Formation and expression of filial attachment in rhesus monkeys raised with living and inanimate mother substitutes

“…Asterisks denote significant onetailed paired t tests ( p Ͻ 0.05) (Thompson et al, 1969;Prather et al, 2001), neonatal amygdala lesions result in abnormal fear of conspecifics. Given that situations invoking fear or anxiety in young primates cause the subject to seek contact with its attachment figure (Mason and Capitanio, 1988), one can reasonably propose that the increased motherinfant contact time of the amygdala-lesioned infants may reflect an early mechanism of coping with the fear evoked by the presence of other conspecifics. The play interactions between amygdala-lesioned infants and conspecifics further supports this possibility, indicating that amygdala-lesioned infants played less frequently than controls or hippocampus-lesioned infants during the 6 month tetradic interactions, although the amygdalalesioned subjects did not differ from controls in the total duration of play.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Mother-Infant Interactions after Neonatal Amygdala Lesions in Rhesus Monkeys

Bauman¹,

Lavenex²,

Mason³

et al. 2004

J. Neurosci.

111

145

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As part of ongoing studies on the neurobiology of socioemotional behavior in the nonhuman primate, we examined the development of mother-infant interactions in 24 macaque monkeys who received either bilateral amygdala or hippocampus ibotenic acid lesions, or a sham surgical procedure at 2 weeks of age. After surgery, the infants were returned to their mothers and reared with daily access to small social groups. Behavioral observations of the infants in dyads (mother-infant pairs alone), tetrads (two mother-infant pairs), and social groups (six mother-infant pairs and one adult male) revealed species-typical mother-infant interactions for all lesion conditions, with the exception of increased physical contact time between the amygdala-lesioned infants and their mothers. Immediately after permanent separation from their mothers at 6 months of age, the infants were tested in a mother preference test that allowed the infants to choose between their mother and another familiar adult female. Unlike control and hippocampus-lesioned infants, the amygdala-lesioned infants did not preferentially seek proximity to their mother, nor did they produce distress vocalizations. Given the normal development of mother-infant interactions observed before weaning, we attribute the behavior of the amygdala-lesioned infants during the preference test to an impaired ability to perceive potential danger (i.e., separation from their mother in a novel environment), rather than to a disruption of the mother-infant relationship. These results are consistent with the view that the amygdala is not essential for fundamental aspects of social behavior but is necessary to evaluate potentially dangerous situations and to coordinate appropriate behavioral responses.

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“…Four objective behavioral measures (vocalization, clinging, variation in social preference, and proximity seeking for the attachment source) have been established for distinguishing quality and strength of attachment in rhesus monkey infants (41). Because vocalization during separation is an opioid-dependent response known to signify attachment across species, we selected this measure a priori as the dependent variable for our analysis of separation response.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation at the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) influences attachment behavior in infant primates

Barr

Schwandt

Lindell

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

178

151

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In a variety of species, development of attachment to a caregiver is crucial for infant survival and partly mediated by the endogenous opioids. Functional mu-opioid receptor gene polymorphisms are present in humans (OPRM1 A118G) and rhesus macaques (OPRM1 C77G). We hypothesized that rhesus infants carrying a gain-of-function OPRM1 77G allele would experience increased reward during maternal contact and would, therefore, display increased measures of attachment. We collected behavioral data from rhesus macaques (n ‫؍‬ 97) during early infancy and at 6 months of age, across four cycles of maternal separation (4 days) and reunion (3 days). Animals were genotyped for the OPRM1 C77G polymorphism, and the effects of this allele on attachmentrelated behaviors were analyzed. Infants carrying the G allele exhibited higher levels of attachment behavior during early infancy. During prolonged periods of maternal separation, although infant macaques homozygous for the C allele exhibited decreases in their levels of distress vocalization with repeated separation, this response persisted in G allele carriers. The OPRM1 77G allele also affected social preference during reunion. C/G infants spent increasing amounts of time in social contact with their mothers as a function of repeated separation and were less likely to interact with other individuals in the social group, a pattern not observed among infants with the C/C genotype. These findings suggest a role for OPRM1 variation in the expression of attachment behavior in human subjects, especially as a function of separation from the caregiver.genetic ͉ rhesus macaque ͉ mother-infant bond ͉ C77G ͉ A118G

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Formation and expression of filial attachment in rhesus monkeys raised with living and inanimate mother substitutes

Cited by 80 publications

References 26 publications

Rearing condition and plasma cortisol in rhesus monkey infants

Rearing condition and plasma cortisol in rhesus monkey infants

The Development of Mother-Infant Interactions after Neonatal Amygdala Lesions in Rhesus Monkeys

Variation at the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) influences attachment behavior in infant primates

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