1
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Raghunath BL, Sng KHL, Chen SHA, Vijayaragavan V, Gulyás B, Setoh P, Esposito G. Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10988. [PMID: 35768627 PMCID: PMC9243063 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15289-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bindiya Lakshmi Raghunath
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kelly Hwee Leng Sng
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - S H Annabel Chen
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,Centre for Research and Development in Learning (CRADLE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,Office of Educational Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Vimalan Vijayaragavan
- Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Balázs Gulyás
- Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Peipei Setoh
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
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2
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Dickson RG, Jacobs MW, Kim EJ. Fatherhood is life changing: Uncovering structural and functional changes in the dad brain. Neuron 2022; 110:1889-1890. [PMID: 35709694 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.05.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
What are the cellular-level structural and functional changes underlying newly adaptive behaviors in the mammalian brain? In this issue of Neuron, Inada et al. (2022) identify the brain-wide connectivity and synaptic plasticity changes of hypothalamic oxytocin+ neurons in male mice contributing to their parental behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Dickson
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Matthew W Jacobs
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Euiseok J Kim
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
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3
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Jones JD, Stern JA, Fitter MH, Mikulincer M, Shaver PR, Cassidy J. Attachment and attitudes toward children: effects of security priming in parents and non-parents. Attach Hum Dev 2021; 24:147-168. [PMID: 33559538 DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2021.1881983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The present two-study investigation is the first to examine whether experimentally boosting attachment security (security priming) affects attitudes in the parenting domain for both parents and non-parents. Mothers (n = 72) and childless undergraduates (n = 82) were randomly assigned to a neutral or a secure prime condition and then completed measures of implicit attitudes (a child-focused version of the Go/No-Go Association Task) and explicit attitudes (self-reported) toward children. Following the priming manipulation, mothers in the secure prime condition had more positive implicit attitudes toward their child compared to mothers in the neutral prime condition. Security priming also increased mothers' positive explicit attitudes toward their children, but only among mothers who scored high on self-reported attachment-related avoidance. No priming effects emerged among non-parents. These results provide the first evidence for a causal link between parental attachment security and parental attitudes toward children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason D Jones
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jessica A Stern
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Megan H Fitter
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Mario Mikulincer
- School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzlyia, Herzliya, Israel
| | - Phillip R Shaver
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Jude Cassidy
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
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4
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Gholampour F, Riem MME, van den Heuvel MI. Maternal brain in the process of maternal-infant bonding: Review of the literature. Soc Neurosci 2020; 15:380-384. [PMID: 32437631 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2020.1764093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The mother-infant relationship is one of the most important bonds among all mammals and develops when a mother shows emotional and physical attention toward her infant. Studies suggest that maternal brain alterations, including structural and functional changes, may help mothers to form a strong bond with their infant. Investigation of mothers' unique response to her own infant, when smiling, crying or playing, could be the first step to uncover the neural bases of maternal-infant bonding. Studies are beginning to explore maternal brain changes underlying the process of mother-infant bonding. In this short review, we present an overview of the growing literature about maternal brain changes and neural responses to infant stimuli, which may underlie the process of forming the maternal-infant bond in healthy, non-clinical samples. Taken together, the maternal brain network consists mostly of areas related to salience/reward and emot processing, including the precuneus cortex, medial frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, caudate and nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and insula. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faranak Gholampour
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Doctoral School of Sociology, Eötvös Loránd University , Budapest, Hungary
| | - Madelon M E Riem
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University , Tilburg, The Netherlands
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5
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Lee TH, Qu Y, Telzer EH. Neural Representation of Parental Monitoring and Links to Adolescent Risk Taking. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1286. [PMID: 31849594 PMCID: PMC6901698 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Decades of developmental research have demonstrated the positive role of parental monitoring during adolescence, a time during which youth seek exploration and show heightened risk taking. The present study employed a novel neural pattern similarity approach to identify neural patterns underpinning parental monitoring, with attention to implications for adolescent risk taking. Mothers (N = 23) underwent an fMRI scan during which they completed a risk-taking task and viewed the risk-taking behavior of their adolescent child. Using a representational similarity analysis, we examined the neural pattern similarity between mothers’ anticipation of their child’s risk taking and their own decisions. Higher parental monitoring was reflected in greater similarity between neural pattern of anticipating their adolescents’ risk taking and experiencing their own safe outcomes. Moreover, greater neural pattern similarity between mothers’ anticipation and their own safe outcomes was associated with lower risk-taking propensity in adolescents. Taken together, the present study provides preliminary evidence for the neural patterns underpinning parental monitoring, highlighting the importance of incorporating parents’ brain as a window to understand parenting practices and adolescent risk taking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tae-Ho Lee
