We have summarised some key academic papers and research findings from across the disciplines - including neuroscience, psychology and biology – to view on-line or download:

• Becoming a mother entails anatomical changes in the ventral striatum of the human brain that facilitate its responsiveness to offspring cues
  Hoekzema E, Tamnes CK, Berns P, Barba-Müller E, Pozzobon C, Picado M, Lucco F, Martínez-García M, Desco M, Ballesteros A, Crone EA, Vilarroya O and Carmona S (2020), Psychoneuroendocrinology 112, 104507
  DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104507
  

Becoming a mother entails anatomical changes in the ventral striatum of the human brain that facilitate its responsiveness to offspring cues

 

• Familiar Songs Reduce Infant Distress
  Cirelli LK and Trehub SE (2020), Developmental Psychology 56(5) 861–868
  DOI:10.1037/dev0000917
  

Familiar Songs Reduce Infant Distress

 

• Timing of Early-Life Stress and Development of Brain-Related Capacities
  Hambrick, E. P., Brawner T. W. and Perry, B.D.
  Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience (2019), 13, 6 August https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00183
  

Timing of Early-Life Stress and Development of Brain-Related Capacities

 

• Maternal caregiving and DNA methylation in human infants and children: Systematic review
  Provenzi L, Brambilla M, di Minico G S, Montirosso R and Borgatti R
  Genes, Brain and Behavior Volume19, Issue3, March 2020 19:e12616. DOI:10.1111/gbb.12616
  

Maternal caregiving and DNA methylation in human infants and children: Systematic review

 

• Neglect, HPA Axis Reactivity, and Development (2019) A review paper
  Reilly E.B. & Gunnar M.R.
  International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience 78, (November), 100-108
  

Neglect, HPA Axis Reactivity, and Development (2019) A review paper

 

• The Global Challenge of the neglect of children
  Kobulsky, J.M., Dubowitz, H. and Xu, Y.
  Child Abuse & Neglect (2019) online 2020
  

The Global Challenge of the neglect of children

 

• Unresolved trauma and reorganization in mothers: Attachment and neuroscience perspectives
  Iyengar U, Rajhans P, Fonagy P, Strathearn L and Kim S. (2019)
  Frontiers in Psychology 10(10), doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00110
  

Unresolved trauma and reorganization in mothers: Attachment and neuroscience perspectives

 

• The cost of love: financial consequences of insecure attachment in antisocial youth
  Christian J. Bachmann, Jennifer Beecham, Thomas G. O’Connor, Adam Scott, Jackie Briskman, and Stephen Scott
  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60 (12), p 1343-50: November 2019

The cost of love: financial consequences of insecure attachment in antisocial youth

 

• Maternal speech shapes the cerebral frontotemporal network in neonates: a hemodynamic functional connectivity study
  Uchida-Ota M, Arimitsu T, Tsuzuki D, Dan I, Ikeda K, Takahashi T and Minagawa Y. (2019)
  Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100701

Maternal speech shapes the cerebral frontotemporal network in neonates: a hemodynamic functional connectivity study

 

• Chronic Trauma Impairs the Neural Basis of Empathy in Mothers: Relations to Parenting and Children’s Empathic Abilities.
  Levy, J., Yirmiya, K., Goldstein, A. and Feldman, R.
  Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2019) online May 2019 100658

Chronic Trauma Impairs the Neural Basis of Empathy in Mothers: Relations to Parenting and Children’s Empathic Abilities.

 

• Altered development of hippocampus-dependent associated learning following early-life adversity.
  Lambert H. K., Peverill M., Sambrook K. A., Rosen M. L., Sheridan M. A., & McLaughlin K. A.
  Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 38 (August) (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.den.2019.100666

Altered development of hippocampus-dependent associated learning following early-life adversity.

 

THE VITAL ROLE OF OXYTOCIN IN INFANT EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Summaries of three related research papers

• Child’s oxytocin response to mother-child interaction: The contribution of child genetics and maternal behaviour
  Baião R., Fearon P., Belsky J., Baptista J., Carneiro A., Pinto R., Nogueira M., Oliveir C., Soares  I. and Mesquita A.R.
  Psychoneuroendocrinology 102: 79–83 (2019)

• Genetic and peripheral markers of the oxytocin system and parental care jointly support the cross-generational transmission of bonding across three generations
  Fujiwara T., Weisman O., Ochi M., Shirai K., Matsumoto K., Noguchi E. and Feldman R.
  Psychoneuroendocrinology 102:172–181(2019)

• Epigenetic modification of the oxytocin receptor gene is associated with emotion processing in the infant brain
  Krol K.M., Puglia M.H., Morris J.P., Connelly J.J. and Grossmann T. (2019)
  Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 37:100648

THE VITAL ROLE OF OXYTOCIN IN INFANT EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

• Exploring the neural basis for paternal protection: an investigation of the neural response to infants in danger
  Anna E. van 't Veer, Sandra Thijssen, Jurriaan Witteman, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, and Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
  Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2019, Vol 14, issue 4, pages 447–457

Exploring the neural basis for paternal protection: an investigation of the neural response to infants in danger

 

• Non-parental childcare during non-standard hours: Does participation influence child well-being?
  Casey H. Boyd-Swan
  Labour Economics57 (2019) 85-101

Non-parental childcare during non-standard hours: Does participation influence child well-being?

