Depression symptomatology and the neural correlates of infant face and cry perception during pregnancy

Abstract

Depression symptoms during pregnancy may affect emerging maternal sensitivity and have lasting consequences for the dyadic relationship. Here, we examined whether depression was associated with the neural correlates of infant face and cry perception during pregnancy. In 36 women between 34 and 38 weeks gestation, we examined the P300 elicited by infant emotional (happy, distressed, and neutral) faces and cries (high- and low-distress cries and a neutral tone). The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were employed to measure current depression symptomatology. Higher depression symptoms were associated with an attenuated P300 to distressed infant faces, but not with happy or neutral infant faces. There was no association between depression symptoms and the P300 elicited by infant cries. These results suggest that depression symptoms during pregnancy may affect neural processing of infant faces, especially when the infant face is expressing distress.

KEYWORDS:

• Depression
• Pregnancy
• EEG/ERP
• P300
• Infant faces
• Infant cries

We thank Cortney Booth, Mariana von Mohr and Marion Mayes for their contributions to this research study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Anna Freud Centre (UK) and the John Leopold Weil and Geraldine Rickard Weil Memorial Charitable Foundation (USA).