Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have a message for moms… put your cellphones away! They have found that fragmented and chaotic materna
l care can disrupt proper brain development, which can lead to emotional disorders later in life.
While the study was conducted with rodents, its findings imply that when mothers are nurturing their infants, numerous everyday interruptions – even those as seemingly harmless as phone calls and text messages – can have a long-lasting effect.
Dr. Tallie Baram and her colleagues at UCI’s Conte Center on Brain Programming in Adolescent Vulnerabilities show that consistent rhythms and patterns of maternal care seem to be crucially important for the developing brain, which needs predictable and continuous stimuli to ensure the growth of robust neuron networks. Study results appear in Translational Psychiatry.
The UCI researchers discovered that erratic maternal care of infants can increase the likelihood of risky behaviors, drug seeking and depression in adolescents and adult life. Because cellphones have become ubiquitous and users have become so accustomed to frequently checking and using them, the findings of this study are relevant to today’s mothers and babies… and tomorrow’s adolescents and adults.
“Our work builds on many studies showing that maternal care is important for future emotional health. Importantly, it shows that it is not how much maternal care that influences adolescent behavior but the avoidance of fragmented and unpredictable care that is crucial. We might wish to turn off the mobile phone when caring for baby and be predictable and consistent,” said Dr. Baram.
With her UCI team, Baram is currently studying human mothers and their infants. Video analysis of care, sophisticated imaging technology to measure brain development, and psychological and cognitive testing are being employed to more fully understand the issue. The goal is to see whether what was discovered in rodents applies to people. If so, then strategies to limit chopped-up and unpredictable patterns of maternal care might prove helpful in preventing emotional problems in teenagers.
January 5, 2016