%0 Journal Article
%T Neural processing of infant and adult face emotion and maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment
%J Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
%D 2019
%A Olsavsky, Aviva K.
%A Stoddard, Joel
%A Erhart, Andrew
%A Tribble, Rebekah
%A Kim, Pilyoung
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X Face processing in mothers is linked to mother-infant social communication, which is critical for parenting and in turn for child development. Neuroimaging studies of child maltreatment-exposed (CME) mothers are sparse compared to studies of mothers with postpartum depression, which have suggested blunted amygdala reactivity to infant stimuli. We expected to see a similar pattern in CME mothers. Based on broader studies in trauma-exposed populations, we anticipated increased amygdala reactivity to negative adult face stimuli in a comparison task in CME mothers given heightened evaluation of potential threat. We examined maltreatment-exposed (CME) and unexposed (NE) mothers (18-37 years old), who performed infant (N=45) and/or adult (N=46) face processing tasks. CME mothers exhibited blunted bilateral amygdala reactivity to infant faces. There was no between-group difference in amygdala reactivity to adult faces. In infant and adult face processing tasks regardless of CME, superior temporal gyrus activation was increased for negative-valence stimuli. Our preliminary findings suggest that childhood maltreatment alters maternal processing of infant social cues, a critical skill impacting infant socioemotional development.<br><br>© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Oxford University Press
%@ 1749-5016
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsz069