Ambika Maria1, Ilkka Nissilä2, Shashank Shekhar3, Kalle Kotilahti4, Jetro J Tuulari5, Pauliina Hirvi6, Minna Huotilainen7, Juha Heiskala8, Linnea Karlsson9, Hasse Karlsson10. 1. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland. 2. Aalto University, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Finland. Electronic address: ilkka.nissila@aalto.fi. 3. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland; University of Mississippi Medical Center, Department of Neurology, MS, USA. 4. Aalto University, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Finland. 5. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland; The Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine (TCSM); University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Oxford, United Kingdom; University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Turku, Finland. 6. Aalto University, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Finland; Aalto University, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Finland. 7. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland; University of Helsinki, Faculty of Educational Sciences, CICERO Learning, Finland. 8. Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Finland. 9. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland; University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku, Finland. 10. University of Turku, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku, Finland; University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Turku, Finland.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) is reportedly related to neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants. However, the relationship between maternal PRA and the processing of emotions in the infant brain has not been extensively studied with neuroimaging. The objective of the present pilot study is to investigate the relationship between maternal PRA and infant hemodynamic responses to emotional speech at two months of age. METHODS: The study sample included 19 mother-infant dyads from a general sample of a population of Caucasian mothers. Self-reported Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire (PRAQ-R2) data was collected from mothers during pregnancy at gestational weeks (gwks) 24 (N = 19) and 34 (N = 18). When their infants were two months old, the infants' brains functional responses to emotional speech in the left fronto-temporoparietal cortex were recorded using diffuse optical tomography (DOT). RESULTS: Maternal PRAQ-R2 scores at gwk 24 correlated negatively with the total hemoglobin (HbT) responses to sad speech on both sides of the temporoparietal junction (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ρ = -0.87). The correlation was significantly greater at gwk 24 than gwk 34 (ρ = -0.42). LIMITATIONS: The field of view of the measurement did not include the right hemisphere or parts of the frontal cortex. The sample size is moderate and the mothers were relatively highly educated, thus there may be some differences between the study sample and the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety may affect child brain emotion processing development. Further research is needed to understand the functional and developmental significance of the findings.
BACKGROUND: Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) is reportedly related to neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants. However, the relationship between maternal PRA and the processing of emotions in the infant brain has not been extensively studied with neuroimaging. The objective of the present pilot study is to investigate the relationship between maternal PRA and infant hemodynamic responses to emotional speech at two months of age. METHODS: The study sample included 19 mother-infant dyads from a general sample of a population of Caucasian mothers. Self-reported Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire (PRAQ-R2) data was collected from mothers during pregnancy at gestational weeks (gwks) 24 (N = 19) and 34 (N = 18). When their infants were two months old, the infants' brains functional responses to emotional speech in the left fronto-temporoparietal cortex were recorded using diffuse optical tomography (DOT). RESULTS: Maternal PRAQ-R2 scores at gwk 24 correlated negatively with the total hemoglobin (HbT) responses to sad speech on both sides of the temporoparietal junction (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ρ = -0.87). The correlation was significantly greater at gwk 24 than gwk 34 (ρ = -0.42). LIMITATIONS: The field of view of the measurement did not include the right hemisphere or parts of the frontal cortex. The sample size is moderate and the mothers were relatively highly educated, thus there may be some differences between the study sample and the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety may affect child brain emotion processing development. Further research is needed to understand the functional and developmental significance of the findings.