TY - JOUR
T1 - What Sleeping Babies Hear
T2 - A Functional MRI Study of Interparental Conflict and Infants' Emotion Processing
AU - Graham, Alice M.
AU - Fisher, Philip A.
AU - Pfeifer, Jennifer H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Support for this work was provided by the Center for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Child Welfare System (1-P30-DA023920); the Early Experience, Stress, and Neurobehavioral Development Center (1-P50-MH078105); a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31-10667639); and the Lewis Center for NeuroImaging at the University of Oregon.
PY - 2013/5
Y1 - 2013/5
N2 - Experiences of adversity in the early years of life alter the developing brain. However, evidence documenting this relationship often focuses on severe stressors and relies on peripheral measures of neurobiological functioning during infancy. In the present study, we employed functional MRI during natural sleep to examine associations between a more moderate environmental stressor (nonphysical interparental conflict) and 6- to 12-month-old infants' neural processing of emotional tone of voice. The primary question was whether interparental conflict experienced by infants is associated with neural responses to emotional tone of voice, particularly very angry speech. Results indicated that maternal report of higher interparental conflict was associated with infants' greater neural responses to very angry relative to neutral speech across several brain regions implicated in emotion and stress reactivity and regulation (including rostral anterior cingulate cortex, caudate, thalamus, and hypothalamus). These findings suggest that even moderate environmental stress may be associated with brain functioning during infancy.
AB - Experiences of adversity in the early years of life alter the developing brain. However, evidence documenting this relationship often focuses on severe stressors and relies on peripheral measures of neurobiological functioning during infancy. In the present study, we employed functional MRI during natural sleep to examine associations between a more moderate environmental stressor (nonphysical interparental conflict) and 6- to 12-month-old infants' neural processing of emotional tone of voice. The primary question was whether interparental conflict experienced by infants is associated with neural responses to emotional tone of voice, particularly very angry speech. Results indicated that maternal report of higher interparental conflict was associated with infants' greater neural responses to very angry relative to neutral speech across several brain regions implicated in emotion and stress reactivity and regulation (including rostral anterior cingulate cortex, caudate, thalamus, and hypothalamus). These findings suggest that even moderate environmental stress may be associated with brain functioning during infancy.
KW - emotional development
KW - infant development
KW - neuroimaging
KW - psychological stress
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U2 - 10.1177/0956797612458803
DO - 10.1177/0956797612458803
M3 - Article
C2 - 23538912
AN - SCOPUS:84877326979
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 24
SP - 782
EP - 789
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 5
ER -