Positive emotions cause stronger connections in the brain activity of mothers and babies
Positive interaction increased the 'oneness' of the mother-infant neural network
Brain activity in mothers and their babies may be more strongly connected when the mother is happy, according to the University of East London’s Dr Sam Wass, one of the authors of a new study.
Researchers used a method called dual electroencephalography (EEG) to look at brain signals in mums and babies while they were interacting. They found that mums and babies tended to show synchronous patterns of brain waves – known as interpersonal neural connectivity - particularly in the frequency of 6-9 hertz, the infant alpha range.
The
study, published in the journal Neuroimage,
found that positive interaction, with lots of eye contact, increased the
‘oneness ‘of the mother-infant neural network, as opposed to being two
functionally separate systems, which facilitates efficient sharing and flow of
information between mother and infant.
Dr
Sam Wass, who leads the BabyDev Lab at the University of East London, said,
“During our early lives, in particular, our waking time is spent almost
exclusively in the company of others, but almost everything that we know at the
moment about how the brain develops comes from studying individual infants and
children while they are on their own in a brain scanner.
“These
new techniques, where we record from two brains at once during an interaction,
can help us find out a lot more about how brains develop.”
Dr
Vicky Leong from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychology, who
led the study said, “Our emotions literally change the way that our brains
share information with others - positive emotions help us to communicate in a
much more efficient way.”
She
added, “Depression can have a powerfully negative effect on the parent’s ability
to establish connections with their baby. All the social cues that normally
foster connection are less readily available to the child, so the child doesn’t
receive the optimal emotional input needed to thrive.”
Dr
Wass, a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology, recently secured a
prestigious €1.5 million five-year grant from the European Research Council to
find out more about how patterns of brain activity are ‘shared’ between infants
and adults, using techniques similar to those in the current study.
Dr
Wass and his collaborators are also looking at how the babies of depressed
mothers may show less evidence of learning because of a weakened neural
connection between mother and infant. Mothers who experience a persistently low
or negative mental state due to clinical depression tend to have less
interaction with their baby. Their speech is often flatter in tone, they make
much less eye contact, and they are less likely to respond when their baby
tries to get their attention.