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Yang Qu
- School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Eva H Telzer
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
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6
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Cataldo I, Azhari A, Coppola A, Bornstein MH, Esposito G. The Influences of Drug Abuse on Mother-Infant Interaction Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness: A Review. Front Public Health 2019; 7:45. [PMID: 30915325 PMCID: PMC6422866 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Women who abuse illicit drugs often engage in atypical parenting behaviors that interfere with the natural development of mother-infant interaction and attachment. Maternal caregiving deficits leave pronounced adverse consequences in the wake of drug abuse relapse, which often occurs and in early infancy. These are times when the child requires optimal parental care. The contemporary literature documents long-term implications of illicit drug-abuse in parenting on infants. However, factors that drive and sustain the influence of drug abuse on parent-infant outcomes remain elusive. This review adopts a biopsychosocial approach to synthesizing the existing state of knowledge on this issue. Mother-infant interaction is a dynamic socio-relational process that occurs at multiple levels of organization. As such, a biopsychosocial perspective enables us to uncover: (i) roles of specific physiological mechanisms and biological characteristics of atypical parenting in mothers who abuse drugs, (ii) the influence of drugs on maternal psychological state (i.e., beliefs regarding parenting practices, emotional regulation), and (iii) social relationships (i.e., relationships with spouse and other drug abusers) and contextual cues (i.e., triggers) that moderate non-optimal maternal caregiving. A comprehensive review of these key domains provides a nuanced understanding of how these several sources interdependently shape atypical parent-infant interaction amongst drug abusing mothers. Systematic elucidation of major factors underlying drug-abused maternal behaviors facilitates the development of targeted and more effective interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Cataldo
- Affiliative Behavior and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.,Mobile and Social Computing Lab, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, Italy
| | - Atiqah Azhari
- Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Aurora Coppola
- Psychology Unit, Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari, Trento, Italy.,Service for Addiction-Ser.D, Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari, Trento, Italy
| | - Marc H Bornstein
- Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Affiliative Behavior and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.,Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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7
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Rigo P, Kim P, Esposito G, Putnick DL, Venuti P, Bornstein MH. Specific maternal brain responses to their own child's face: An fMRI meta-analysis. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2019; 51:58-69. [PMID: 30872887 PMCID: PMC6411077 DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paola Rigo
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Pilyoung Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, 2155 South Race Street, Denver, CO 80208-3500
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
- Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Diane L. Putnick
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Paola Venuti
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Marc H. Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK
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8
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Spodenkiewicz M, Aigrain J, Bourvis N, Dubuisson S, Chetouani M, Cohen D. Distinguish self- and hetero-perceived stress through behavioral imaging and physiological features. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2018; 82:107-114. [PMID: 29191571 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.11.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Revised: 11/20/2017] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Stress reactivity is a complex phenomenon associated to multiple and multimodal expressions. Response to stressors has an obvious survival function and may be seen as an internal regulation to adapt to threat or danger. The intensity of this internal response can be assessed as the self-perception of the stress response. In species with social organization, this response also serves a communicative function, so-called hetero-perception. Our study presents multimodal stress detection assessment - a new methodology combining behavioral imaging and physiological monitoring for analyzing stress from these two perspectives. The system is based on automatic extraction of 39 behavioral (2D+3D video recording) and 62 physiological (Nexus-10 recording) features during a socially evaluated mental arithmetic test. The analysis with machine learning techniques for automatic classification using Support Vector Machine (SVM) show that self-perception and hetero-perception of social stress are both close but different phenomena: self-perception was significantly correlated with hetero-perception but significantly differed from it. Also, assessing stress with SVM through multimodality gave excellent classification results (F1 score values: 0.9±0.012 for hetero-perception and 0.87±0.021 for self-perception). In the best selected feature subsets, we found some common behavioral and physiological features that allow classification of both self- and hetero-perceived stress. However, we also found the contributing features for automatic classifications had opposite distributions: self-perception classification was mainly based on physiological features and hetero-perception was mainly based on behavioral features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Spodenkiewicz
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France; CEPOI EA 7388, Unité de Pédopsychiatrie de Liaison, Pôle de Santé Mentale, CHU Sud Réunion, Université de la Réunion, Saint-Pierre, France; CESP Inserm U1178, Groupe IPSOM, Paris, France.
