Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months associates with local connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in children at 5 years of age

• DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.920995
• Publication Date: 2022-09-15T08:27:00Z
• Authors: Anni Copeland; Riikka Korja; Saara Nolvi; Olli Rajasilta; Elmo P. Pulli; Venla Kumpulainen; Eero Silver; Ekaterina Saukko; Hetti Hakanen; Eeva Holmberg; Eeva-Leena Kataja; Suvi Häkkinen; Riitta Parkkola; Tuire Lähdesmäki; Linnea Karlsson; Hasse Karlsson; Jetro J. Tuulari
• Keywords: Maternal sensitivity; Socioemotional selectivity theory

The quality of mother-child interaction, especially maternal sensitivity in caregiving behavior, plays an important role a child's later socioemotional development. Numerous studies have indicated associations between poor interaction and offspring brain structure function, but more knowledge on how variation the characteristics early is associated with children's function needed. We investigated whether at 8 or 30 months functional connectivity 5 years age based FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (17 39 dyads months, respectively, overlap 13 dyads). Maternal was assessed during free play using Emotional Availability Scales age. Task-free magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquired 7-min scans while watching Inscapes movie. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) maps were created from fMRI data, multiple regression analysis performed to assess relation ReHo. positively ReHo values within medial prefrontal cortex. Distal this region showed no significant association seed-based analysis. No found toddlerhood connectivity. Together, these results suggest that sensitivity, infancy, may influence However, larger sample sizes are warranted.