Simona de Falco

Sex differences in directional brain responses to infant hunger cries.

Infant cries are a critical survival mechanism that draw the attention of adult caregivers, who can then satisfy the basic needs of otherwise helpless infants. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to determine the effects of infant hunger cries on the brain activity of adults who were in a cognitively nondemanding mental state of awake rest. We found that the brains of men and women, independent of parental status (parent or nonparent), reacted differently to infant cries. Specifically, the dorsal medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate areas, known to be involved in mind wandering (the stream of thought typical of awake rest), remained active in men during exposure to infant cries, whereas in women, activity in these regions decreased. These results show sex-dependent modulation of brain responses to infant requests to be fed, and specifically, they indicate that women interrupt mind wandering when exposed to the sounds of infant hunger cries, whereas men carry on without interruption.

Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits Underlying Emotional Processing of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Despite intersubject variability, dramatic impairments of socio-communicative skills are core features of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). A deficit in the ability to express and understand emotions has often been hypothesized to be an important correlate of such impairments. Little is known about individuals with ASDs ability to sense emotions conveyed by nonsocial stimuli such as music. Music has been found to be capable of evoking and conveying strong and consistent positive and negative emotions in healthy subjects. The ability to process perceptual and emotional aspects of music seems to be maintained in ASD. Individuals with ASD and neurotypical (NT) controls underwent a single functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session while processing happy and sad music excerpts. Overall, fMRI results indicated that while listening to both happy and sad music, individuals with ASD activated cortical and subcortical brain regions known to be involved in emotion processing and reward. A comparison of ASD participants with NT individuals demonstrated decreased brain activity in the premotor area and in the left anterior insula, especially in response to happy music excerpts. Our findings shed new light on the neurobiological correlates of preserved and altered emotional processing in ASD.

Differential brain responses to cries of infants with autistic disorder and typical development: An fMRI study

This study used fMRI to measure brain activity during adult processing of cries of infants with autistic disorder (AD) compared to cries of typically developing (TD) infants. Using whole brain analysis, we found that cries of infants with AD compared to those of TD infants elicited enhanced activity in brain regions associated with verbal and prosodic processing, perhaps because altered acoustic patterns of AD cries render them especially difficult to interpret, and increased activity in brain regions associated with emotional processing, indicating that AD cries also elicit more negative feelings and may be perceived as more aversive and/or arousing. Perceived distress engendered by AD cries related to increased activation in brain regions associated with emotional processing. This study supports the hypothesis that cry is an early and meaningful anomaly displayed by children with AD. It could be that cries associated with AD alter parent-child interactions much earlier than the time that reliable AD diagnosis normally occurs.

Play and emotional availability in young children with Down syndrome

This study investigates mother-child interaction and its associations with play in children with Down syndrome (DS). There is consensus that mother-child interaction during play represents an important determinant of typical childrens play development. Concerning children with DS, few studies have investigated mother-child interaction in terms of the overall emotional quality of dyadic interaction and its effect on child play. A sample of 28 children with DS (M age = 3 years) took part in this study. In particular, we studied whether the presence of the mother in an interactional context affects the exploratory and symbolic play of children with DS and the interrelation between childrens level of play and dyadic emotional availability. Children showed significantly more exploratory play during collaborative play with mothers than during solitary play. However, the maternal effect on child symbolic play was higher in children of highly sensitive mothers relative to children whose mothers showed lower sensitivity, the former displaying more symbolic play than the latter in collaborative play. Results offer some evidence that dyadic emotional availability and child play level are associated in children with DS, consistent with the hypothesis that dyadic interactions based on a healthy level of emotional involvement may lead to enhanced cognitive functioning.

Emotional Relationships in Mothers and Infants: Culture-Common and Community-Specific Characteristics of Dyads From Rural and Metropolitan Settings in Argentina, Italy, and the United States

This study uses country and regional contrasts to examine culture-common and community-specific variation in mother-infant emotional relationships. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. American mothers and their daughters and sons, living in rural and metropolitan settings, were observed at home at infant age 5 months. Both variable- and person-centered perspectives of dyadic emotional relationships were analyzed. Supporting the notion that adequate emotional relationships are a critical and culture-common characteristic of human infant development, across all samples most dyads scored in the adaptive range in terms of emotional relationships. Giving evidence of community-specific characteristics, Italian mothers were more sensitive, and Italian infants more responsive, than Argentine and U.S. mothers and infants; in addition, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers and rural dyads more likely than expected to be classified as midrange in emotional relationships and less likely to be classified as high in emotional relationships. Adaptive emotional relationships appear to be a culture-common characteristic of mother-infant dyads near the beginning of life, but this relational construct is moderated by a community-specific (country and regional) context.

