Social interactions between attachment partners increase inter-brain plasticity.

Inter-brain synchrony between interacting partners is an important feature of social brain function, but whether neural coordination persists beyond the immediate social moment is unknown. Using hyperscanning EEG, we investigated whether a brief mother-adolescent face-to-face interaction induces sustained changes in inter-brain synchrony. We measured neural synchrony in the fronto-temporal network of 110 mothers and adolescents (55 dyads) during co-present resting-state recordings before and after a naturalistic, positively-valanced face-to-face interaction.

Gaze responses in children with cerebral palsy, cerebral visual impairment, and severe intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Aim: To identify gaze responses of children with cerebral palsy (CP), cerebral visual impairment (CVI), and severe intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to unimodal and bimodal sensory stimuli.

Method: Forty children (27 female; mean age 8 years 3 months [range: 3-21 years] with two participants [ages 20 years and 21 years] representing outliers; Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] level V, Manual Ability Classification System level V, Communication Function Classification System level V) with spastic and dyskinetic CP and severe IDD (20 CVI, 20 no visual impairment) participated in an experimental-observational study. Unimodal (light, auditory, tactile) and bimodal (visual-auditory, visual-tactile) stimuli were presented in a darkened room.

Empathy aligns brains in synchrony.

Empathy is a core human capacity that underpins social life. Utilizing hyperscanning electroencephalography (EEG), we tested how empathy to others' distress synchronizes brains without social cues. Mothers and adolescents (study 1, = 100) underwent empathy-to-distress paradigm in separate rooms.

Diurnal changes of salivary oxytocin in healthy and psychiatric adolescents.

Oxytocin, a neuropeptide with implications for interpersonal relationships and psychopathology, remains relatively unexplored in adolescence, particularly in acute mental health states. While studies examined baseline levels and reactivity patterns in salivary oxytocin, no study has tested diurnal patterns of oxytocin in the context of youth mental health. The current study examines diurnal rhythms of salivary oxytocin in 34 adolescent patients admitted to a psychiatric inpatient ward, as compared to 33 healthy peers.

Associations between interpersonal synchrony and clients' perception of session quality are moderated by depression severity.

Objective: Previous research has identified a complex relationship between client-therapist synchrony and therapy outcomes. We investigated the ways in which depression severity influences this relationship.

Method: The sample was comprised of 30 clients undergoing a 16-session supportive-expressive dynamic therapy for depression.

Brain connectivity correlates of the impact of a digital intervention for individuals with subjective cognitive decline on depression and IL-18.

Late-life depression represents a significant health concern, linked to disruptions in brain connectivity and immune functioning, mood regulation, and cognitive function. This pilot study explores a digital intervention targeting mental health, brain health, and immune functioning in individuals aged 55-60 with subjective cognitive decline, elevated stress and depressive symptoms. Seventeen participants engaged in a two-week intervention comprising spatial cognition, psychological techniques based on mindfulness, attention-training exercises, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Intranasal oxytocin increases breast milk oxytocin, but has a reduced effect in depressed mothers: A randomized controlled trial.

Unlabelled: Oxytocin (OT) plays pivotal roles in stress regulation, mother-infant bonding, and breastfeeding, all of which are adversely impacted by postnatal depression (PND). In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, we assessed endogenous OT concentrations first in the breast milk of new mothers at baseline, and second following the administration of exogenous OT compared to a placebo delivered via a nasal spray.

Method: Participants were mothers (N = 62, aged 23-42 years) and their infants (aged 3-9 months).

Birthing parents' neural response to infant cry: moderating effects of oxytocin and perceived childhood care.

Individuals who perceive the caregiving they received from their parents as more caring tend to bond better with their infants and show more sensitive parenting behaviors. Early caregiving experiences are also related to differences in the functions of hormonal systems, including the oxytocinergic system. The current study examined how perceptions of childhood maternal care relate to parenting behaviors, oxytocin levels, and neural responses to infant stimuli.

Intranasal Oxytocin Combined With Social Skills Training for Schizophrenia: An Add-on Randomized Controlled Trial.

Some but not other studies on oxytocin for schizophrenia, particularly those using a higher dose, indicate that oxytocin improves negative symptoms of schizophrenia. We performed an add-on randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of high-dose oxytocin, social skills training, and their combination in the treatment of negative symptoms and social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Fifty-one subjects with schizophrenia were randomized, employing a two-by-two design: intranasal oxytocin (24 IU X3/day) or placebo, and social skills training or supportive psychotherapy, for 3 weeks.

Sensitive infant care tunes a frontotemporal interbrain network in adolescence.

Caregiving plays a critical role in children's cognitive, emotional, and psychological well-being. In the current longitudinal study, we investigated the enduring effects of early maternal behavior on processes of interbrain synchrony in adolescence. Mother-infant naturalistic interactions were filmed when infants were 3-4 months old and interactions were coded for maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness with the Coding Interactive Behavior Manual.

