Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

The parental brain, perinatal mental illness, and treatment: A review of key structural and functional changes

The transition to parenthood is perhaps the only time in adult life when the brain changes to such a significant degree in such a short period, particularly in birthing parents. It is also a time when there is an increased risk of developing a mental illness, which may be due, in part, to the increased neuroplasticity. Thus, we must develop interventions and treatments that support parents and promote parental brain health. This review will highlight key findings from current research on how human brain structure and function are modified with 1) the transition to parenthood, 2) parenting stress and perinatal mental illness, and 3) treatments aimed at promoting perinatal mental health. The focus will be on birthing parents and mothers, but brain changes in non-birthing parents will also be discussed. Improvements in our understanding of the parental brain, in health and with illness, will promote the well-being of generations to come.

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.

Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Responses to Infant Cues Across the Postpartum Period

Adults with histories of childhood maltreatment (CM) are more likely to display problematic parenting behaviors. The goal of this study was to examine changes in maternal brain activation to negative infant cues over the early postpartum period among new mothers with and without histories of CM, as this is a period of immense neuroplasticity in the maternal brain. CM was measured using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conducted at approximately 5 and 13 weeks postpartum measured brain responses to own and unfamiliar infant cues in primiparous women. Women with histories of CM displayed increasing activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, and greater increases in anterior cingulate cortex activation was associated with maternal reports of less regulatory capacity in their infants. Preliminary results suggest that new mothers with CM histories display greater brain responses to negative infant cues compared to new mothers without CM histories. Women with CM histories may benefit from additional supports during the transition to parenthood.

Ideography insight from facial recognition and neuroimaging

One novel example and/or perspective in support of "Why the learning account fails" is the impressive ability of humans to recognize and memorize facial features and accurately and reliably connect those to related identities. Furthermore, neuroimaging analysis presents an example in support of the crucial role of standardization in the lack of adoption of ideography.

Cannabis use during pregnancy and hemodynamic responses to infant cues in pregnancy: an exploratory study

Introduction

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used substances during pregnancy and has the potential to negatively impact parent-infant relationships. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) response to infant cues during pregnancy has been associated with subsequent positive parenting behaviors. However, PFC activation is altered in individuals who use cannabis. As the potency of cannabis has changed over the years, little is known about the specific role of cannabis use on gestational parent brain responses to infant cues.

Materials and methods

Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in the second trimester of pregnancy, we measured hemodynamic responses to an infant cry task and an infant faces task among individuals who were using cannabis (N = 14) and compared them with those who were not using cannabis (N = 45). For the infant cry task, pregnant individuals listened to cry sounds and matched white noise. For the infant faces task, they viewed happy, sad, and neutral faces.

Results

There was no significant difference between the two groups after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Without adjusting for multiple comparisons, we found preliminary evidence for the differences in the dorsomedial PFC associated with heightened response to infant cry among individuals who use cannabis. The groups were also different in the dorsolateral PFC associated with decreased response to infant sad faces among individuals who use cannabis.

Discussion

Our preliminary data suggests that cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with brain activation in the regions involved in the emotional regulation and information processes. However, the results did not survive after adjustment for multiple comparisons, thus future research with larger sample sizes is needed to confirm potential differences in brain function among cannabis-using pregnant individuals.

Task-residual effective connectivity of motor network in transient ischemic attack

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a temporary episode of neurological dysfunction that results from focal brain ischemia. Although TIA symptoms are quickly resolved, patients with TIA have a high risk of stroke and persistent impairments in multiple domains of cognitive and motor functions. In this study, using spectral dynamic causal modeling, we investigate the changes in task-residual effective connectivity of patients with TIA during fist-closing movements. 28 healthy participants and 15 age-matched patients with TIA undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7T. Here we show that during visually cued motor movement, patients with TIA have significantly higher effective connectivity toward the ipsilateral primary motor cortex and lower connectivity to the supplementary motor area than healthy controls. Our results imply that TIA patients have aberrant connections among motor regions, and these changes may reflect the decreased efficiency of primary motor function and disrupted control of voluntary movement in patients with TIA.

