Birth of the blues: Emotional sound processing in infants exposed to prenatal maternal depression

M.C. Craig; Vaheshta Sethna; Maria Gudbrandsen; Carmine Maria Pariante; Trudi Seneviratne; Vladimira Stoencheva; Arjun Sethi; Marco Catani; Michael Brammer; Declan G Murphy; Eileen Daly

doi:10.1017/S0033291720002688

Birth of the blues: Emotional sound processing in infants exposed to prenatal maternal depression

M.C. Craig, Vaheshta Sethna, Maria Gudbrandsen, Carmine Maria Pariante, Trudi Seneviratne, Vladimira Stoencheva, Arjun Sethi, Marco Catani, Michael Brammer, Declan G Murphy, Eileen Daly

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background Offspring exposed to prenatal maternal depression (PMD) are vulnerable to depression across their lifespan. The underlying cause(s) for this elevated intergenerational risk is most likely complex. However, depression is underpinned by a dysfunctional frontal-limbic network, associated with core information processing biases (e.g. attending more to sad stimuli). Aberrations in this network might mediate transmission of this vulnerability in infants exposed to PMD. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between foetal exposure to PMD and frontal-limbic network function in infancy, hypothesising that, in response to emotional sounds, infants exposed to PMD would exhibit atypical activity in these regions, relative to those not exposed to PMD. Method We employed a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence to compare brain function, whilst listening to emotional sounds, in 78 full-Term infants (3-6 months of age) born to mothers with and without a diagnosis of PMD. Results After exclusion of 19 datasets due to infants waking up, or moving excessively, we report between-group brain activity differences, between 29 infants exposed to PMD and 29 infants not exposed to PMD, occurring in temporal, striatal, amygdala/parahippocampal and frontal regions (p < 0.005). The offspring exposed to PMD exhibited a relative increase in activation to sad sounds and reduced (or unchanged) activation to happy sounds in frontal-limbic clusters. Conclusions Findings of a differential response to positive and negative valanced sounds by 3-6 months of age may have significant implications for our understanding of neural mechanisms that underpin the increased risk for later-life depression in this population.

Original language	English
Journal	Psychological Medicine
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720002688
Publication status	Published - 4 Aug 2022

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@article{10177af60e004f9794731098eb4e49d5,

title = "Birth of the blues: Emotional sound processing in infants exposed to prenatal maternal depression",

abstract = "Background Offspring exposed to prenatal maternal depression (PMD) are vulnerable to depression across their lifespan. The underlying cause(s) for this elevated intergenerational risk is most likely complex. However, depression is underpinned by a dysfunctional frontal-limbic network, associated with core information processing biases (e.g. attending more to sad stimuli). Aberrations in this network might mediate transmission of this vulnerability in infants exposed to PMD. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between foetal exposure to PMD and frontal-limbic network function in infancy, hypothesising that, in response to emotional sounds, infants exposed to PMD would exhibit atypical activity in these regions, relative to those not exposed to PMD. Method We employed a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence to compare brain function, whilst listening to emotional sounds, in 78 full-Term infants (3-6 months of age) born to mothers with and without a diagnosis of PMD. Results After exclusion of 19 datasets due to infants waking up, or moving excessively, we report between-group brain activity differences, between 29 infants exposed to PMD and 29 infants not exposed to PMD, occurring in temporal, striatal, amygdala/parahippocampal and frontal regions (p < 0.005). The offspring exposed to PMD exhibited a relative increase in activation to sad sounds and reduced (or unchanged) activation to happy sounds in frontal-limbic clusters. Conclusions Findings of a differential response to positive and negative valanced sounds by 3-6 months of age may have significant implications for our understanding of neural mechanisms that underpin the increased risk for later-life depression in this population. ",

author = "M.C. Craig and Vaheshta Sethna and Maria Gudbrandsen and Pariante, {Carmine Maria} and Trudi Seneviratne and Vladimira Stoencheva and Arjun Sethi and Marco Catani and Michael Brammer and Murphy, {Declan G} and Eileen Daly",

year = "2022",

month = aug,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1017/S0033291720002688",

language = "English",

journal = "Psychological Medicine",

issn = "0033-2917",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Birth of the blues

T2 - Emotional sound processing in infants exposed to prenatal maternal depression

AU - Craig, M.C.

