Noriuchi Madoka, Kikuchi Yoshiaki
Department of Dementia and Higher Brain Function, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science.
Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi. 2013;115(6):630-4.
Maternal love, which may be the core of maternal behavior, is essential for the mother-infant attachment relationship and is important for the infant's development and mental health. However, little has been known about these neural mechanisms in human mothers. We examined patterns of maternal brain activation in response to infant cues using video clips. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements while 13 mothers viewed video clips, with no sound, of their own infant and other infants of approximately 16 months of age who demonstrated two different attachment behaviors (smiling at the infant's mother and crying for her). We found that a limited number of the mother's brain areas were specifically involved in recognition of the mother's own infant, namely orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). and periaqueductal gray, anterior insula, and dorsal and ventrolateral parts of putamen. Additionally, we found the strong and specific mother's brain response for the mother's own infant's distress. The differential neural activation pattern was found in the dorsal region of OFC, caudate nucleus, right inferior frontal gyrus, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC), anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, posterior superior temporal sulcus, and dorsolateral PFC. Our results showed the highly elaborate neural mechanism mediating maternal love and diverse and complex maternal behaviors for vigilant protectiveness.
母爱可能是母性行为的核心，对母婴依恋关系至关重要，对婴儿的发育和心理健康也很重要。然而，人类母亲的这些神经机制却鲜为人知。我们使用视频片段研究了母亲大脑对婴儿线索的激活模式。我们对13位母亲进行了功能磁共振成像（fMRI）测量，她们观看了自己婴儿以及大约16个月大的其他婴儿的无声视频片段，这些婴儿表现出两种不同的依恋行为（对婴儿母亲微笑和向她哭泣）。我们发现，母亲大脑中只有有限数量的区域专门参与对自己婴儿的识别，即眶额皮质（OFC）、导水管周围灰质、前岛叶以及壳核的背侧和腹外侧部分。此外，我们发现母亲大脑对自己婴儿的痛苦有强烈而特定的反应。在眶额皮质的背侧区域、尾状核、右下额叶回、背内侧前额叶皮质（PFC）、前扣带回、后扣带回、后颞上沟以及背外侧PFC中发现了不同的神经激活模式。我们的结果显示了介导母爱以及为警惕性保护而产生的多样复杂母性行为的高度精细的神经机制。
