3-077 - Multimodal Neuroimaging Approaches to Studies of Maternal Brain Adaptation: Parenting, Life Adversity and Psychopathology

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

There is a growing understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying human caregiving behavior and the plastic adaptations that support and impede the provision of care and attachment formation. For example, human mothers’ neural responses to experiencing infant and parenting stimuli have been associated with behavioral sensitivity observed during interactions with infants. The current symposium aims to provide a greater understanding of the core neural bases for maternal caregiving using innovative multimodal neuroimaging approaches with diverse clinical and non-clinical samples. Across the four studies, drawn from different U.S. and non-U.S. research teams, mothers with infants and young children of varying ages were studied. Associations are examined in the context of diverse life circumstances and demographic characteristics, maternal psychopathology, and clinical treatments across the studies. The first paper discusses relations between amygdala functional connectivity and postpartum timing, as well as observed maternal behavior, among an economically-diverse group of mothers. The second paper reports on neural responses to viewing infant pictures among depressed and non-depressed mothers (including depressed mothers during the postpartum period and beyond), as well as non-mothers. The third paper focuses on neural responses to a task requiring mothers to join and empathize with their own versus other infant’s emotions among mothers with histories of childhood emotional abuse. Finally, the fourth presentation evaluates neural activity of substance-dependent mothers being treated with buprenorphine using several imaging tasks. The collection of study findings expand upon the existing literature on neural bases of parenting behavior and point to new directions for clinical interventions.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chairs

• James Edward Swain, Stony Brook University

• Alissa C Huth-Bocks, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Individual Presentations

• Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Maternal Brain: Associations with Postpartum Timing and Maternal Structuring - Presenting Author: Alexander Dufford, University of Denver; Non-Presenting Author: Andrew J Erhart, University of Denver; Non-Presenting Author: Pilyoung Kim, University of Denver

• Neural Response to Infant Pictures; Comparing depressed and non-depressed mothers and non-mothers - Presenting Author: Aya Dudin, 1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga; Non-Presenting Author: Kathleen Wonch, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga; Non-Presenting Author: Andrew Davis, McMaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Meier Steiner, McMaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Alison Fleming, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga; Non-Presenting Author: Geoffrey Hall, McMaster University

• Maternal emotional abuse history is related to neural activation when empathizing with their children’s emotions - Presenting Author: Alissa C Huth-Bocks, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center; Non-Presenting Author: Shaun Ho, Stony Brook University, Department of Psychiatry; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah Ahlfs-Dunn, Eastern Michigan University; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine L. Guyon-Harris, Tulane University School of Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Jerrica Pitzen, Eastern Michigan University; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Riggs, Eastern Michigan University; Non-Presenting Author: James Edward Swain, Stony Brook University

• Brain Adaptations for Buprenorphine Medicated Postpartum Women - Presenting Author: James Edward Swain, Stony Brook University; Non-Presenting Author: Shaun Ho, Stony Brook University, Department of Psychiatry