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Cortisol reactivity, maternal sensitivity, and learning in 3-month-old infants
Laura A Thompson1, Wenda R Trevathan
1Department of Psychology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. thompson@nmsu.edu
Infant Behavior & Development
|August 25, 2007
Summary
Infant cortisol levels impact learning during separation. Declining cortisol aided learning and memory, while rising cortisol hindered it, showing stress affects infant cognitive function.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroendocrinology
- Infant Learning
Background:
- Adrenocortical functioning, particularly cortisol levels, plays a role in cognitive processes.
- Maternal sensitivity is linked to infant development and stress responses.
- Understanding infant learning during challenging events like maternal separation is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how adrenocortical functioning affects infant learning during maternal separation.
- To explore the relationship between maternal sensitivity and infant/maternal cortisol reactivity.
- To examine infant and maternal cortisol coordination during separation and learning.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-three 3-month-olds and their mothers participated.
- Mother-infant interaction was videotaped to measure behavioral synchrony (maternal sensitivity).
- Infant learning and memory were assessed using a preferential looking paradigm involving voice-object association.
Main Results:
- Infants with increased cortisol showed no learning or memory.
- Infants with decreased cortisol learned and remembered the association.
- Infants with stable cortisol learned but did not remember the association.
- Maternal sensitivity correlated with maternal cortisol reactivity, not infant reactivity.
- Infant and maternal cortisol levels were correlated at baseline but not reactivity during separation.
Conclusions:
- Cortisol reactivity significantly influences infant learning and memory during emotionally challenging events.
- Maternal sensitivity is related to maternal stress response but not directly to infant cortisol reactivity during separation.
- Infant-maternal cortisol systems coordinate when together but diverge during separation, highlighting the impact of stress on physiological synchrony.
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