Journal article
Neural correlates of altered emotional responsivity to infant stimuli in mothers who use substances
Journal of psychiatric research, Vol.171, pp.126-133
01/17/2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.01.024
PMCID: PMC10922955
PMID: 38277872
Abstract
Mothers who use substances during pregnancy and postpartum may have altered maternal behavior towards their infants, which can have negative consequences on infant social-emotional development. Since maternal substance use has been associated with difficulties in recognizing and responding to infant emotional expressions, investigating mothers' subjective responses to emotional infant stimuli may provide insight into the neural and psychological processes underlying these differences in maternal behavior. In this study, 39 mothers who used substances during the perinatal period and 42 mothers who did not underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing infant faces and hearing infant cries. Afterwards, they rated the emotional intensity they thought each infant felt ('think'-rating), and how intensely they felt in response to each infant stimulus ('feel'-rating). Mothers who used substances had lower 'feel'-ratings of infant stimuli compared to mothers who did not. Brain regions implicated in affective processing (e.g., insula, inferior frontal gyrus) were less active in response to infant stimuli, and activity in these brain regions statistically predicted maternal substance-use status. Interestingly, 'think'-ratings and activation in brain regions related to cognitive processing (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex) were comparable between the two groups of mothers. Taken together, these results suggest specific neural and psychological processes related to emotional responsivity to infant stimuli may reflect differences in maternal affective processing and may contribute to differences in maternal behavior in mothers who use substances compared to mothers who do not. The findings suggest potential neural targets for increasing maternal emotional responsivity and improving child outcomes.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Neural correlates of altered emotional responsivity to infant stimuli in mothers who use substances
- Creators
- Li Yan McCurdy - Yale UniversitySarah W Yip - Yale UniversityPatrick D Worhunsky - Yale UniversityZu Wei Zhai - Middlebury College (United States, MiddleburySohye Kim - Eunice Kennedy Shriver CenterLane Strathearn - University of IowaMarc N Potenza - Yale UniversityLinda C Mayes - Yale UniversityHelena J V Rutherford - Yale University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of psychiatric research, Vol.171, pp.126-133
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.01.024
- PMID
- 38277872
- PMCID
- PMC10922955
- ISSN
- 0022-3956
- eISSN
- 1879-1379
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000026, name: National Institute on Drug Abuse; DOI: 10.13039/100000057, name: National Institute of General Medical Sciences; DOI: 10.13039/100009633, name: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/17/2024
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics; Neuroscience and Pharmacology
- Record Identifier
- 9984548666302771
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