Effects of Parental Engagement on Oxytocin Receptor Gene Methylation and Neural Response to Social Stimuli

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Abstract

The Social Salience Hypothesis posits that oxytocin regulates the salience of social cues by moderating orienting responses to social stimuli (Shamay-Tsoory & Abu-Akel, 2016). However, this regulatory mechanism is contingent on individual differences. It has been hypothesized that one of these individual differences could be oxytocin receptor gene DNA methylation (OXTRm), which appears to have a critical adjustment period in infancy (Krol et al., 2019). Prior studies have shown that maternal engagement is correlated with methylation of this gene (Krol et al., 2019) and that OXTRm predicts neural entropy for social stimuli in infancy (Puglia et al., 2020). Additionally, research has found that parental behavior, specifically sensitive parenting (defined as warm, responsive, and predictive responses to child behavior), is strongly correlated with neural processing of positive emotion (Taylor-Colls, 2017). Therefore, we hypothesized that both OXTRm and the quality of parental engagement may be regulating infants’ neurological responses to social stimuli. In accordance with the Social Salience Hypothesis, we predicted that the change in oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) expression may act as a neuromodulator, which may predict peak amplitude of the face-sensitive N290 event-related potential (ERP) response in infants (De Haan et al., 2003). The infant N290 is thought to be the developmental precursor to the face-selective N170 extensively studied in adults. Prior work with infants has shown that with experience and learning the infant N290 becomes specifically tuned to human faces between 4 and 8 months of age (Grossmann et al., 2012). Similarly, we predicted that the quality of parental engagement at four months may predict the peak amplitude of the N290 facial response at four and eight months of age. To address this hypothesis, we analyzed ten infants to date longitudinally at four and eight months of age. We recorded event-related potentials to social stimuli, naturalistic free play interactions to assess the parent’s engagement, and quantified salivary oxytocin receptor gene methylation. Using a partial least squares regression model, our data show that parental engagement at four months of age predicted the difference in the N290 response between social and non-social stimuli at eight months of age (t = 3.13, p = 0.0165) but not at four months of age (t= -1.89, p= 0.101). In contrast to our hypothesis, we did not see any effects of OXTRm on the N290 response at four months (t= 1.23, p= 0.258) or eight months (t= 1.71, p= 0.1314). These results tentatively suggest that parental sensitivity, presumably through the experience of close, positive and contingent face-to-face interactions, may contribute to the cortical specialization of human face processing systems during infancy. Our preliminary results point to a role of parental engagement in contributing to the development of social perception during infancy, yet do not provide evidence for the hypothesized link with OXTRm. Considering the small sample size of the preliminary analysis, we will increase our sample to gain an effect estimate and to better understand whether or not OXTRm is playing a role in the early development of social perception.

Authors

• Cabell Lancaster Williams, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• James Morris, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tobias Grossmann, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meghan H. Puglia, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author