF triad diseases may negatively impact labor and delivery outcomes. Neonatal neurocritical care addresses the symptomatic minority who express the great neonatal neurological syndromes: encephalopathy, seizures, stroke, and encephalopathy of prematurity. The asymptomatic majority present with neurologic disorders before 2 years of age without prior detection. The developmental principle of ontogenetic adaptation helps guide the diagnostic process during the first 1,000 days to identify more phenotypes using systems-biology analyses. This strategy will foster innovative interdisciplinary diagnostic/therapeutic pathways, educational curricula, and research agenda among multiple FNNP. Effective early-life diagnostic/therapeutic programs will help reduce neurologic disease burden across the lifespan and successive generations.

The effects of the Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system in early intervention: A multisite randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of an infant mental health intervention, the Newborn Behavioral Observations system (NBO), versus usual care (UC) on infant neurodevelopment and maternal depressive symptoms in early intervention (EI). This multisite randomized trial enrolled newborns into the NBO (n = 16) or UC group (n = 22) and followed them for 6 months. Outcome measures included the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI-2), Bayley Scales of Infants Development (BSID-III), and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The CES-D and BSID-III were collected at 3- and 6-months post EI entry and the BDI-2 was collected at EI entry and 6-months post-EI entry. We estimated group differences [95% CI], adjusting for program characteristics. At 6 months, the NBO group had greater gains in Communication (b = 1.0 [0.2, 1.8]), Self-Care (b = 2.0 [0.1, 3.9]), Perception and Concepts (b = 2.0 [0.4, 3.6]), and Attention and Memory (b = 3.0 [0.4, 6.0]) than the UC group. The NBO group also had greater decline in maternal postnatal depressive symptoms (b = -2.0 [-3.7, -0.3]) than the UC group. Infants receiving the NBO infant mental health intervention had greater gains in cognitive and adaptive functions at 6 months than infants receiving UC. Caregivers receiving NBO care had greater improvements in maternal depressive symptoms than caregivers receiving UC.

The baby schema effect in adolescence and its difference from that in adulthood

The baby schema effect induced by particular features of baby faces acts as an innate releasing mechanism that evokes positive emotions and instinctual behavioral responses. Our prior research in adults has revealed that this effect initially found in infancy extends into child faces. Adolescence is an important period involving development in various aspects of cognition, including face perception. Here, we investigated whether the extended baby schema effect we previously found in adult observers develops earlier-in adolescence-and how different it appears in adolescents as compared with in adults. In the current study, 76 adolescents and 77 adults were asked to judge the likeability of 148 neutral faces of infants and children (0.08-6.5 years of age) on 7-point scales. Results showed that both adolescents and adults perceived the faces of both infants and children younger than 4.6 years as more likeable relative to those of older children, indicating that the baby schema effect previously found in adulthood also occurs in adolescence. However, adolescents rated lower than adults toward the infant and child faces across all face ages, suggesting that this effect might be under development in adolescence. Overall, our findings provide new evidence for the development of face perception in adolescence and demonstrate age-related changes in innate releasing mechanisms in our protective and caretaking responses toward infants and children.

What Do Young Infants Do During Eye-Tracking Experiments? IP-BET - A Coding Scheme for Quantifying Spontaneous Infant and Parent Behaviour

Eye-tracking measurement of looking is the fundamental method in infancy research. Over the last few decades it has provided many of the most significant discoveries in developmental psychology. Infants engage in looking tasks and use their bodies for learning differently from adults, yet, the breadth of their behavioural repertoire and the constraints that the testing situation places on them remain under-explored. Young infants are tested in close physical proximity to their parent, interact during the experiment and rely on the parent to stay engaged in the task. Infants may also engage a different set of skills (e.g. when self-regulating) to perform the very same looking tasks in comparison with adult participants. We devised a coding scheme to systematically analyse task-relevant (attention to the screen) and extraneous behaviours [body movement, self-touch, non-nutritive sucking (NNS), affect] that infants exhibit during an eye-tracking session. We also measured parental behaviours (attention to the screen or the child), including dyadic interactions with the infant (talking, physical contact). We outline the rationale for the scheme and present descriptive data on the behaviour of a large group of typical 5- and 6-month-olds (n = 94) during three standard eye-tracking tasks in two seating arrangements. The majority of infants showed very high and consistent within-group attention to the screen, while there were large individual differences in the amount of limb and body movement and the use of self-regulatory behaviours (NNS, self-touch, object manipulation). Very few sex differences were found. Parents spent most time attending to the screen, but engaged in some forms of dyadic interaction, despite being given standard task instructions that minimise parental interference. Our results demonstrate the variability in infants' extraneous behaviours during standard eye-tracking despite comparable duration of attention to the screen. They show that spontaneous interactions with the parent should be more systematically considered as an integral part of the measurement of infant looking. We discuss the utility of our scheme to better understand the dynamics of looking and task performance in infant looking paradigms: those involving eye-tracking and those measuring looking duration.

