Infant signals, including infant sounds and facial expressions, play a critical role in eliciting parental proximity and care. Processing of infant signals in the adulthood brain is likely to recruit emotional empathy neural circuits, including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to test the role of right IFG (rIFG) in behavioral responses to infant signals. Specifically, a group of nulliparous women were asked to perform a handgrip dynamometer task and an Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) after receiving TMS over the right IFG or over a control site (vertex). Suppressing activity in the rIFG affected the modulation of handgrip force in response to infant crying. Moreover, the AAT showed that participants tend to avoid the sad infant face after Vertex stimulation, and this bias was counteracted by rIFG stimulation. Our results suggest a causal role of rIFG in sensitive responding towards sad infants and point to the rIFG as a critical node in the neural network underlying the innate releasing mechanism for feelings of love, affection and caring of sad infants.

De Carli, P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., Parolin, L., Lega, C., Zanardo, B., Cattaneo, Z., et al. (2019). A walk on the dark side: TMS over the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) disrupts behavioral responses to infant stimuli. SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE, 14(6), 697-704 [10.1080/17470919.2019.1574891].

A walk on the dark side: TMS over the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) disrupts behavioral responses to infant stimuli

De Carli, Pietro
;
Parolin, Laura;Lega, Carlotta;Cattaneo, Zaira;
2019

Abstract

Infant signals, including infant sounds and facial expressions, play a critical role in eliciting parental proximity and care. Processing of infant signals in the adulthood brain is likely to recruit emotional empathy neural circuits, including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to test the role of right IFG (rIFG) in behavioral responses to infant signals. Specifically, a group of nulliparous women were asked to perform a handgrip dynamometer task and an Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) after receiving TMS over the right IFG or over a control site (vertex). Suppressing activity in the rIFG affected the modulation of handgrip force in response to infant crying. Moreover, the AAT showed that participants tend to avoid the sad infant face after Vertex stimulation, and this bias was counteracted by rIFG stimulation. Our results suggest a causal role of rIFG in sensitive responding towards sad infants and point to the rIFG as a critical node in the neural network underlying the innate releasing mechanism for feelings of love, affection and caring of sad infants.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Infant cry; infant faces; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS); right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG);
Infant Cry; Infant Faces; Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS); right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (rIFG)
English
6-feb-2019
2019
14
6
697
704
reserved
De Carli, P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., Parolin, L., Lega, C., Zanardo, B., Cattaneo, Z., et al. (2019). A walk on the dark side: TMS over the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) disrupts behavioral responses to infant stimuli. SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE, 14(6), 697-704 [10.1080/17470919.2019.1574891].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
A walk on the dark side TMS over the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus rIFG disrupts behavioral responses to infant stimuli.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia di allegato: Submitted Version (Pre-print)
Dimensione 1.05 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.05 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/216692
Citazioni
  • Scopus 5
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 6
Social impact