Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-zlvph Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-16T00:16:50.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parental response to baby cry involves brain circuits for negative emotion Distancing-Embracing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

James E. Swain  and
S. Shaun Ho
James E. Swain
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY 11794. james.swain@stonybrookmedicine.edu Shao-Hsuan.ho@stonybrookmedicine.edu https://www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/profile?pid=2038&name=James%20Swain%20MD https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shao-Hsuan_Ho Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
S. Shaun Ho
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY 11794. james.swain@stonybrookmedicine.edu Shao-Hsuan.ho@stonybrookmedicine.edu https://www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/profile?pid=2038&name=James%20Swain%20MD https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shao-Hsuan_Ho
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The “art form” of parent-infant bonding critically involves baby conveying negative emotions – literally compelling parents to respond and provide care. Current research on the brain basis of parenting is combining brain imaging with social, cognitive, and behavioral analyses to understand how parental brain circuits regulate thoughts and behavior in mental health, risk, and resilience. Understanding the parental brain may contribute to solving the long-standing paradox of self-sought hedonic exposure to negative emotions in art reception.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e375
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. Hogarth.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. Basic.Google Scholar
Brown, S. L. & Brown, R. M. (2015) Connecting prosocial behavior to improved physical health: Contributions from the neurobiology of parenting. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 55:1–17. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.004.Google Scholar
Hipwell, A. E., Guo, C., Phillips, M. L., Swain, J. E. & Moses-Kolko, E. L. (2015) Right frontoinsular cortex and subcortical activity to infant cry is associated with maternal mental state talk. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(37):12725–32.Google Scholar
Ho, S. S., Konrath, S., Brown, S. & Swain, J. E. (2014) Empathy and stress related neural responses in maternal decision making. Frontiers in Neuroscience 8:152. Available at: http://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2014.00152.Google Scholar
Ho, S. S., & Swain, J. E. (2017). Depression alters maternal extended amygdala response and functional connectivity during distress signals in attachment relationship. Behavioral Brain Research 325(Pt B):290–96. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.045 Google Scholar
Hume, D. (1757/1997) Of tragedy. In: D. Hume: Four dissertations, pp. 185–200. Thoemmes Press.Google Scholar
Kim, P., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Wang, X. & Swain, J. E. (2010a) The plasticity of human maternal brain: Longitudinal changes in brain anatomy during the early postpartum period. Behavioral Neuroscience 124(5):695–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, P., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Newman, M. A., Feldman, R. & Swain, J. E. (2010b) Perceived quality of maternal care in childhood and structure and function of mothers' brain. Developmental Science 13(4):662–73. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00923.x.Google Scholar
Kim, P., Rigo, P., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Cole, P. M., Feldman, R. & Swain, J. E. (2015) A prospective longitudinal study of perceived infant outcomes at 18–24 months: Neural and psychological correlates of parental thoughts and actions assessed during the first month postpartum. Frontiers in Psychology 6:1772. Available at: http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01772.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, P., Rigo, P., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Leckman, J. F. & Swain, J. E. (2014) Neural plasticity in fathers of human infants. Society for Neuroscience 9(5):522–35. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2014.933713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, P., Strathearn, L. & Swain, J. E. (2016) The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans. Hormones and Behavior 77:113–23. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.08.001.Google Scholar
Moses-Kolko, E. L., Horner, M. S., Phillips, M. L., Hipwell, A. E. & Swain, J. E. (2014) In search of neural endophenotypes of postpartum psychopathology and disrupted maternal caregiving. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 26(10):665–84. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/jne.12183.Google Scholar
Sripada, C., Swain, J. D., Ho, S. S. & Swain, J. E. (2014) Automatic goals and conscious regulation in social cognitive affective neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37(2):156–57. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13002161.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Dayton, C. J., Kim, P., Tolman, R. M. & Volling, B. L. (2014) Progress on the paternal brain: Theory, animal models, human brain research, and mental health implications. Infant Mental Health Journal 35(5):394–408. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swain, J. E. & Ho, S. S. (2017a) Neuroendocrine mechanisms for parental sensitivity: Overview, recent advances and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology 15(1):105–10.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E. & Ho, S. S. (2017b) Parental brain: The crucible of compassion. In: The Oxford handbook of compassion science, ed. Seppala, E. M., Simon-Thomas, E., Brown, S. L., Worline, M. C., Cameron, C. D., Doty, J. R. & Doty, J. R., pp. 65–78. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Ho, S. S., Rosenblum, K. L., Morelen, D., Dayton, C. J. & Muzik, M. (2017) Parent-child intervention decreases stress and increases maternal brain activity and connectivity during own baby-cry: An exploratory study. Development and Psychopathology 29(2):535–53. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417000165.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Kim, P., Spicer, J., Ho, S. S., Dayton, C. J., Elmadih, A. & Abel, K. M. (2014) Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers. Brain Research 1580:78–101. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2014.03.007.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swain, J. E., Konrath, S., Brown, S. L., Finegood, E. D., Akce, L. B., Dayton, C. J. & Ho, S. S. (2012) Parenting and beyond: Common neurocircuits underlying parental and altruistic caregiving. Parenting, Science, and Practice 12(2–3):115–23. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2012.680409.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E. & Lorberbaum, J. P. (2008) Imaging the human parental brain. Neurobiology of the Parental Brain 6:83–100. Academic Press. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374285-8.00006-8.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Mayes, L. C. & Leckman, J. F. (2004) The development of parent-infant attachment through dynamic and interactive signaling loops of care and cry. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27(4):472–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar