Neurobiology of culturally common maternal responses to infant cry

Abstract

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

Amygdala and affective responses to infant pictures: Comparing depressed and non‐depressed mothers and non‐mothers

“…By contrast, region of interest analyses by Rupp et al found that mothers showed a decreased amygdala responsiveness to negative (non‐infant) images relative to non‐mothers. Interestingly, other studies did not find differences in amygdala responsiveness to infant cries between mothers and non‐mothers, nor between parents and non‐parents …”

“…1,26 However, the effects of human maternal status on amygdala responsiveness to infant cues are not clear as the evidence is limited to a few neuroimaging studies reporting mixed results. 15,[27][28][29] To begin with, Seifritz et al 15 found that mothers and non-mothers showed a different pattern of amygdala responsiveness to infant vocalisations based on their emotional valence.…”

Neuromodulation of maternal circuits by oxytocin

“…Studies from human mothers show that reactivity to infant auditory cues builds over time. Vocalization processing of baby cries is increased in more experienced mothers (Bornstein et al, 2017; Parsons et al, 2017) which possibly improves the recognition of the behavioral meaning of these sounds, and promotes appropriate caregiving responses (Kurth et al, 2014). …”

“…Early mother-infant relationships have long-term effects on the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development of offspring. New mothers themselves undergo dramatic endocrinological and physiological changes supporting the establishment and maintenance of maternal caregiving, including changes throughout the central nervous system (Bornstein et al, 2017; Bridges, 2016; Kim et al, 2016; Olazábal et al, 2013). Healthy maternal sensitivity is characterized by the ability to reliably recognize and respond to infant cues, thus initiating appropriate caregiving responses (Dulac et al, 2014; Insel and Young, 2001; Kohl and Dulac, 2018; Kurth et al, 2014; Marlin et al, 2015; Parsons et al, 2017; Rickenbacher et al, 2017; Rilling and Young, 2014).…”

How becoming a mother shapes implicit and explicit responses to infant cues

“…For example, longitudinal MRI studies have revealed gray matter increases in structures involved in human caregiving 2–4 weeks after childbirth (Kim et al, ). Other studies have linked neural correlates of processing infant cues to actual parenting behaviors (Bornstein, et al, ; Musser, Kaiser‐Laurent, & Ablow, ). Adults' reactions to infant cues are also related to later child outcomes (Bornstein, Putnick, & Suwalsky, ; Joosen, Mesman, Bakermans‐Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, ; Leerkes, Parade, & Gudmundson, ; McElwain & Booth‐Laforce, ), including attachment security (Leerkes et al, ).…”