Neural basis of maternal communication and emotional expression processing during infant preverbal stage
Abstract
During the first year of life, exchanges and communication between a mother and her infant are exclusively preverbal and are based on the mother's ability to understand her infant's needs and feelings (i.e., empathy) and on imitation of the infant's facial expressions; this promotes a social dialog that influences the development of the infant self. Sixteen mothers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while observing and imitating faces of their own child and those of someone else's child. We found that the mirror neuron system, the insula and amygdala were more active during emotional expressions, that this circuit is engaged to a greater extent when interacting with one's own child, and that it is correlated with maternal reflective function (a measure of empathy). We also found, by comparing single emotions with each other, that joy expressions evoked a response mainly in right limbic and paralimbic areas; by contrast, ambiguous expressions elicited a response in left high order cognitive and motor areas, which might reflect cognitive effort.
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Baby joy expressions across identity evoked mostly right limbic and paralimbic areas, whereas ambiguous expressions elicited left-sided high order cognitive and motor areas.
“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.”
From The human parental brain: In vivo neuroimaging (2011) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al., 2008
Lenzi et al. (2008) found mirror neuron system including insula and amygdala more active during emotional expressions from mother's own child, and insula response correlates with maternal reflective function.
“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.”
From The human parental brain: In vivo neuroimaging (2011) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al., 2008
Attachment style and reflective function has been formally assessed in one imaging study so far showing direct correlation with insula response to own infant face.
“Attachment style and reflective function has only been formally assessed in one imaging study so far showing direct correlation with insula response to own infant face.”
From The human parental brain: In vivo neuroimaging (2011) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al. (2008)
The insula response correlated with the empathy-related measure of maternal reflective function (Lenzi et al., 2009).
“Furthermore, the insula response correlated with the empathy-related measure of maternal reflective function.”
From Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers (2014) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al., 2009
In mothers observing and imitating faces of their own and someone else's child, regions believed to contain mirror neurons and connected limbic regions (insula and amygdala) were more active during emotional expressions from own child (Lenzi et al., 2009).
“In this study, regions believed to contain mirror neurons and connected limbic regions, including insula and amygdala respectively, were more active during emotional expressions from own child.”
From Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers (2014) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al., 2009
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 (Lenzi et al., 2009).
“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”
From Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers (2014) · cites this paper as Lenzi et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Lenzi, D., Trentini, C., Pantano, P., Macaluso, E., Iacoboni, M., Lenzi, G. L., & Ammaniti, M.
- Affiliations
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Fondazione Santa Lucia (IT)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2008-09-11
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1124-1133
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- OpenAlex
- W2143036661
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 12.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- maternal communication, mirror neuron system, insula, amygdala, maternal empathy, facial expression imitation, mother-infant interaction, limbic system, cognitive effort
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amygdala, Cerebral Cortex, Empathy, Female, Humans, Infant, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, Object Attachment, Photic Stimulation, Expressed Emotion, Young Adult
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