Gender differences in brain response to infant emotional faces

Infant emotional stimuli can preferentially engage adults' attention and provide valuable information essential for successful interaction between adults and infants. Exploring the neural processes of recognizing infant stimuli promotes better understandings of the mother-infant attachment mechanisms. Here, combining task-functional magnetic resonance imaging (Task-fMRI) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), we investigated the effects of infants' faces on the brain activity of adults. Two groups including 26 women and 25 men were recruited to participate in the current study. During the task-fMRI, subjects were exposed to images of infant emotional faces (including happy, neutral, and sad) randomly. We found that the brains of women and men reacted differently to infants' faces, and these differential areas are in facial processing, attention, and empathetic networks. The rs-fMRI further showed that the connectivity of the default-mode network-related regions increased in women than in men. Additionally, brain activations in regions related to emotional networks were associated with the empathetic abilities of women. These differences in women might facilitate them to more effective and quick adjustments in behaviors and emotions during the nurturing infant period. The findings provide special implications and insights for understanding the neural processing of reacting to infant cues in adults.

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.

Determination of mothers' thoughts and adaptation behaviors regarding the infant: A descriptive study

BACKGROUND

With motherhood, women focus on their new baby. They begin to develop new adaptation behaviors to provide the best care for the infant. The study aims to describe the adaptive behaviors and concerned thoughts of first-time and repeat mothers.

METHODS

The study was designed in descriptive and cross-sectional type. Data were collected from mothers using a questionnaire and "The scale of being the mother of a baby." The study was completed with 112 mothers who were reached by snowball sampling method and agreed to participate. The data were analyzed at the 95% confidence interval at the p˂.05 significance level.

RESULTS

66.1% of the mothers had a baby for the first time, and 73.2% of the mothers received information/education about baby care. It was determined that they wanted to receive information on topics such as maternal and infant nutrition, diseases, and immunization. A statistically significant difference was found between the age of pacifier use (p = .032). It was determined that mothers got 130.7 points in total from the scale, 88.3 points from the evaluation of motherhood sub-dimension, and 42.3 points from the life change sub-dimension. A statistically significant difference was found between the baby care knowledge/training status and the scale scores.

CONCLUSION

The importance and continuity of education during and after pregnancy has emerged. Nurses are competent people with a key role in this regard, and it is recommended to use individualized care protocols for the training provided.

Increased activation in the bilateral anterior insulae in response to others in pain in mothers compared to non-mothers

Empathy allows us to share emotions and encourages us to help others. It is especially important in the context of parenting where children's wellbeing is dependent on their parents' understanding and fulfilment of their needs. To date, little is known about differences in empathy responses of parents and non-parents. Using stimuli depicting adults and children in pain, this study focuses on the interaction of motherhood and neural responses in areas associated with empathy. Mothers showed higher activation to both adults and children in pain in the bilateral anterior insulae, key regions of empathy for pain. Additionally, mothers more strongly activated the inferior frontal, superior temporal and the medial superior frontal gyrus. Differences between adult and child stimuli were only found in occipital areas in both mothers and non-mothers. Our results suggest a stronger neural response to others in pain in mothers than non-mothers regardless of whether the person is a child or an adult. This could indicate a possible influence of motherhood on overall neural responses to others in pain rather than motherhood specifically shaping child-related responses. Alternatively, stronger responses to others in pain could increase the likelihood for women to be in a relationship and subsequently to have a child.