| | - Jonathan Aigrain
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France
| | - Nadège Bourvis
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France; Département de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, AP-HP, GHU Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Séverine Dubuisson
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France
| | - Mohamed Chetouani
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France
| | - David Cohen
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France; Département de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, AP-HP, GHU Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
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9
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Bourvis N, Singer M, Saint Georges C, Bodeau N, Chetouani M, Cohen D, Feldman R. Pre-linguistic infants employ complex communicative loops to engage mothers in social exchanges and repair interaction ruptures. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:170274. [PMID: 29410790 PMCID: PMC5792867 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2017] [Accepted: 12/14/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Language has long been identified as a powerful communicative tool among humans. Yet, pre-linguistic communication, which is common in many species, is also used by human infants prior to the acquisition of language. The potential communicational value of pre-linguistic vocal interactions between human infants and mothers has been studied in the past decades. With 120 dyads (mothers and three- or six-month-old infants), we used the classical Still Face Paradigm (SFP) in which mothers interact freely with their infants, then refrain from communication (Still Face, SF), and finally resume play. We employed innovative automated techniques to measure infant and maternal vocalization and pause, and dyadic parameters (infant response to mother, joint silence and overlap) and the emotional component of Infant Directed Speech (e-IDS) throughout the interaction. We showed that: (i) during the initial free play mothers use longer vocalizations and more e-IDS when they interact with older infants and (ii) infant boys exhibit longer vocalizations and shorter pauses than girls. (iii) During the SF and reunion phases, infants show marked and sustained changes in vocalizations but their mothers do not and (iv) mother-infant dyadic parameters increase in the reunion phase. Our quantitative results show that infants, from the age of three months, actively participate to restore the interactive loop after communicative ruptures long before vocalizations show clear linguistic meaning. Thus, auditory signals provide from early in life a channel by which infants co-create interactions, enhancing the mother-infant bond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadège Bourvis
- Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
- Equipe IMI2S, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, UMR 7222, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
- Pôle de Psychiatrie Infanto-Juvénile, Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal Toulon-La Seyne, Toulon, France
| | - Magi Singer
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia, Israel
| | - Catherine Saint Georges
- Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
- Equipe IMI2S, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, UMR 7222, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Bodeau
- Equipe IMI2S, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, UMR 7222, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - Mohamed Chetouani
- Equipe IMI2S, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, UMR 7222, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - David Cohen
- Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
- Equipe IMI2S, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, UMR 7222, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - Ruth Feldman
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia, Israel
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10
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De Carli P, Riem MM, Parolin L. Approach-avoidance responses to infant facial expressions in nulliparous women: Associations with early experience and mood induction. Infant Behav Dev 2017; 49:104-113. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Revised: 08/15/2017] [Accepted: 08/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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11
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Parsons CE, Young KS, Petersen MV, Jegindoe Elmholdt EM, Vuust P, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. Duration of motherhood has incremental effects on mothers' neural processing of infant vocal cues: a neuroimaging study of women. Sci Rep 2017; 7:1727. [PMID: 28496095 PMCID: PMC5431892 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01776-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2016] [Accepted: 04/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine E Parsons
- Interacting Minds Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Katherine S Young
- Anxiety and Depression Research Center, Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Mikkel V Petersen
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, DK, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | | | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, DK & The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
- MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Morten L Kringelbach
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, DK & The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, DK, Aarhus C, Denmark.
- Institut d'études avancées de Paris, Paris, France.
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12
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Mutschler I, Ball T, Kirmse U, Wieckhorst B, Pluess M, Klarhöfer M, Meyer AH, Wilhelm FH, Seifritz E. The Role of the Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Amygdala in Environmental Sensitivity to Infant Crying. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0161181. [PMID: 27560361 PMCID: PMC4999060 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Newborns and infants communicate their needs and physiological states through crying and emotional facial expressions. Little is known about individual differences in responding to infant crying. Several theories suggest that people vary in their environmental sensitivity with some responding generally more and some generally less to environmental stimuli. Such differences in environmental sensitivity have been associated with personality traits, including neuroticism. This study investigated whether neuroticism impacts neuronal, physiological, and emotional responses to infant crying by investigating blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a large sample of healthy women (N = 102) with simultaneous skin conductance recordings. Participants were repeatedly exposed to a video clip that showed crying infants and emotional responses (valence, arousal, and irritation) were assessed after every video clip presentation. Increased BOLD signal during the perception of crying infants was found in brain regions that are associated with emotional responding, the amygdala and anterior insula. Significant BOLD signal decrements (i.e., habituation) were found in the fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, Broca's homologue on the right hemisphere, (laterobasal) amygdala, and hippocampus. Individuals with high neuroticism showed stronger activation in the amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) when exposed to infant crying compared to individuals with low neuroticism. In contrast to our prediction we found no evidence that neuroticism impacts fMRI-based measures of habituation. Individuals with high neuroticism showed elevated skin conductance responses, experienced more irritation, and perceived infant crying as more unpleasant. The results support the hypothesis that individuals high in neuroticism are more emotionally responsive, experience more negative emotions, and may show enhanced cognitive control during the exposure to infant distress, which may impact infant-directed behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabella Mutschler
- Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, United States of America
| | - Tonio Ball
- Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Intracranial EEG and Functional Brain Imaging Research Group, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ursula Kirmse
- Department of Psychology, Division of General and Biological Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Birgit Wieckhorst
- Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael Pluess
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Andrea H. Meyer
- Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Frank H. Wilhelm
- Division of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Erich Seifritz
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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13
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Brockington I. Emotional Rejection of the Infant: Status of the Concept. Psychopathology 2016; 49:247-260. [PMID: 27583348 DOI: 10.1159/000448334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Emotional rejection of the infant is a morbid, clinical phenomenon, central to mother-infant psychiatry. It occurs in about 1% of births in the general population, but much more often in mothers referred to specialist services. It has severe consequences for children, but responds well to treatment. It is now better recognized, but research is required, especially cohort studies and neuroscientific investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Brockington
- Professor Emeritus, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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