Sanchez Mar M, McCormack Kai M, Howell Brittany R
a Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences , Emory University School of Medicine, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Center for Translational Social Neuroscience , Atlanta , GA , USA.
b The Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition , Emory University , Atlanta , GA , USA.
Soc Neurosci. 2015;10(5):512-26. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1087426. Epub 2015 Sep 17.
Social buffering, the phenomenon by which the presence of a familiar individual reduces or even eliminates stress- and fear-induced responses, exists in different animal species and has been examined in the context of the mother-infant relationship, in addition to adults. Although it is a well-known effect, the biological mechanisms that underlie it as well as its developmental impact are not well understood. Here, we provide a review of evidence of social and maternal buffering of stress reactivity in nonhuman primates, and some data from our group suggesting that when the mother-infant relationship is disrupted, maternal buffering is impaired. This evidence underscores the critical role that maternal care plays for proper regulation and development of emotional and stress responses of primate infants. Disruptions of the parent-infant bond constitute early adverse experiences associated with increased risk for psychopathology. We will focus on infant maltreatment, a devastating experience not only for humans, but for nonhuman primates as well. Taking advantage of this naturalistic animal model of adverse maternal caregiving, we have shown that competent maternal care is critical for the development of healthy attachment, social behavior, and emotional and stress regulation, as well as of the neural circuits underlying these functions.
社会缓冲是指熟悉个体的存在会减少甚至消除应激和恐惧诱发反应的现象，它存在于不同动物物种中，除了在成年动物中进行过研究外，还在母婴关系的背景下得到了考察。尽管这是一个广为人知的效应，但其背后的生物学机制以及对发育的影响尚未得到充分理解。在此，我们综述了非人类灵长类动物应激反应的社会缓冲和母性缓冲的证据，以及我们团队的一些数据，这些数据表明，当母婴关系受到干扰时，母性缓冲会受损。这一证据强调了母性关怀在灵长类动物婴儿情绪和应激反应的正常调节与发育中所起的关键作用。母婴关系的破坏构成了与精神病理学风险增加相关的早期不良经历。我们将聚焦于婴儿虐待，这不仅对人类，而且对非人类灵长类动物来说都是一种毁灭性的经历。利用这种不良母性照料的自然主义动物模型，我们已经表明，称职的母性照料对于健康依恋、社会行为、情绪和应激调节的发展，以及这些功能背后的神经回路的发展至关重要。
