The human parental brain: In vivo neuroimaging

In the paper

“Mothers and fathers have been grouped together to look for common parental brain responses suggesting commonalities across sex.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Seifritz et al. (2003) source
• Not checked yetcites Swain et al. (in press)

In the paper

“Related measures of early-life experience correlate with brain cortical structure and function, supporting the importance of attachment style for parental brain and behavior.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Barrett et al. (2009) source
• Not checked yetcites Kim et al. (2010c)

In the paper

“affect corticolimbic limbic circuits that regulate emotional response, motivation and reward related to their infant, ultimately organizing parenting impulses, thoughts and emotions into coordinated behaviors as a map for future studies.”

In the paper

“Specifically, both experiencing pain and experiencing the pain of a loved one activated the insula and anterior cingulate with the latter activating relatively more anterior regions of these structures.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Singer et al., 2004 source

In the paper

“Such decoupled yet parallel representations of empathy in cortical structures such as the insula and anterior cingulate have been postulated to be necessary for our empathic abilities to mentalize, that is, to understand the thoughts, beliefs, and intentions of others in relation to ourselves”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Frith and Frith, 2003 source
• Not checked yetcites Hein and Singer, 2008 source

In the paper

“The insula has also been raised as an important center for integrating across emotional and cognitive information”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carr et al., 2003 source
• Not checked yetcites Critchley, 2009 source
• Not checked yetcites Perlman and Pelphrey, 2010

In the paper

“Thus, in addition to registering physical pain, anterior cingulate may also be an important circuit in thinking about a range of emotional signals (including social pain such as in witnessing the pain of a loved one, social rejection, or stimuli of one’s child or romantic love), involving coordinated shifts in attention, decision-making, memory, mood regulation, and directed behavior.”

In the paper

“Statistical methods vary across studies, but all findings reported here satisfy the criteria of fixed effects at p<0.001, or random effects at p<0.05.”

In the paper

“They also reported that women as a group including, parents and non-parents (but not males), had a decrease in activity in response to both baby cry and laughter in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Seifritz et al., 2003 source

In the paper

“Perhaps the gender-dependent correlates of neural activity in amygdala and anterior cingulate reflect neural predispositions in women for responses to preverbal infant vocalizations, whereas the gender-independent similarity of activation patterns in posterior and anterior cingulate reflects the relatively sensory-based and cognitive levels of neural processing.”

In the paper

“Finally, within-group analyses showed that parents activated more to infant crying than laughing in the right amygdala, while non-parent response was greater for infant laughing then crying (Seifritz et al., 2003).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Seifritz et al., 2003 source

In the paper

“These limitations include the only partial realism of baby stimuli, limited response possibilities of subjects as they are being imaged as well as the inherent methodological problems in which brain activity can only be compared across time points if the same stimuli”

In the paper

“Activation of the fusiform gyrus is interesting because this structure has been implicated in human face and voice recognition along with related social cognitions that might be impaired in autism”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Schultz, 2005 source

In the paper

“Both conditions led to bilateral activation of the amygdala, insula and auditory cortex with a right-hemisphere advantage in the amygdala, and larger activation during laughing than crying in the auditory cortex with a slight right-hemisphere advantage for laughing.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Sander et al., 2003 source

In the paper

“These within-group results suggest a potential change in amygdala function with being a parent, although there was no direct comparison of parents to non-parents.”

In the paper

“These results suggest that certain brain regions, including the amygdala, activate to emotionally meaningful sounds like laughing and crying independent of the emotional involvement, suggesting the pattern recognition aspect of these sounds is crucial for this activation and that emotional valence might be represented elsewhere in the brain”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Sander et al., 2003 source

In the paper

“Sander and colleagues also report a striking gender effect with infant laughing and crying stimuli vs. a control sound activating the amygdala and anterior cingulate of women, while the control stimuli elicited stronger activations in men.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Sander et al., 2007 source

In the paper

“Activated regions included the anterior and posterior cingulate, thalamus, midbrain, hypothalamus, septal regions, dorsal and ventral striatum, medial prefrontal cortex, right orbitofrontal/insula/temporal polar cortex region, and right lateral temporal cortex and fusiform gyrus.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lorberbaum et al., 2002 source

In the paper

“In recent human studies, it has specifically been connected with parent–infant behavior, as measured in both serum and saliva (Feldman et al., 2010a) and across gender (Feldman et al., 2010b).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Feldman et al., 2010a
• Not checked yetcites Feldman et al., 2010b