 

• Gender-bias in the sensory representation of infant cry
  Devaraju, D.S., Gnanateja, G.N., Kumar, U.A. and Maruthy, S. (2018)
  Neuroscience Letters678: 138–143

Gender-bias in the sensory representation of infant cry

 

• Rooming-in Reduces Salivary Cortisol Level of Newborn
  De Bernardo, G., Riccitelli, M., Giordano, M., Proietti, F., Sordino, D., Longini, M., Buonocore, G. and Perrone, S. (2018)
  Mediators of Inflammation, 2845352

Rooming-in Reduces Salivary Cortisol Level of Newborn

 

• Why Choo-Choo is Better than Train: The Role of Register-Specific Words in Early Vocabulary Growth
  Ota M, Davies-Jenkins N, Skarabela B
  Cognitive Science (2018) 1-26

Why Choo-Choo is Better than Train: The Role of Register-Specific Words in Early Vocabulary Growth

 

• Attachment security buffers the HPA axis of toddlers growing up in poverty or near poverty: Assessment during paediatric well-child exams with inoculations.
  Anna B. Johnson, Shanna B. Mliner, Carrie E. Depasquale, Michael Troy, Megan R. Gunnar
  Psychoneuroendocrinology95 (2018) 120–127

Attachment security buffers the HPA axis of toddlers growing up in poverty or near poverty: Assessment during paediatric well-child exams with inoculations.

 

• Differentially Methylated Genes in Saliva are linked to Childhood Stress
  Papale, L.A., Seltzer, L.J., Madrid, A., Pollak, S.D. and Alisch. R.S. (2018)
  Scientific Reports8:10785

Differentially Methylated Genes in Saliva are linked to Childhood Stress

 

• Technoference: longitudinal associations between parent technology use, parenting stress, and child behaviour problems 
  B.T. McDaniel and J. S. Radesky.
  Pediatric Research 13^th June 2018.

Technoference: longitudinal associations between parent technology use, parenting stress, and child behaviour problems

 

• Neurohormones and temperament interact during infant development
  Jones, N.A. and Sloan, A. (2018)
  Philos Trans R. Soc Lond B 373 (1744): 20170159

 Neurohormones and temperament interact during infant development

 

• Lost connections: Oxytocin and the neural, physiological and behavioural consequences of disrupted relationships
  Pohl, T.T., Young, L.J. & Bosch, O.J.
  Int. J. Psychophysiology 2017, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.12.011

Lost connections: Oxytocin and the neural, physiological and behavioural consequences of disrupted relationships

• Mothers’ and Fathers’ Sensitivity With Their Two Children: A Longitudinal Study From Infancy to Early Childhood
  Elizabeth T. Hallers-Haalboom, Marleen G. Groeneveld, Shiela R. van Berkel, Joyce J. Endendijk, Lotte D. van der Pol,
  Mariëlle Linting, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg and Judi Mesman
  Developmental Psychology 2017. 53 (5), 860-872

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Sensitivity With Their Two Children: A Longitudinal Study From Infancy to Early Childhood

• Association between maternal childhood trauma and offspring psychopathology: mediation analysis from the ALSPAC cohort
  Plant, D.T., Jones, F.W., Pariante, C.M. and Pawlby, S.
  British Journal of Psychiatry (2017), 211, 144-150

Association between maternal childhood trauma and offspring psychopathology: mediation analysis from the ALSPAC cohort

• Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers
  Pehr Granqvist, L. Alan Sroufe, Mary Dozier, Erik Hesse, Miriam Steele, Marinus van Ijzendoorn, Judith Solomon, Carlo Schuengel, Pasco Fearon, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, Howard Steele, Jude Cassidy, and 32 other authors
  Attachment and Human Development, 2017 vol 19, No 6, 534-558

Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

• The Future of Preschool Prevention, Assessment and Intervention
  Hudziak J, Archangeli C
  Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, North America 26 (2017) 611-624

The Future of Preschool Prevention, Assessment and Intervention

• Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains. (2017)
  Leong, V., Byrne, E., Clackson, K., Georgieva, S., Lam, S., and Wass, S.
  PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1702493114

Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains

• All our Sons: The Developmental Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Boys at Risk (2017)
  Allan N. Schore
  Infant Mental Health Journal 2017Jan: 38 (1), 15-52 DOI: 10.1002/imhj.21616

All our Sons: The Developmental Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Boys at Risk

• Serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) polymorphism and susceptibility to a home visiting maternal-infant attachment intervention delivered by community health workers in South Africa: Reanalysis of a randomized controlled trial (2017)
  Morgan, B., Kumsta, R., Fearon, P., Moser, D., Skeen, S., Cooper, P., Murray, L., Moran, G. and Tomlinson, M.
  PLoS Medicine DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002237

Serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) polymorphism and susceptibility to a home visiting maternal-infant attachment intervention delivered by community health workers in South Africa: Reanalysis of a randomized controlled trial

• Impact of early personal-history characteristics on the Pace of Ageing: implications for clinical trials of therapies to slow aging and expand healthspan (2017)
  Belsky, D.W., Caspi, A., Cohen, H.J., Kraus, W.E., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R. & Mofitt, T.E.
  Aging Cell 1-8 Doi: 10.1111/acel.12591

Impact of early personal-history characteristics on the Pace of Ageing: implications for clinical trials of therapies to slow aging and expand healthspan

• Elevated cortisol levels in Norwegian toddlers in childcare (2017)
  Drugli, M.B., Solheim, E., Lydersen, S., Moe, V., Smith, L., Berg-Nielsen, T.S.
  Early Child Development and Care

Elevated cortisol levels in Norwegian toddlers in childcare (2017)