Researchers from the Hebrew University found that mothers respond by releasing dopamine to their baby's positive and negative facial expressions
Many studies deal with cracking the biological mechanism of maternal attachment - what causes the mother to feel a sense of connection to the baby and how her motivation to take care of him is created. In previous studies on laboratory animals, it was found that mothers secrete dopamine, a neurotransmitter, in response to their puppies. However, it is not known what is the role of dopamine in maternal behavior, and what in the behavior of the puppies triggers its release.
The research was carried out by doctoral student Lior Zaevi, under the guidance of Dr. Shir Atzil from the Laboratory for Researching Brain Mechanisms and Behavior of Attachment in the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University and was recently published in the scientific journal "SCAN". The research examines for the first time in humans what in the baby's behavior activates the release of dopamine in the mother's brain.
Since babies are completely dependent on their parents for every physiological need, they will not survive more than a few hours without care and attention. Accordingly, parents pay close attention to the affective signals sent by the baby related to his physical and emotional needs. For example, when the baby experiences some physical need such as hunger and pain, he cries and complains, and when he is interested in something, he concentrates, smiles and observes. The researchers hypothesized that the same signs the baby shows will be coded by the secretion of DOPMYen in the mother's mind, And this is to ensure the sensitivity of the mother to the survival and developmental needs of the baby.
The researchers used a special scanner that combines MRI and PET scans at the same time and enables the measurement of dopamine secretion in the brain. The researchers examined the dopamine response in 19 mothers while they watched videos of their babies. In addition, through a detailed behavioral analysis, the researchers quantified the regulatory signs that the infants naturally expressed in the film. The researchers found that the more the babies expressed regulation signs, the higher the release of dopamine in the mothers' brains. Another significant finding is that there is no difference in the amount of dopamine secreted between positive and negative expressions of the baby.
Doctoral student Lior Zaevi said - "The results of the study are of enormous importance both in terms of the knowledge we have about the relationship between mother and baby and from a clinical point of view, for example in cases of postpartum depression. The lack of distinction between positive and negative signs suggests that dopamine is used as the factor leading to attention and treatment of the baby's needs and not as a reward mechanism that should only give pleasure and satisfaction to the baby, as shown many times.
The importance of this stems from the way we think and understand the maternal role - not as one that should cause happiness and a sense of satisfaction (although sometimes that also happens), but as a function whose main purpose is to regulate the baby and keep it alive."
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