Amygdala response to mother
Open accessAbstract
In altricial species, like the human, the caregiver, very often the mother, is one of the most potent stimuli during development. The distinction between mothers and other adults is learned early in life and results in numerous behaviors in the child, most notably mother‐approach and stranger wariness. The current study examined the influence of the maternal stimulus on amygdala activity and related circuitry in 25 developing children (n = 13) and adolescents (n = 12), and how this circuitry was associated with attachment‐related behaviors. Results indicated that maternal stimuli were especially effective in recruiting activity in the left dorsal amygdala, and activity in this amygdala region showed increased functional connectivity with evaluative and motor regions during viewing of maternal stimuli. Increases in this left dorsal amygdala activity and related amygdala‐cortical functional connectivity were associated with increased mother‐approach behaviors as measured by in‐scanner behavioral responding and out‐of‐scanner child‐report. Moreover, age‐related changes in amygdala activity to strangers statistically mediated the developmentally typical decline in stranger wariness seen across this period. These results suggest that mother‐induced behaviors are enacted by maternal influence on amygdala‐cortical circuitry during childhood and adolescence.
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The left amygdala is especially responsive to maternal stimuli during childhood.
“In addition, left amygdala has been shown to be particularly responsive to maternal stimuli in childhood (104), as well as to the discrimination of family faces more generally (105).”
From Disorganized attachment in infancy predicts greater amygdala volume in adulthood (2016) · cites this paper as [104]
Both children and adolescents have high amygdala reactivity to their mothers' faces, but amygdala reactivity to the faces of strangers declines from childhood to adolescence.
“Both children and adolescents have high amygdala reactivity to their mothers’ faces, but amygdala reactivity to the faces of strangers declines from childhood to adolescence.”
From Becoming a sexual being: The “elephant in the room” of adolescent brain development (2017) · cites this paper as Tottenham et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Tottenham, N., Shapiro, M., Telzer, E. H., & Humphreys, K. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tottenham, Nim
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-04-10
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 307-319
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7687
- PMC
- PMC3522470
- OpenAlex
- W2114800809
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 8.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH091864)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- amygdala, attachment, child development, adolescence, caregiver recognition
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Amygdala, Analysis of Variance, Brain Mapping, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Maternal Behavior, Object Attachment, Surveys and Questionnaires
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