In the paper

“They measured brain activity in 20 healthy mothers while viewing still face photographs of their own child compared to age-matched photographs of other children. There was increased activity in the midbrain (periaqueductal gray and substantia nigra regions), dorsal and ventral striatum, thalamus, left insula, ORC, sub-, pre-, and supra-genual anterior cingulate, and superior medial prefrontal cort”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bartels and Zeki, 2004b

In the paper

“Preliminary analysis of connected parenting interview data shows that mothers were significantly more preoccupied than fathers, which was consistent with the relative activations for mothers compared with fathers in the amygdala and basal ganglia (Swain et al., 2004b).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Swain et al., 2004b

In the paper

“Finally, activity in the left insula-putamenglobus pallidus correlated with trait affect intensity, whereas activity in limbic and cortical regions, including insula, cingulate parietal, inferior temporal and middle temporal cortex was correlated with the length of time in love.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Aron et al., 2005 source
• Not checked yetcites Fisher et al., 2005 source

In the paper

“Correlations between parent response to own vs. other baby picture and parent behaviors attained from videotapes of interactions with their infant reveals activations in superior temporal lobe, OFC and ventral tegmental areas, may be key to understanding the regulation of parental motivation and reward associated with baby-directed empathy, approach and caring behaviors as well as social bonding.”

In the paper

“Taken together, these studies suggest that romantic love uses subcortical motivation and reward systems to focus thoughts and behaviors on a specific individual, while limbic cortical regions process individual emotional factors.”

In the paper

“Activation of these regions may reflect an increase in arousal, obsessive/anxiety circuits that may be normally temporarily more active for parents and persistently sensitive with some mental illnesses (Swain et al., 2007).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Swain et al., 2007 source

In the paper

“Finally, regional activity between brain areas that are known to be anatomically connected have been shown to be simultaneously active during movie viewing (Bartels and Zeki, 2005).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bartels and Zeki, 2005

In the paper

“This may be explained by the use of much older children, which might involve a different set of circuits relevant to those particular relationships.”

In the paper

“They found that the mirror neuron system, including insula and amygdala were more active during emotional expressions from a mother’s own child, and that insula response correlates with maternal reflective function, conceptualized as a measure of empathy.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenzi et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“In contrast, areas of visual cortex that also discriminated between own and unfamiliar infants were unrelated to mood ratings (Nitschke et al., 2004).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Nitschke et al., 2004 source

In the paper

“They also reported that baby joy expressions across identity evoked mostly right limbic and paralimbic areas important to emotional processing, whereas ambiguous expressions elicited responses in left-sided high order cognitive and motor areas, logically reflecting associated cognitive effort.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenzi et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“Peripheral oxytocin responses to infant contact provocations at 7 months were also significantly higher in secure mothers, and positively correlated with brain activation in both regions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Strathearn et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“They reported that dopamine-associated reward-processing regions of the brain were activated when mothers viewed their own infant’s face compared with an unknown infant’s face. These included the ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra regions, the striatum. In addition, there were frontal lobe responses in emotion processing (medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula cortex), cognition (d”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Strathearn et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“First, this study attempts to address the effects of early-life events on later parenting, as elaborated in rodent and non-human primate models (Champagne, 2010; Kaffman and Meaney, 2007; Veenema, 2009), brain structure as well as functional responses to baby cry vary according to a measure of perceived maternal quality (Kim et al., 2010c).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kim et al., 2010c

In the paper

“It now appears that careful use of a variety of baby stimuli can be used to activate parent brains across identity and affect. Furthermore, such responses correlate with psychometrics of parenting, mood, anxiety and attachment parameters as well as across sensibly across hormonal milieus.”

In the paper

“This is perhaps not surprising, given that brain structure changes with the environmental demands of learning to juggle (Draganski et al., 2004) or studying (Draganski et al., 2006) over a few months.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Draganski et al., 2004 source
• Not checked yetcites Draganski et al., 2006 source

In the paper

“They also found correlations in OFC with own baby-response and happiness as well as to their own distressed baby response in the superior temporal regions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Noriuchi et al., 2008 source

In the paper

“Also, the intensity with which subjects perceive different features in a movie (color, faces, language, and human bodies) was correlated with activity in separate brain areas (Bartels and Zeki, 2004a).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bartels and Zeki, 2004a