Late weaning and maternal closeness, associated with advanced motor and visual maturation, reinforce autonomy in healthy, 2-year-old children

We studied neurodevelopmental outcomes and behaviours in healthy 2-year old children (N = 1306) from Brazil, India, Italy, Kenya and the UK participating in the INTERGROWTH-21^st Project. There was a positive independent relationship of duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and age at weaning with gross motor development, vision and autonomic physical activities, most evident if children were exclusively breastfed for ≥7 months or weaned at ≥7 months. There was no association with cognition, language or behaviour. Children exclusively breastfed from birth to <5 months or weaned at >6 months had, in a dose-effect pattern, adjusting for confounding factors, higher scores for "emotional reactivity". The positive effect of EBF and age at weaning on gross motor, running and climbing scores was strongest among children with the highest scores in maternal closeness proxy indicators. EBF, late weaning and maternal closeness, associated with advanced motor and vision maturation, independently influence autonomous behaviours in healthy children.

An insight-related neural reward signal

Moments of insight, a phenomenon of creative cognition in which an idea suddenly emerges into awareness as an "Aha!" are often reported to be affectively positive experiences. We tested the hypothesis that problem-solving by insight is accompanied by neural reward processing. We recorded high-density EEGs while participants solved a series of anagrams. For each solution, they reported whether the answer had occurred to them as a sudden insight or whether they had derived it deliberately and incrementally (i.e., "analytically'). Afterwards, they filled out a questionnaire that measures general dispositional reward sensitivity. We computed the time-frequency representations of the EEGs for trials with insight (I) solutions and trials with analytic (A) solutions and subtracted them to obtain an I-A time-frequency representation for each electrode. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) analyses tested for significant I-A and reward-sensitivity effects. SPM revealed the time, frequency, and scalp locations of several I ​> ​A effects. No A ​> ​I effect was observed. The primary neural correlate of insight was a burst of (I ​> ​A) gamma-band oscillatory activity over prefrontal cortex approximately 500 ​ms before participants pressed a button to indicate that they had solved the problem. We correlated the I-A time-frequency representation with reward sensitivity to discover insight-related effects that were modulated by reward sensitivity. This revealed a separate anterior prefrontal burst of gamma-band activity, approximately 100 ​ms after the primary I-A insight effect, which we interpreted to be an insight-related reward signal. This interpretation was supported by source reconstruction showing that this signal was generated in part by orbitofrontal cortex, a region associated with reward learning and hedonically pleasurable experiences such as food, positive social experiences, addictive drugs, and orgasm. These findings support the notion that for many people insight is rewarding. Additionally, these results may explain why many people choose to engage in insight-generating recreational and vocational activities such as solving puzzles, reading murder mysteries, creating inventions, or doing research. This insight-related reward signal may be a manifestation of an evolutionarily adaptive mechanism for the reinforcement of exploration, problem solving, and creative cognition.

Neonatal Intestinal Failure Is Independently Associated With Impaired Cognitive Development Later in Childhood

OBJECTIVE

The impact of pediatric intestinal failure (IF) on neurodevelopment beyond infancy has not been systematically studied. Our aim was to evaluate cognitive and motor impairment and to identify risk factors for adverse outcomes among children with IF.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional single-center study at the Helsinki University Children's Hospital. Patients with IF with >60 days of parental nutrition (PN) dependency aged between 3 and 16 years (n = 40) were invited to participate. The cognitive and motor skills were evaluated using validated tests: Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, 3rd edition, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition, and Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd edition.

