Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers

Abstract

Brain networks that govern parental response to infant signals have been studied with imaging techniques over the last 15 years. The complex interaction of thoughts and behaviors required for sensitive parenting of offspring enable formation of each individual’s first social bonds and critically shape infants’ behavior. This review concentrates on magnetic resonance imaging experiments which directly examine the brain systems involved in parental responses to infant cues. First, we introduce themes in the literature on parental brain circuits studied to date. Next, we present a thorough chronological review of state-of-the-art fMRI studies that probe the parental brain with a range of baby audio and visual stimuli. We also highlight the putative role of oxytocin and effects of psychopathology, as well as the most recent work on the paternal brain. Taken together, a new model emerges in which we propose that cortico-limbic networks interact to support parental brain responses to infants for arousal/salience/motivation/reward, reflexive/instrumental caring, emotion response/regulation and integrative/complex cognitive processing. Maternal sensitivity and the quality of caregiving behavior are likely determined by the responsiveness of these circuits toward long-term influence of early-life experiences on offspring. The function of these circuits is modifiable by current and early-life experiences, hormonal and other factors. Known deviation from the range of normal function in these systems is particularly associated with (maternal) mental illnesses – commonly, depression and anxiety, but also schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Finally, we discuss the limits and extent to which brain imaging may broaden our understanding of the parental brain, and consider a current model and future directions that may have profound implications for intervention long term outcomes in families across risk and resilience profiles.

How Socioeconomic Disadvantages Get Under the Skin and into the Brain to Influence Health Development Across the Lifespan

“…In particular, pregnancy and the first years of a child's life can be an optimal time for the two-generation approach to intervention. Not only is this the period when a child's brain and body are most rapidly developing, it is also a period when a parent's brain undergoes plastic changes to support the parental role (Kim and Bianco 2014;Swain et al 2014). For example, during the first few months of the postpartum period, both new mothers and fathers exhibit structural growth in brain regions including the striatum and prefrontal cortex that support warm and supportive parenting behaviors (Kim et al 2010b;.…”

Oxytocin pathways in the intergenerational transmission of maternal early life stress

“…OT has been shown to be a pivotal neuromodulator of social cognition, empathy, emotion regulation, and motivation within an extensive neural network that is involved in human and non-human mammalian parenting and caregiving (Feldman, 2015a; Rilling, 2013; Rilling and Young, 2014; Swain et al, 2014). This network is comprised of hypothalamic nuclei, importantly the MPOA, the mesocorticolimbic system , which encompasses the amygdala, the hippocampus , the nucleus accumbens (nAcc), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the pre-frontal cortical regions, the ventral pallidum (Love, 2014; Skuse and Gallagher, 2009; Strathearn, 2011), as well as the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway (Feldman, 2015a).…”

Maternal-Newborn Bonding Concept Analysis

“…In a study conducted to determine effects of depression on maternal-newborn attachment, Ohoka et al [2] described bonding as "the process of developing a relationship and attachment between mother and newborn child" (p. 631). Swain et al [9] used the term parenting to describe the connection between mother and child. In the study to determine the biological factors that occur during attachment, parenting was explained as "meeting the primal evolutionary needs for survival and continuation of our species, parenting involves interrelated biological, psychological, and behavioral caregiving mechanisms that contribute critically to the first environment the child experiences as a new family member" (p. 79) [9].…”

“…Swain et al [9] used the term parenting to describe the connection between mother and child. In the study to determine the biological factors that occur during attachment, parenting was explained as "meeting the primal evolutionary needs for survival and continuation of our species, parenting involves interrelated biological, psychological, and behavioral caregiving mechanisms that contribute critically to the first environment the child experiences as a new family member" (p. 79) [9]. Additionally, Numan and Young [10] performed a study related to neural mechanisms and the effects on maternal-infant bonding.…”