Postpartum Depression Is Associated With Altered Neural Connectivity Between Affective and Mentalizing Regions During Mother-Infant Interactions

Although there has been growing interest in mood-related neural alterations in women in the initial weeks postpartum, recent work has demonstrated that postpartum depression often lingers for months or years following birth. However, research evaluating the impact of depression on maternal brain function during mother-infant interactions in the late postpartum period is lacking. The current study tested the hypothesis that depressive symptoms at 12-months postpartum are associated with neural alterations in affective and social neural regions, using near-infrared spectroscopy during in vivo mother-infant interactions. Participants were 23 birth mothers of 12-month-old infants (60% boys). While undergoing near-infrared spectroscopy, mothers engaged in an ecologically valid interactive task in which they looked at an age-appropriate book with their infants. Mothers also reported on their depressive symptoms in the past week and were rated on their observed levels of maternal sensitivity during mother-infant play. Greater depressive severity at 12-months postpartum was related to lower connectivity between the right temporoparietal junction and the lateral prefrontal cortex, but greater connectivity between the right temporoparietal junction and anterior medial prefrontal cortex during mother-infant interaction. Given the putative functions of these neural regions within the maternal brain network, our findings suggest that in the context of depression, postpartum mothers' mentalizing about her infants' thoughts and feelings may be related to lower ability to express and regulate her own emotions, but greater ability to engage in emotional bonding with her infant. Future work should explore how connectivity among these regions is associated with longitudinal changes in maternal behavior, especially in the context of changes in mothers' depressive symptoms (e.g., with treatment) over time.

Alexithymia and Facial Mimicry in Response to Infant and Adult Affect-Expressive Faces

Facial mimicry is the automatic tendency to imitate facial expressions of emotions. Alexithymia is associated with a reduced facial mimicry ability to affect expressions of adults. There is evidence that the baby schema may influence this process. In this study it was tested experimentally whether facial mimicry of the alexithymic group (AG) is different from the control group (CG) in response to dynamic facial affect expressions of children and adults. A multi-method approach (20-point Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia) was used for assessing levels of alexithymia. From 3503 initial data sets, two groups of 38 high and low alexithymic individuals without relevant mental or physical diseases were matched regarding age, gender, and education. Facial mimicry was induced by presentation of naturalistic affect-expressive video sequences (fear, sadness, disgust, anger, and joy) taken from validated sets of faces from adults (Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces) and children (Picture-Set of Young Children's Affective Facial Expressions). The videos started with a neutral face and reached maximum affect expression within 2 s. The responses of the groups were measured by facial electromyographic activity (fEMG) of corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. Differences in fEMG response (4000 ms) were tested in a variance analytical model. There was one significant main effect for the factor emotion and four interaction effects for the factors group × age, muscle × age, muscle × emotion, and for the triple interaction muscle × age × emotion. The participants of AG showed a decreased fEMG activity in response to the presented faces of adults compared to the CG but not for the faces of children. The affect-expressive faces of children induced enhanced zygomatic and reduced corrugator muscle activity in both groups. Despite existing deficits in the facial mimicry of alexithymic persons, affect-expressive faces of children seem to trigger a stronger positive emotional involvement even in the AG.

Neuroprotective Effects of Motherhood on Brain Function in Late Life: A Resting-State fMRI Study

The maternal brain undergoes structural and functional plasticity during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Little is known about functional plasticity outside caregiving-specific contexts and whether changes persist across the lifespan. Structural neuroimaging studies suggest that parenthood may confer a protective effect against the aging process; however, it is unknown whether parenthood is associated with functional brain differences in late life. We examined the relationship between resting-state functional connectivity and number of children parented in 220 healthy older females (73.82 ± 3.53 years) and 252 healthy older males (73.95 ± 3.50 years). We compared the patterns of resting-state functional connectivity with 3 different models of age-related functional change to assess whether these effects may be functionally neuroprotective for the aging human parental brain. No relationship between functional connectivity and number of children was obtained for males. For females, we found widespread decreasing functional connectivity with increasing number of children parented, with increased segregation between networks, decreased connectivity between hemispheres, and decreased connectivity between anterior and posterior regions. The patterns of functional connectivity related to the number of children an older woman has parented were in the opposite direction to those usually associated with age-related cognitive decline, suggesting that motherhood may be beneficial for brain function in late life.