RESULTS

All the patients attending the study tests (n = 30, males = 24) were included. Their median age, gestational age, and birth weight was 7.5 (range 3-16) years, 35 (interquartile range [IQR] 28-38) weeks and 2238 (IQR 1040-3288) grams, respectively. Median duration of PN was 13 (IQR 5-37) months and 9 patients were currently on PN. Median intelligence quotient was 78 (IQR 65-91) and 10 (35%) patients had an intelligence quotient under 70 (-2 standard deviation). Significant motor impairment was detected in 10 patients (36%) and milder difficulties in 8 (28%). Adverse cognitive outcome was associated with neonatal short bowel syndrome, number of interventions under general anesthesia, and length of inpatient status, whereas adverse motor outcome was associated with prematurity.

CONCLUSION

Clinically significant cognitive and motor impairments are alarmingly common among neonatal patients with IF. We recommend early neurodevelopmental follow-up for all children with IF.

State attachment moderates the maternal-related neural responses to infant faces

Adult attachment is particularly known for the modulating role of caregiving motivation and behavior. Although most studies consider attachment style relatively stable, it may also be affected by various situational factors, and these temporary fluctuations are related to meaningful behaviors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study aims to examine whether neural responses to infant faces are moderated by participants' state attachment. The results indicated that state attachment security was positively associated with increased inferior orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and insula activation to infant crying. State attachment anxiety was positively associated with increased insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activation to infant crying as well as enhanced cuneus activation to infant joy. In contrast, state attachment avoidance was negatively associated with amygdala activity in response to both infant joy and crying as well as insula and ACC activation in response to infant joy. Moderation analysis found that the relationship between the prediction effect of state attachment avoidance on ACC activity was gradually weakened with the attenuation of participants' trait attachment avoidance. These results demonstrate that neural responses to infant faces are moderated by individual differences in state attachment, thereby demonstrating that state attachment is an effective measure to capture the variation in maternal ability.

Parent and facilitator experiences of an intensive parent and infant programme delivered in routine community settings

AIM

The aims of this study were to (1) assess the initial experiences of parenthood amongst mainly disadvantaged mothers; (2) explore their views on the extent to which they felt they had benefitted (or not) from participating in a newly developed, intensive mother and baby support programme in the community; and (3) explore the perspectives of those who delivered the programme (i.e., facilitators), most of whom were Public Health Nurses (PHNs).

BACKGROUND

Positive parent-child interactions and appropriate levels of infant stimulation are essential to promoting a child's well-being and laying a foundation in the early years for positive developmental outcomes. It is important, therefore, to examine participants' experiences of community-based, family-focused, early prevention and intervention programmes.

METHODS

This study was undertaken as part of a larger evaluation of a newly developed parent and infant (PIN) programme which was delivered in two disadvantaged areas in Ireland. One-to-one interviews were conducted with both mothers (n = 22) and facilitators (n = 8) (including three PHNs) plus six focus groups with an additional sub-group of facilitators (n = 17).

FINDINGS

The collective findings suggest that mothers found the programme helpful in promoting a greater understanding of their infants' behaviour and needs, and in alleviating stress and concerns associated with motherhood. Mothers described feeling more knowledgeable about the importance of regular and appropriate infant interaction to encourage learning and development. Facilitators, specifically PHNs, also reported a greater awareness of the value of infant socioemotional development for their clinical practice and observed greater positive communication between mothers and infants.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that a community-based, intensive mother and baby programme can help to promote parental competence and enhance infant learning and development. Additional benefits in terms of early intervention and positive changes to public health nursing practice are also discussed.