In the paper

“These regions might allow accurate modeling of the baby’s mind to predict their needs and plan behavior (Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004; Decety and Grezes, 2006; Pelphrey et al., 2004; Saxe, 2006a).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004
• Not checked yetcites Decety and Grezes, 2006
• Not checked yetcites Pelphrey et al., 2004 source

In the paper

“First, key parenting sensory signals, including cry, visuals as well as touch and smell from baby (A), must be organized in sensory cortices which appraise the input and interact with subcortical memory and motivation structures (B).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Swain et al., 2007 source

In the paper

“In addition, (ii) cognitive circuits would be brought online in the parent brain, including those that regulate “mirroring”, empathy, planning and further cognitive flexibility, including the inferior frontal, insular and superior–temporoparietal cortical regions.”

In the paper

“A growing body of evidence from naturalistic longitudinal studies attests to an adverse impact of postpartum depression, with depressed mothers less sensitively attuned to their infants, less affirming and more negative in describing their infant.”

In the paper

“Postpartum depression follows 10% to 15% of all deliveries (Caplan et al., 1989) and more than 60% of patients have an onset of symptoms within the first 6 weeks postpartum (Stowe and Nemeroff, 1995).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Caplan et al., 1989 source
• Not checked yetcites Stowe and Nemeroff, 1995

In the paper

“Clearly, baby pictures and cries can be used to selectively activate brain circuits related to arousal, mood, and social and habitual behaviors according to identity and affect of baby, as well as and group differences such as parental status, early-life experience, delivery, etc.”

In the paper

“In another recent study (Feldman et al., 2009), infants of control, anxious and depressed mothers were compared with respectively poorer outcomes at 9 months postpartum. Social engagement, maturity of regulatory behaviors and more emotionality were all diminished by mood and anxiety, with associated increases in cortisol reactivity.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Feldman et al., 2009 source

In the paper

“More complex planning and social emotional/empathy responses may involve frontal, insular, fusiform and occipital areas.”

In the paper

“These common problems, including pre-term delivery, postpartum depression and anxiety and substance abuse have received much less investigative attention and not yet a single published fMRI study (Squire and Stein, 2003), although several groups are close.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Squire and Stein, 2003

In the paper

“This appears to center on the feedback loops involving hypothalamus, midbrain, basal ganglia regions, anterior cingulate, prefrontal cortex, and thalamus—all requiring motivation and reward.”

In the paper

“Ultimately, sufficient motivation will activate corticolimbic modules (C), that have delineated as (i) reflexive caring impulses, such as those studied in preclinical animal models and requiring little or no cortical input such as licking, grooming and nursing in which the hypothalamus, MPOA, and other limbic and thalamocingulate circuits are of primary importance (Numan and Insel, 2003).”

• Also stated in: § 7. Summary and model · hedged

  “In addition, (ii) cognitive circuits would be brought online in the parent brain, including those that regulate “mirroring”, empathy, planning and further cognitive flexibility, including the inferior frontal, insular and superior–temporoparietal cortical regions.”

• Also stated in: § 7. Summary and model · hedged

  “Finally, (iii) other alarm/ emotion–preoccupation anxiety systems might be activated to increase arousal and regulate parental worries and habitual responses in coordination with memory systems.”

In the paper

“The output would also feed back to sensory systems (B) during dynamic interactions with the infant to generate new input from baby (A).”

In the paper

“These reflexive, cognitive and emotional modules would interact with each other in the experience of parental love and attachment formation, and work together to generate coordinated hormonal, autonomic and behavioral output required for parenting (D) via motor cortex and hypothalamus.”

In the paper

“Other important aspects of parenting may be regulated by context and memory processing regions including the hippocampus, parahippocampus and amygdala.”

In the paper

“Finally, (iii) other alarm/ emotion–preoccupation anxiety systems might be activated to increase arousal and regulate parental worries and habitual responses in coordination with memory systems.”

In the paper

“The human parental brain is the concept of a discrete set of interacting brain circuits that serve as substrate for the human transition to parenting, integrate baby as well as internal information, and support key thoughts and behaviors for us to identify and react to baby stimuli.”

In the paper

“Other critical factors to be added include current circumstances such as delivery and breastfeeding, early-life experience for which we have brain imaging evidence of modifying brain function in response to infant stimuli (Kim et al., 2010a; Kim et al., 2010c; Swain et al., 2008).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kim et al., 2010a
• Not checked yetcites Kim et al., 2010c
• Not checked yetcites Swain et al., 2008 source