Psychiatry - August 2008 - (Page 29)

[REVIEW] BABY STIMULI AND THE PARENT BRAIN: Functional Neuroimaging of the Neural Substrates of Parent-Infant Attachment by JAMES E. SWAIN, MD, PhD Yale Child Study Center, Program for Risk, Resilience and Recovery, New Haven, Connecticut Psychiatry (Edgemont) 2008;5(8):28–36 ABSTRACT Interacting parenting thoughts and behaviors critically shape human infants’ current and future behavior. Indeed, the parent-infant relationship provides infants with their first social environment, forming templates for what they can expect from others and how best to interact with them. This paper focuses on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments relevant to the study of the brain-basis of parenting. First there is a brief introduction to techniques and a selective review of functional neuroimaging studies that examine fMRI responses to infant stimuli: baby sounds or visuals. Next, there is a sample single-subject set of brain imaging data of brain response to ownbaby-cry. Finally, there is a proposed model of how infant stimuli activate parent brain circuits, including sensory analysis brain regions, as well as corticolimbic circuits that regulate motivation, reward, and learning about their infants, and ultimately organize parenting impulses, thoughts, and emotions into coordinated behaviors. It is argued that an integrated understanding of the brain basis of parenting has profound implications for understanding long-term parent and infant mental health risk and resilience. BRAIN IMAGING OF HUMAN PARENT-INFANT RELATIONSHIPS This paper focuses on the use of brain imaging to understand the brain basis of human parental behavior and thoughts. In these experiments, infant auditory and visual stimuli are combined with the high resolution and noninvasive brain imaging technique of bloodoxygen-dependant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI assays brain activity by indirectly measuring changes in regional blood oxygenation. The differences between a region’s oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin, between states of action versus inaction for instance, provide characteristic magnetic signals localized to millimeters that are detected by scanners positioned around each subject’s head. Functional neuroimaging research has provided researchers with tools to study the actual activity within the brain as a function of various states of mind elicited by sensory stimuli or associated with different cognitive tasks. This technique has already been used to study normal thinking and emotion as well as pathological psychological conditions, such as schizophrenia, depression, and substance abuse. Neuroimaging in psychiatry promises to provide new understandings of how the brain works in these different states and may provide new diagnostic and treatment planning possibilities for those having difficulties bonding with their infants. An important caveat throughout the interpretation of parenting fMRI studies, however, is that brain activity measurements represent an integration of electrical brain activity that may be instantaneous, yet the related blood flow change lags behind over seconds. Furthermore, experimental design captures brain activity over periods of a few seconds or tens of seconds. On the one hand, short blocks or events may capture ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO: Dr. James Swain, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, Connecticut 06520; Phone: (203) 785-6973; Fax: (203) 785-7611; E-mail: james.swain@yale.edu KEY WORDS: parent-infant attachment, baby stimuli, brain response, neuroimaging [AUGUST] Psychiatry 2008 29

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Psychiatry - August 2008 Editor’s Message Editorial Advisory Board Contents Borderline Personality Disorder: Are Proliferative Symptoms Characteristic? Short-acting versus Long-acting Medications for the Treatment of ADHD Baby Stimuli and the Parent Brain: Functional Neuroimaging of the Neural Substrates of Parent-Infant Attachment These Boots Are Made for Stalking: Characteristics of Female Stalkers Managing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Emergency Department Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Hypoxia, and Metabolic Syndrome in Psychiatric and Nonpsychiatric Settings Improving the Quality of Life in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease The Process of Getting New Drugs to Market Journal Watch Classified Advertising Information for Authors

Psychiatry - August 2008

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