The Protracted Maturation of Associative Layer IIIC Pyramidal Neurons in the Human Prefrontal Cortex During Childhood: A Major Role in Cognitive Development and Selective Alteration in Autism

The human specific cognitive shift starts around the age of 2 years with the onset of self-awareness, and continues with extraordinary increase in cognitive capacities during early childhood. Diffuse changes in functional connectivity in children aged 2-6 years indicate an increase in the capacity of cortical network. Interestingly, structural network complexity does not increase during this time and, thus, it is likely to be induced by selective maturation of a specific neuronal subclass. Here, we provide an overview of a subclass of cortico-cortical neurons, the associative layer IIIC pyramids of the human prefrontal cortex. Their local axonal collaterals are in control of the prefrontal cortico-cortical output, while their long projections modulate inter-areal processing. In this way, layer IIIC pyramids are the major integrative element of cortical processing, and changes in their connectivity patterns will affect global cortical functioning. Layer IIIC neurons have a unique pattern of dendritic maturation. In contrast to other classes of principal neurons, they undergo an additional phase of extensive dendritic growth during early childhood, and show characteristic molecular changes. Taken together, circuits associated with layer IIIC neurons have the most protracted period of developmental plasticity. This unique feature is advanced but also provides a window of opportunity for pathological events to disrupt normal formation of cognitive circuits involving layer IIIC neurons. In this manuscript, we discuss how disrupted dendritic and axonal maturation of layer IIIC neurons may lead into global cortical disconnectivity, affecting development of complex communication and social abilities. We also propose a model that developmentally dictated incorporation of layer IIIC neurons into maturing cortico-cortical circuits between 2 to 6 years will reveal a previous (perinatal) lesion affecting other classes of principal neurons. This "disclosure" of pre-existing functionally silent lesions of other neuronal classes induced by development of layer IIIC associative neurons, or their direct alteration, could be found in different forms of autism spectrum disorders. Understanding the gene-environment interaction in shaping cognitive microcircuitries may be fundamental for developing rehabilitation and prevention strategies in autism spectrum and other cognitive disorders.

Implicit associations to infant cry: Genetics and early care experiences influence caregiving propensities

Adults' sensitive appraisal of and response to infant cry play a foundational role in child development. Employing a gene × environment (G × E) approach, this study investigated the interaction of genetic polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and oxytocin receptor genes (OXTR; rs53576, rs2254298) with early parental care experiences in influencing adults' implicit associations to infant cry. Eighty nulliparous adults (40 females, 40 males) responded to the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ), a measure of early care experiences, and participated in a Single Category Implicit Association Task (SC-IAT) to measure implicit associations to infant cry. Independent of parental experience, the valence of the implicit response to infant cry is associated with the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), with LL-carriers showing more positive implicit associations than S-carriers. OXTR rs53576 moderated the relation between parental rejection and implicit appraisal of infant cry: A-carriers who experienced negative early care showed an implicit positive appraisal of infant cry, whereas in GG carriers, positive early care experiences were associated with an implicit positive reaction to infant cry. OXTR rs2254298 had no relation to implicit associations to infant cry or to early care experiences. These findings cast light on the possible interplay of genetic inheritance and early environment in influencing adults' responses to infant cry that may be incorporated into screening protocols aimed at identifying at-risk adult-infant interactions.

Maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety symptoms and infant attention disengagement from emotional faces

BACKGROUND

Biases in socio-emotional attention may be early markers of risk for self-regulation difficulties and mental illness. We examined the associations between maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety symptoms and infant attention patterns to faces, with particular focus on attentional biases to threat, across male and female infants.

METHODS

A general population, Caucasian sample of eight-month old infants (N = 362) were tested using eye-tracking and an attention disengagement (overlap) paradigm, with happy, fearful, neutral, and phase-scrambled faces and distractors. Maternal self-reported anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90/anxiety subscale at five time points between gestational week 14 and 6 months postpartum.

RESULTS

Probability of disengagement was lowest for fearful faces in the whole sample. Maternal pre- but not postnatal anxiety symptoms associated with higher threat bias in infants, and the relation between maternal anxiety symptoms in early pregnancy and higher threat bias in infants remained significant after controlling for maternal postnatal symptoms. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associated with higher overall probability of disengagement from faces to distractors, but the effects varied by child sex.

LIMITATIONS

The small number of mothers suffering from very severe symptoms. No control for the comorbidity of depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal prenatal anxiety symptoms associate with infant's heightened attention bias for threat. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associate with infant's overall disengagement probability differently for boys and girls. Boys may show enhanced vigilance for distractors, except when viewing fearful faces, and girls enhanced vigilance for all socio-emotional stimuli. Long-term implications of these findings remain to be explored.

