The Many Faces of Caregiving: Parental Brain Flexibility and its Long-Term Implications for Child Development

• In Event: 1-126 - Infants and Their Caregivers in Concert: Developmental Perspectives on Interpersonal Neurophysiology and Behavior

Integrative Statement

In this talk, I survey our longitudinal fMRI studies on the human parental brain with a focus on the significant neural flexibility and great hormonal and behavioral variability that characterize human caregiving. Variations of mothers' and fathers’ neural and hormonal response to infant cues will be discussed along three lines: (1) gender differences in parental role, caregiving experiences and adoptive parenting (2) normative variations in coparental styles, and (3) effects on children’s neurobiological and behavioral development from infancy to school-age. This talk highlights the importance of focusing on a “two-person neuroscience” approach to further understand how parent’s neural and endocrine systems provide the first template that introduces children to the social world and shapes their social adaptation throughout life.

Authors

• Eyal Abraham, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC)
  Presenting Author

• Orna Zagoory-Sharon, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Talma Hendler, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gal Raz, Tel Aviv University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yael Jacob, Tel Aviv University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yaniv Kanat-Maymon, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gadi Gilam, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ruth Feldman, IDC Herzliya
  Non-Presenting Author