Mother–Child and Father–Child Emotional Availability in Families of Children with Down Syndrome

SYNOPSIS Objective. Emotional availability (EA) is a relationship construct that can be considered a global index of the emotional quality of parent–child interaction. The present study aimed to address several specific questions about mother–child and father–child emotional availability in families with a child with Downs syndrome (DS). Design . Free-play interactions of 22 children with DS (M chronological age = 35.32 mo) We coded separately with each parent using the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1998). Results . Overall, mothers and fathers and their children with DS were equally emotionally available to one another. Bivariate correlations between maternal and paternal EA ratings of Sensitivity, Structuring, and Nonhostility showed significant positive associations. Moreover, bivariate correlations also highlighted the stability of child Responsiveness and Involvement across interactions with the two parents. There were no differences between mothers and fathers in mean levels of Sensitivity, Structuring, Nonintrusiveness, or Nonhostility, nor were there differences in mean levels of child Responsiveness and Involvement between mother–child and father–child interactions. Conclusions . We discuss the clinical utility of the EA Scales for assessing relationships between parents and their children with DS.

Developmental Continuity and Stability of Emotional Availability in the Family: Two Ages and Two Genders in Child-Mother Dyads from Two Regions in Three Countries.

This study employs an intra-national and cross-national, prospective, and longitudinal design to examine age, gender, region, and country variation in group mean-level continuity and individual-differences stability of emotional availability in child—mother dyads. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and US American metropolitan and rural residence mothers and their daughters and sons were observed at home when children were five and 20 months of age. Similar patterns of continuity and discontinuity of emotional availability from five to 20 months were observed across regions and countries, but not between genders. Stability of emotional availability from five to 20 months was moderate and similar across genders, regions, and countries. Universal and gender-specific developmental processes in child—mother emotional availability as revealed in intra-national and cross-national study are discussed.

Predictors of mother–child interaction quality and child attachment security in at-risk families

Child healthy development is largely influenced by parent–child interaction and a secure parent–child attachment is predictively associated with positive outcomes in numerous domains of child development. However, the parent–child relationship can be affected by several psychosocial and socio-demographic risk factors that undermine its quality and in turn play a negative role in short and long term child psychological health. Prevention and intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families can efficiently reduce the impact of risk factors on mother and child psychological health. This study examines predictors of mother–child interaction quality and child attachment security in a sample of first-time mothers with psychosocial and/or socio-demographic risk factors. Forty primiparous women satisfying specific risk criteria participated in a longitudinal study with their children from pregnancy until 18 month of child age. A multiple psychological and socioeconomic assessment was performed. The Emotional Availability Scales were used to measure the quality of emotional exchanges between mother and child at 12 months and the Attachment Q-Sort served as a measure of child attachment security at 18 months. Results highlight both the effect of specific single factors, considered at a continuous level, and the cumulative risk effect of different co-occurring factors, considered at binary level, on mother–child interaction quality and child attachment security. Implication for the selection of inclusion criteria of intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families are discussed.

Evaluation of Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: Integration of Different Methods

School inclusion of students with disabilities in ordinary classes is a multidimensional phenomena that may be evaluated with respect to different dimensions: social acceptance, social interactions, and supports toward the student with disabilities, teachers’ and parents’ attitudes toward inclusion, and students’ mental representations of the peer with disabilities. The purpose of the present review is to present several methods for evaluating school inclusion: sociometric techniques, systematic observation, questionnaires, and student drawings. Additionally, an integrated use of these methods is presented to plan interventions to facilitate school integration.

How becoming a mother shapes implicit and explicit responses to infant cues

This study (a) investigates effects of the transition to motherhood on implicit and explicit responses to infant cues; (b) assesses influences of prior parenting and delivery experiences on implicit and explicit responses to infant cues; and (c) investigates relations between implicit and explicit responses to infant cues and parenting beliefs. A total of 45 pregnant women were followed from the sixth month of pregnancy to the third month after the childbirth and were administered a Single Category Implicit Association Test, a semantic differential scale, the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection scale, and the Parental Style Questionnaire. The transition to motherhood influenced explicit not implicit responses; only implicit responses were shaped by prior parenting experiences and mode of delivery; and parenting beliefs were related in independent and different ways to implicit and explicit evaluations. These findings indicate that implicit responses are valid and meaningful indices of maternal responsiveness to infants.