Maternal-fetal emotional relationship during pregnancy, its related factors and outcomes in Iranian pregnant women: a panel study protocol

BACKGROUND

Considering the importance of attachment in child's development and mother's health, various related factors and also lack of necessary information in this regard in our country, the research team decides to conduct this study to evaluate maternal-fetal attachment during pregnancy, its changes and post-partum consequences on mother-infant relationship. This process should be studied during pregnancy and also after delivery so that the effect of related factors and the changes in attachment over time could be determined and comprehensible information about the effective underlying conditions on this issue would be gathered.

METHODS

The present research is a longitudinal study (panel study). Data gathering would start at the first trimester, continue during second and third trimesters of pregnancy, first visit after delivery, second, fourth and end sixth months later. Pregnant women in the first trimester would be selected and contacted. If they have inclusion criteria, they would be selected as a participant. At first, their demographic-reproductive characteristics, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (SSTAI), The Social Support Appraisal (SSA), Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) and Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) would be completed; during the second trimester, BDI, SSTAI and Cranley's Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (CMFAS) would be completed. In the third trimester, the same questionnaires would be completed. During the first month after birth, Avant's questionnaire of Mother-Infant Attachment Behaviors would be completed. At the second, fourth and sixth months after delivery Muller's Mother -Infant Attachment Scale would also be completed.

DISCUSSION

The results of the study will be provided to maternal child health policy-makers in the health system. This information could not be obtained through cross-sectional studies and through one episode of data collection and more studies are needed to provide us a perspective of the mother-infant relation over time. Studying attachment during pregnancy would provide us a chance to learn more about this process.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms During the Pre- and Postnatal Periods and Infant Attention to Emotional Faces

We examined how infants' attentional disengagement from happy, fearful, neutral, and phase-scrambled faces at 8 months, as assessed by eye tracking, is associated with trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms from early pregnancy to 6 months postpartum (decreasing n = 48, increasing n = 34, and consistently low symptom levels n = 280). The sample (mother-infant dyads belonging to a larger FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study) was collected between 5/2013-6/2016. The overall disengagement probability from faces to distractors was not related to maternal depressive symptoms, but fear bias was heightened in infants whose mothers reported decreasing or increasing depressive symptoms. Exacerbated attention to fearful faces in infants of mothers with depressive symptoms may be independent of the timing of the symptoms in the pre- and postnatal stages.

Effects of Infant Cleft Lip on Adult Gaze and Perceptions of “Cuteness”

Objective:

Early mother-infant interactions are impaired in the context of infant cleft lip and are associated with adverse child psychological outcomes, but the nature of these interaction difficulties is not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to explore adult gaze behavior and cuteness perception, which are particularly important during early social exchanges, in response to infants with cleft lip, in order to investigate potential foundations for the interaction difficulties seen in this population.

Methods:

Using an eye tracker, eye movements were recorded as adult participants viewed images of infant faces with and without cleft lip. Participants also rated each infant on a scale of cuteness.

Results:

Participants fixated significantly longer on the mouths of infants with cleft lip, which occurred at the expense of fixation on eyes. Severity of cleft lip was associated with the strength of fixation bias, with participants looking even longer at the mouths of infants with the most severe clefts. Infants with cleft lip were rated as significantly less cute than unaffected infants. Men rated infants as less cute than women overall but gave particularly low ratings to infants with cleft lip.

Conclusions:

Results demonstrate that the limited disturbance in infant facial configuration of cleft lip can significantly alter adult gaze patterns and cuteness perception. Our findings could have important implications for early interactions and may help in the development of interventions to foster healthy development in infants with cleft lip.

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.

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.

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.

