that an integrated understanding of
the brain basis of parenting has
profound implications for
understanding long-term parent
and infant mental health risk and
resilience.
BRAIN IMAGING OF HUMAN
PARENT-INFANT RELATIONSHIPS
This paper focuses on the use of
brain imaging to understand the
brain basis of human parental
behavior and thoughts. In these
experiments, infant auditory and
visual stimuli are combined with
the high resolution and noninvasive
brain imaging technique of bloodoxygen-dependant
functional
magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI). fMRI assays brain activity
by indirectly measuring changes in
regional blood oxygenation. The
differences between a region’s
oxygenated and deoxygenated
hemoglobin, between states of
action versus inaction for instance,
provide characteristic magnetic
signals localized to millimeters that
are detected by scanners
positioned around each subject’s
head. Functional neuroimaging