2023/11/01
Keio University
Professor Yasuyo Minagawa of the Psychology Laboratory, Faculty of Letters, and the World Premier International Research Center Initiative for Human-Biology-Microbiome-Quantum-Computing (WPI-Bio2Q) at Keio University, along with Project Assistant Professor Tomoshige Morimoto and Project Assistant Professor Masahiro Hata of the university's Global Research Institute, have simultaneously measured the brain activity of mothers and their 3- to 4-month-old infants during caregiving behaviors such as breastfeeding and holding. They revealed that brain activity in specific areas synchronizes between mother and child during breastfeeding. On the mother's side, a brain region involved in parent-child attachment, known as the orbitofrontal cortex, was strongly involved in this synchronization. The study also showed that stronger brain synchronization correlated with better indicators of mother-infant attachment observed in separate interaction experiments and with better language development in the children around the age of two.
For the past decade, studies on adults have investigated the synchronization of brain activity among multiple individuals in various social situations (e.g., games, discussions, classes). These studies have shown that brain activity synchronizes during smooth cooperative behavior and deep engagement in tasks, suggesting a link between brain synchronization and sociality, including understanding others. However, only limited research has been conducted on infants and young children. This study suggests that even in infants as young as 3 to 4 months old, the neural basis for coordinating with others is already beginning to form through interaction with their mothers. Analysis of the relationship between brain activity and other behavioral and developmental characteristics suggests that parent-child attachment is involved in this neural synchronization, and that the strong communicative relationship in dyads with high synchronization may promote the child's language development.
The results of this research are scheduled to be published in "Cerebral Cortex" and were released online on Thursday, October 26, 2023.
For the full press release, please see below.