Regional Brain Responses Are Biased Toward Infant Facial Expressions Compared to Adult Facial Expressions in Nulliparous Women

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that neutral infant faces compared to neutral adult faces elicit greater activity in brain areas associated with face processing, attention, empathic response, reward, and movement. However, whether infant facial expressions evoke larger brain responses than adult facial expressions remains unclear. Here, we performed event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging in nulliparous women while they were presented with images of matched unfamiliar infant and adult facial expressions (happy, neutral, and uncomfortable/sad) in a pseudo-randomized order. We found that the bilateral fusiform and right lingual gyrus were overall more activated during the presentation of infant facial expressions compared to adult facial expressions. Uncomfortable infant faces compared to sad adult faces evoked greater activation in the bilateral fusiform gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex-thalamus, and precuneus. Neutral infant faces activated larger brain responses in the left fusiform gyrus compared to neutral adult faces. Happy infant faces compared to happy adult faces elicited larger responses in areas of the brain associated with emotion and reward processing using a more liberal threshold of p < 0.005 uncorrected. Furthermore, the level of the test subjects' Interest-In-Infants was positively associated with the intensity of right fusiform gyrus response to infant faces and uncomfortable infant faces compared to sad adult faces. In addition, the Perspective Taking subscale score on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index-Chinese was significantly correlated with precuneus activity during uncomfortable infant faces compared to sad adult faces. Our findings suggest that regional brain areas may bias cognitive and emotional responses to infant facial expressions compared to adult facial expressions among nulliparous women, and this bias may be modulated by individual differences in Interest-In-Infants and perspective taking ability.

The functional architecture of mother-infant communication, and the development of infant social expressiveness in the first two months

By two-three months, infants show active social expressions during face-to-face interactions. These interactions are important, as they provide the foundation for later emotional regulation and cognition, but little is known about how infant social expressiveness develops. We considered two different accounts. One emphasizes the contingency of parental responsiveness, regardless of its form; the other, the functional architecture account, emphasizes the preparedness of both infants and parents to respond in specific ways to particular forms of behaviour in their partner. We videotaped mother-infant interactions from one to nine weeks, and analysed them with a micro-analytic coding scheme. Infant social expressiveness increased through the nine-week period, particularly after 3 weeks. This development was unrelated to the extent of maternal contingent responsiveness, even to infant social expressions. By contrast, specific forms of response that mothers used preferentially for infant social expressions-mirroring, marking with a smile- predicted the increase in these infant behaviours over time. These results support a functional architecture account of the perceptual and behavioural predispositions of infants and parents that allow young infants to capitalize on relatively limited exposure to specific parental behaviours, in order to develop important social capacities.

Mothers speak differently to infants at-risk for dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested in deficits in reading and spelling skills that is consistently associated with difficulties in phonological processing. Dyslexia is genetically transmitted, but its manifestation in a particular individual is thought to depend on the interaction of epigenetic and environmental factors. We adopt a novel interactional perspective on early linguistic environment and dyslexia by simultaneously studying two pre-existing factors, one maternal and one infant, that may contribute to these interactions; and two behaviours, one maternal and one infant, to index the effect of these factors. The maternal factor is whether mothers are themselves dyslexic or not (with/without dyslexia) and the infant factor is whether infants are at-/not-at family risk for dyslexia (due to their mother or father being dyslexic). The maternal behaviour is mothers' infant-directed speech (IDS), which typically involves vowel hyperarticulation, thought to benefit speech perception and language acquisition. The infant behaviour is auditory perception measured by infant sensitivity to amplitude envelope rise time, which has been found to be reduced in dyslexic children. Here, at-risk infants showed significantly poorer acoustic sensitivity than not-at-risk infants and mothers only hyperarticulated vowels to infants who were not at-risk for dyslexia. Mothers' own dyslexia status had no effect on IDS quality. Parental speech input is thus affected by infant risk status, with likely consequences for later linguistic development.

The Rediscovery of Slowness: Exploring the Timing of Cognition

Slowness of thought is not necessarily a handicap but could be a signature of optimal brain function. Emerging evidence shows that neuroanatomical and dynamical constraints of the human brain shape its functionality in optimal ways, characterized by slowness during task-based cognition in the context of spontaneous resting-state activity. This activity can be described mechanistically by whole-brain computational modeling that relates directly to optimality in the context of theories arguing for metastability in the brain. We discuss the role for optimal processing of information in the context of cognitive, task-related activity, and propose that combining multi-modal neuroimaging and explicit whole-brain models focused on the timing of functional dynamics can help to uncover fundamental rules of brain function in health and disease.

On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond

Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a 'Kindchenschema' (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as 'innate releasing mechanisms' for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple 'instinctual' behaviours and to caregiving, protection, and complex emotions. We review how cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.