Frontal lobe activity and affective behavior of infants of mothers with depressive symptoms.

Studies of adults and infants indicate that the left frontal brain region is specialized for approach emotions, such as joy, whereas the right frontal region is specialized for withdrawal emotions, such as distress. Furthermore, depressed adults have been found to show reduced brain activity in the left frontal region. In this study, frontal and parietal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded from 27 infants aged 11-17 months (13 of whose mothers reported elevated depressive symptoms) during baseline and emotion-eliciting conditions. Compared with infants of nonsymptomatic mothers, infants of symptomatic mothers exhibited reduced left frontal brain activity during playful interactions with their mothers and failed to exhibit the typical pattern of greater right frontal activity during a condition designed to elicit distress (maternal separation). Infants of symptomatic mothers also showed less distress during maternal separation; however, no group differences in behavior were found during the playful condition. Group differences were evident in the frontal region, but not in parietal brain activity.

[1]  N. Fox,et al.  Asymmetrical brain activity discriminates between positive and negative affective stimuli in human infants. , 1982, Science.

[2]  Robert G. Robinson,et al.  Depression in aphasic patients: Frequency, severity, and clinical-pathological correlations , 1981, Brain and Language.

[3]  R. Davidson,et al.  Effects of lateralized presentations of faces on self-reports of emotion and EEG asymmetry in depressed and non-depressed subjects. , 1985, Psychophysiology.

[4]  G. Gainotti.  Emotional behavior and hemispheric side of the lesion. , 1972, Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior.

[5]  G. Gainotti.  Reactions “catastrophiques” et manifestations d'indifference au cours des atteintes cerebrales , 1969 .

[6]  M. Weissman,et al.  Use of a self-report symptom scale to detect depression in a community sample. , 1980, The American journal of psychiatry.

[7]  N. Fox,et al.  Frontal brain asymmetry predicts infants' response to maternal separation. , 1989, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[8]  M. Phelps,et al.  Maturational changes in cerebral function in infants determined by 18FDG positron emission tomography. , 1986, Science.

[9]  R. Matias,et al.  Face-to-face interactions of depressed mothers and their infants. , 1986, New directions for child development.

[10]  Measurement of Temperament in Infancy , 1981 .

[11]  M. Weissman,et al.  Assessing depressive symptoms in five psychiatric populations: a validation study. , 1977, American journal of epidemiology.

[12]  A. Luria.  Higher Cortical Functions in Man , 1980, Springer US.

[13]  P. Ekman,et al.  The Duchenne smile: emotional expression and brain physiology. II. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[14]  N. Fox,et al.  The relation between social support, infant risk status and mother–infant interaction. , 1987 .

[15]  T. Field,et al.  Pregnancy problems, postpartum depression, and early mother–infant interactions. , 1985 .

[16]  E. Tronick,et al.  The transmission of maternal disturbance to the infant. , 1986, New directions for child development.

[17]  D. Tucker.  Lateral brain function, emotion, and conceptualization. , 1981, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  K. Lyons-Ruth,et al.  Infants at Social Risk: Relations Among Infant Maltreatment, Maternal Behavior, and Infant Attachment Behavior , 1987 .

[19]  Geraldine Dawson,et al.  The role of frontal lobe functioning in the development of infant self-regulatory behavior , 1992, Brain and Cognition.

[20]  R. Robinson,et al.  Mood disorders in stroke patients. Importance of location of lesion. , 1984, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[21]  R. Davidson,et al.  Regional brain electrical asymmetries discriminate between previously depressed and healthy control subjects. , 1990, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[22]  E. Silberman,et al.  Hemispheric lateralization of functions related to emotion , 1986, Brain and Cognition.

[23]  Ross A. Thompson,et al.  Assessing Qualitative Dimensions of Emotional Responsiveness in Infants: Separation Reactions in the Strange Situation* , 1984 .

[24]  P. Ekman,et al.  Approach-withdrawal and cerebral asymmetry: emotional expression and brain physiology. I. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  W. Nauta.  The problem of the frontal lobe: a reinterpretation. , 1971, Journal of psychiatric research.

[26]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[27]  N. Fox,et al.  Hemispheric asymmetry and emotion , 1984 .

[28]  K. Pribram.  THE PRIMATE FRONTAL CORTEX - EXECUTIVE OF THE BRAIN , 1973 .

[29]  T. Field.  Models for reactive and chronic depression in infancy. , 1986, New directions for child development.

[30]  R. Davidson,et al.  Frontal and parietal electroencephalogram asymmetry in depressed and nondepressed subjects. , 1983, Biological psychiatry.

[31]  Richard J. Davidson,et al.  Affect, cognition, and hemispheric specialization. , 1985 .

[32]  Richard J. Davidson,et al.  Taste-elicited changes in facial signs of emotion and the asymmetry of brain electrical activity in human newborns , 1986, Neuropsychologia.

[33]  T. Field,et al.  Infants of depressed mothers show "depressed" behavior even with nondepressed adults. , 1988, Child development.

[34]  E. Pedhazur.  Coding subjects in repeated measures designs. , 1977 .

[35]  J. Mazziotta,et al.  Reduction of prefrontal cortex glucose metabolism common to three types of depression. , 1989, Archives of general psychiatry.

[36]  A. Luria.  The Working Brain , 1973 .

[37]  N. Fox,et al.  Patterns of brain electrical activity during facial signs of emotion in 10-month-old infants. , 1988 .

[38]  R. Robinson,et al.  Mood change following left hemispheric brain injury , 1981, Annals of neurology.