Farah, R., Greenwood, P., Dudley, J., Hutton, J., Ammerman, R. T., Phelan, K., … & Horowitz-Kraus, T. (2020). Maternal depression is associated with altered functional connectivity between neural circuits related to visual, auditory, and cognitive processing during stories listening in preschoolers. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 16(1), 1-12.
Abstract
Background
Maternal depression can influence the early activity of a mother reading stories to a young child, as depressed mothers are less likely to read to their children. Here, maternal depression association to neurobiological circuitry of narrative comprehension, visualization, and executive functions during stories listening was examined in 21 4-year-old girls and their mothers. Maternal depression scores were collected from the mothers, and functional MRI during stories listening was collected from the children.
Results
Increased maternal depression was related to decreased functional connectivity between visualization and auditory regions and increased connectivity between the right visual cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the children.
Conclusions
This study highlights the need to monitor maternal depression and provide interventions to ensure positive linguistic outcomes in children.
Key points
- Previous research has indicated that maternal depression plays a role in childhood development (i.e., in executive functions) and that depressed mothers speak differently to their children.
- The current study explored the neurobiological underpinnings of maternal depression and child language development.
- Maternal depression was related to decreased functional connections between visualization and auditory regions and increased connectivity in frontal and visual regions in the children during stories listening.
- Maternal depression should be observed during child-wellness office visits so that interventions such as dialogic reading could be implemented to ensure cognitively stimulating interactions between mother and child.
