Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-h8lrw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-14T22:47:01.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The parental brain: A neural framework for study of teaching in humans and other animals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Hesun Erin Kim ,
Adrianna Torres-Garcia  and
James E. Swain
Hesun Erin Kim
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. erinkim@umich.edu atorresg@med.umich.edu
Adrianna Torres-Garcia
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. erinkim@umich.edu atorresg@med.umich.edu
James E. Swain
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. erinkim@umich.edu atorresg@med.umich.edu Department of Psychology and Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. jamesswa@med.umich.edu http://www.psych.med.umich.edu/profile/?linkid=jamesswa Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Parenting, conceptualized as a specific form of teaching, may inform mentalistic, culture-based, and functional definitions. Combined brain-imaging, hormone-measurement, and cognitive-behavioral analyses indicate the importance of mentalization circuits. These circuits appear to function according to culture, and cross animal species. Further, these approaches shed light on sex differences through work on fathers as well as mothers, are affected by psychopathology, and may be amenable to treatment in ways that may be applied to optimize teaching.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e45
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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

Atzil, S., Hendler, T. & Feldman, R. (2011) Specifying the neurobiological basis of human attachment: Brain, hormones, and behavior in synchronous and intrusive mothers. Neuropsychopharmacology 36(13):2603–15. doi: 10.1038/npp.2011.172.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H. (2013) Parenting and child mental health: A cross-cultural perspective. World Psychiatry 12(3):258–65. doi: 10.1002/wps.20071.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Putnick, D. L., Swain, J. E., Rigo, P., Suwalsky, J. T. D., De Pisapia, N., Esposito, G., Cote, L. R. & Venuti, P. (under review) The neurobiology of cultural universals in response to human infant cry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Caria, A., Falco, S., Venuti, P., Lee, S., Esposito, G., Rigo, P., Birbaumer, N. & Bornstein, M. H. (2012) Species-specific response to human infant faces in the premotor cortex. Neuroimage 60(2):884–93. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.068.Google Scholar
Decety, J. (2015) The neural pathways, development and functions of empathy. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 3:1–6.Google Scholar
Feldman, R., Granat, A., Pariente, C., Kanety, H., Kuint, J. & Gilboa-Schechtman, E. (2009) Maternal depression and anxiety across the postpartum year and infant social engagement, fear regulation, and stress reactivity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 48(9):919–27.Google Scholar
Ferrari, P. F., Paukner, A., Ionica, C. & Suomi, S. J. (2009) Reciprocal face-to-face communication between rhesus macaque mothers and their newborn infants. Current Biology 19(20):1768–72. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.055.Google Scholar
Fonagy, P., Gergely, G. & Target, M. (2007) The parent-infant dyad and the construction of the subjective self. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48(3–4):288–328.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, article 152. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00152.Google Scholar
Kim, P., Feldman, R., Mayes, L. C., Eicher, V., Thompson, N., Leckman, J. F. & Swain, J. E. (2011) Breastfeeding, brain activation to own infant cry, and maternal sensitivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 52(8):907–15.Google Scholar
Kim, P., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Newman, M. A., Feldman, R. & Swain, J. E. (2010) Perceived quality of maternal care in childhood and structure and function of mothers' brain. Developmental Science 13(4):662–73. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00923.x.Google Scholar
Lamm, C., Batson, C. D. & Decety, J. (2007) The neural substrate of human empathy: Effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19(1):42–58. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.1.42.Google Scholar
Lenzi, D., Trentini, C., Pantano, P., Macaluso, E., Iacoboni, M., Lenzi, G. L. & Ammaniti, M. (2009) Neural basis of maternal communication and emotional expression processing during infant preverbal stage. Cerebral Cortex 19(5):1124–33.Google Scholar
Lenzi, D., Trentini, C., Pantano, P., Macaluso, E., Lenzi, G. L. & Ammaniti, M. (2013) Attachment models affect brain responses in areas related to emotions and empathy in nulliparous women. Human Brain Mapping 34(6):1399–414.Google Scholar
MacDonald, K. (1992) Warmth as a developmental construct: An evolutionary analysis. Child Development 63:753–73.Google Scholar
Macdonald, K., Macdonald, T. M., Brune, M., Lamb, K., Wilson, M. P., Golshan, S. & Feifel, D. (2013) Oxytocin and psychotherapy: A pilot study of its physiological, behavioral and subjective effects in males with depression. Psychoneuroendocrinology 38(12):2831–43. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mahy, C. E., Moses, L. J. & Pfeifer, J. H. (2014) How and where: Theory-of-mind in the brain. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 9C:68–81. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2014.01.002.Google Scholar
Moses-Kolko, E. L., Hipwell, A. & Swain, J. E. (2014) In search of neural endophenotypes of postpartum psychopathology and disrupted maternal caregiving. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 26(10):655–84.Google Scholar
Numan, M. & Insel, T. R. (2003) The neurobiology of parental behavior. Springer.Google Scholar
Shahrokh, D. K., Zhang, T. Y., Diorio, J., Gratton, A. & Meaney, M. J. (2010) Oxytocin-dopamine interactions mediate variations in maternal behavior in the rat. Endocrinology 151(5):2276–86. doi: 10.1210/en.2009-1271.Google Scholar
Simpson, E. A., Paukner, A., Suomi, S. J. & Ferrari, P. F. (2014a) Visual attention during neonatal imitation in newborn macaque monkeys. Developmental Psychobiology 56(4):864–70. doi: 10.1002/dev.21146.Google Scholar
Simpson, E. A., Sclafani, V., Paukner, A., Hamel, A. F., Novak, M. A., Meyer, J. S., Suomi, S. J. & Ferrari, P. F. (2014b) Inhaled oxytocin increases positive social behaviors in newborn macaques. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 111(19):6922–27. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1402471111.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Dayton, C. J., Kim, P., Tolman, R. M. & Volling, B. (2014a) Progress on the paternal brain: Theory, animal models, human brain research and mental health implications. Infant Mental Health Journal. 35(5):394–408.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Ho, S. S., Dayton, C. J., Rosenblum, K. L. & Muzik, M. (2014b) Attachment intervention for trauma-exposed mothers affects stress and empathy neurocircuits. Brain activity in empathy and approach-motivation domains for high-risk parents is increased by intervention and inversely related to parenting stress. Neuropsychopharmacology 39:S523–24Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Kim, P. & Ho, S. S. (2011) Neuroendocrinology of parental response to baby-cry. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 23(11):1036–41. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2826.2011.02212.x.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Kim, P., Spicer, J., Ho, S. S., Dayton, C. J., Elmadih, A. & Abel, K. M. (2014c) Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers. Brain Research 1580:78–101. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.03.007.Google Scholar
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. doi: 10.1080/15295192.2012.680409.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E. & Lorberbaum, J. P. (2008) Imaging the human parental brain. In: Neurobiology of the parental brain, ed. Bridges, R., pp. 83–100. Academic Press/Elsevier. doi: 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.Google Scholar