AU - Sethna, Vaheshta

AU - Gudbrandsen, Maria

AU - Pariante, Carmine Maria

AU - Seneviratne, Trudi

AU - Stoencheva, Vladimira

AU - Sethi, Arjun

AU - Catani, Marco

AU - Brammer, Michael

AU - Murphy, Declan G

AU - Daly, Eileen

PY - 2022/8/4

Y1 - 2022/8/4

N2 - Background Offspring exposed to prenatal maternal depression (PMD) are vulnerable to depression across their lifespan. The underlying cause(s) for this elevated intergenerational risk is most likely complex. However, depression is underpinned by a dysfunctional frontal-limbic network, associated with core information processing biases (e.g. attending more to sad stimuli). Aberrations in this network might mediate transmission of this vulnerability in infants exposed to PMD. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between foetal exposure to PMD and frontal-limbic network function in infancy, hypothesising that, in response to emotional sounds, infants exposed to PMD would exhibit atypical activity in these regions, relative to those not exposed to PMD. Method We employed a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence to compare brain function, whilst listening to emotional sounds, in 78 full-Term infants (3-6 months of age) born to mothers with and without a diagnosis of PMD. Results After exclusion of 19 datasets due to infants waking up, or moving excessively, we report between-group brain activity differences, between 29 infants exposed to PMD and 29 infants not exposed to PMD, occurring in temporal, striatal, amygdala/parahippocampal and frontal regions (p < 0.005). The offspring exposed to PMD exhibited a relative increase in activation to sad sounds and reduced (or unchanged) activation to happy sounds in frontal-limbic clusters. Conclusions Findings of a differential response to positive and negative valanced sounds by 3-6 months of age may have significant implications for our understanding of neural mechanisms that underpin the increased risk for later-life depression in this population.

AB - Background Offspring exposed to prenatal maternal depression (PMD) are vulnerable to depression across their lifespan. The underlying cause(s) for this elevated intergenerational risk is most likely complex. However, depression is underpinned by a dysfunctional frontal-limbic network, associated with core information processing biases (e.g. attending more to sad stimuli). Aberrations in this network might mediate transmission of this vulnerability in infants exposed to PMD. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between foetal exposure to PMD and frontal-limbic network function in infancy, hypothesising that, in response to emotional sounds, infants exposed to PMD would exhibit atypical activity in these regions, relative to those not exposed to PMD. Method We employed a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence to compare brain function, whilst listening to emotional sounds, in 78 full-Term infants (3-6 months of age) born to mothers with and without a diagnosis of PMD. Results After exclusion of 19 datasets due to infants waking up, or moving excessively, we report between-group brain activity differences, between 29 infants exposed to PMD and 29 infants not exposed to PMD, occurring in temporal, striatal, amygdala/parahippocampal and frontal regions (p < 0.005). The offspring exposed to PMD exhibited a relative increase in activation to sad sounds and reduced (or unchanged) activation to happy sounds in frontal-limbic clusters. Conclusions Findings of a differential response to positive and negative valanced sounds by 3-6 months of age may have significant implications for our understanding of neural mechanisms that underpin the increased risk for later-life depression in this population.

UR - https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/08186bab-f560-45fd-99d2-09d80ae7584a

U2 - 10.1017/S0033291720002688

DO - 10.1017/S0033291720002688

M3 - Article

SN - 0033-2917

JO - Psychological Medicine

JF - Psychological Medicine

ER -

Birth of the blues: Emotional sound processing in infants exposed to prenatal maternal depression

Abstract

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