Synchrony refers to the coordinated interplay of behavioural and physiological signals that reflect the bi-directional attunement of one partner to the other’s psychophysiological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state. In mother-child relationships, a synchronous pattern of interaction indicates parental sensitivity. Parenting stress has been shown to undermine mother-child behavioural synchrony. However, it has yet to be discerned whether parenting stress affects brain-to-brain synchrony during everyday joint activities. Here, we show that greater parenting stress is associated with less brain-to-brain synchrony in the medial left cluster of the prefrontal cortex when mother and child engage in a typical dyadic task of watching animation videos together. This brain region overlaps with the inferior frontal gyrus, the frontal eye field, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which are implicated in inference of mental states and social cognition. Our result demonstrates the adverse effect of parenting stress on mother-child attunement that is evident at a brain-to-brain level. Mother-child brain-to-brain asynchrony may underlie the robust association between parenting stress and poor dyadic co-regulation. We anticipate our study to form the foundation for future investigations into mechanisms by which parenting stress impairs the mother-child relationship.

Fathering plays an important role in infants’ socioemotional and cognitive development. Previous studies have identified brain regions that are important for parenting behavior in human mothers. However, the neural basis of parenting in human fathers is largely unexplored. In the current longitudinal study, we investigated structural changes in fathers’ brains during the first 4 months postpartum using voxel-based morphometry analysis. Biological fathers (n = 16) with full-term, healthy infants were scanned at 2–4 weeks postpartum (time 1) and at 12–16 weeks postpartum (time 2). Fathers exhibited increase in gray matter (GM) volume in several neural regions involved in parental motivation, including the hypothalamus, amygdala, striatum, and lateral prefrontal cortex. On the other hand, fathers exhibited decreases in GM volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and insula. The findings provide evidence for neural plasticity in fathers’ brains. We also discuss the distinct patterns of associations among neural changes, postpartum mood symptoms, and parenting behaviors among fathers.

Significance: We undertook an interdisciplinary exploration that unites evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and developmental cultural psychology. Based on extensive and detailed behavioral analyses of 684 new mothers in 11 countries and complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses of brain responses in 43 first-time new US mothers to their own infants’ cries, 44 experienced Chinese mothers to infant cries and control emotional sounds, and 12 Italian mothers and nonmothers to generic infant cries, we identified specific behavior repertoires and specific corresponding activated brain regions in human caregivers that constitute primary responses to infant distress. This study set will appeal to scientific and general audiences because it elucidates the foundations of core parenting practices in response to infant vocal distress.

Infant cries are a critical survival mechanism that draw the attention of adult caregivers, who can then satisfy the basic needs of otherwise helpless infants. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to determine the effects of infant hunger cries on the brain activity of adults who were in a cognitively nondemanding mental state of awake rest. We found that the brains of men and women, independent of parental status (parent or nonparent), reacted differently to infant cries. Specifically, the dorsal medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate areas, known to be involved in mind wandering (the stream of thought typical of awake rest), remained active in men during exposure to infant cries, whereas in women, activity in these regions decreased. These results show sex-dependent modulation of brain responses to infant requests to be fed, and specifically, they indicate that women interrupt mind wandering when exposed to the sounds of infant hunger cries, whereas men carry on without interruption.

Child healthy development is largely influenced by parent-child interaction and a secure parent-child attachment is predictively associated with positive outcomes in numerous domains of child development. However, the parent-child relationship can be affected by several psychosocial and socio-demographic risk factors that undermine its quality and in turn play a negative role in short and long term child psychological health. Prevention and intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families can efficiently reduce the impact of risk factors on mother and child psychological health. This study examines predictors of mother-child interaction quality and child attachment security in a sample of first-time mothers with psychosocial and/or socio-demographic risk factors. Forty primiparous women satisfying specific risk criteria participated in a longitudinal study with their children from pregnancy until 18 month of child age. A multiple psychological and socioeconomic assessment was performed. The Emotional Availability Scales were used to measure the quality of emotional exchanges between mother and child at 12 months and the Attachment Q-Sort served as a measure of child attachment security at 18 months. Results highlight both the effect of specific single factors, considered at a continuous level, and the cumulative risk effect of different co-occurring factors, considered at binary level, on mother-child interaction quality and child attachment security. Implication for the selection of inclusion criteria of intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families are discussed.