Microbiome signature of posttraumatic stress disorder and resilience in youth.

Objective: Identifying biomarkers that can distinguish trauma-exposed youth at risk for developing posttraumatic pathology from resilient individuals is essential for targeted interventions. As trauma can alter the microbiome with lasting effects on the host, our longitudinal, multimeasure, cross-species study aimed to identify the microbial signature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Method: We followed children exposed to war-related trauma and matched controls from early childhood ( = 2.

Infants' salivary oxytocin and positive affective reactions to people.

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide positively associated with prosociality in adults. Here, we studied whether infants' salivary oxytocin can be reliably measured, is developmentally stable, and is linked to social behavior. We longitudinally collected saliva from 62 U.

Generation WhatsApp: inter-brain synchrony during face-to-face and texting communication.

Texting has become one of the most prevalent ways to interact socially, particularly among youth; however, the effects of text messaging on social brain functioning are unknown. Guided by the biobehavioral synchrony frame, this pre-registered study utilized hyperscanning EEG to evaluate interbrain synchrony during face-to-face versus texting interactions. Participants included 65 mother-adolescent dyads observed during face-to-face conversation compared to texting from different rooms.

Breast milk oxytocin and s-IgA modulate infant biomarkers and social engagement; The role of maternal anxiety.

Breastfeeding has long been known to improve infants' health and mental development and to enhance the mother-infant bond, but much less research focused on the biological composition of breast milk and its associations with the infant's biomarkers and social development. In this exploratory study, we measured oxytocin (OT) and secretory immunoglobulin-A (s-IgA), the most abundant antibody in breast milk, and evaluated their associations with the same biomarkers in infant saliva and, consequently, with infant social engagement behavior. Fifty-five mother-infant dyads were home-visit and OT and s-IgA were assessed from breast milk and from infant saliva before and after a free-play interaction.

Oxytocin as a transdiagnostic biomarker of well-being in severe mental illness during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlabelled: Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have been found to suffer a greater decline in psychological well-being compared to the general population in times of stress. The present study aimed to examine clinical and endocrine resilience factors of psychological well-being in SMI patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Methods: After Covid-19 crisis outburst in Israel 112 participants, 69 outpatients, and 43 inpatients and day treatment patients were recruited.

Women in science: myth, harsh reality, or advantage.

To initiate discussion on women in science, we begin with Gerald Edelman's definition: "Science is imagination in the service of the verifiable truth," which underscores "verifiability," truth reached by evidence, as the pathway science charts to Truth. "Verifiability" is named after the Roman Goddess Veritas, the daughter of Cronos and the mother of Virtus, suggesting that mythology viewed science as embodied by a female, embedded in its historical time, and aimed to breed values. We contemplate three perspectives on the topic and discuss their potential risks.

Attachment Reminders Trigger Widespread Synchrony across Multiple Brains.

Infant stimuli elicit widespread neural and behavioral response in human adults, and such massive allocation of resources attests to the evolutionary significance of the primary attachment. Here, we examined whether attachment reminders also trigger cross-brain concordance and generate greater neural uniformity, as indicated by intersubject correlation. Human mothers were imaged twice in oxytocin/placebo administration design, and stimuli included four ecological videos of a standard unfamiliar mother and infant: two infant/mother alone () and two mother-infant dyadic contexts ().

Human sweat contains oxytocin.

Background: Oxytocin (OT) has been detected in various body fluids, including blood, urine, saliva, breastmilk, and spinal fluid. Consistent with models that regard skin as a social organ and in line with studies demonstrating that skin cells express both OT and its receptor, our study sought to examine the presence of OT in human sweat.

Methods: Overall, 553 individuals participated in a pilot study and three experiments.

Developmental Cascades Link Maternal-Newborn Skin-to-Skin Contact with Young Adults' Psychological Symptoms, Oxytocin, and Immunity; Charting Mechanisms of Developmental Continuity from Birth to Adulthood.

Premature birth disrupts the continuity of maternal-newborn bodily contact, which underpins the development of physiological and behavioral support systems. Utilizing a unique cohort of mother-preterm dyads who received skin-to-skin contact (Kangaroo Care, KC) versus controls, and following them to adulthood, we examined how a touch-based neonatal intervention impacts three adult outcomes; anxiety/depressive symptoms, oxytocin, and secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), a biomarker of the immune system. Consistent with dynamic systems' theory, we found that links from KC to adult outcomes were indirect, mediated by its effects on maternal mood, child attention and executive functions, and mother-child synchrony across development.

Clients' emotional experience as a dynamic context for client-therapist physiological synchrony.

Objective: Client-therapist physiological synchrony has recently attracted significant empirical attention. Recent theoretical accounts propose that physiological linkages should not be considered a stable dyadic virtue but rather a dynamic process that depends on the situational context in which they transpire. The present study adopted a "momentary" (vs.

Father contribution to human resilience.

Fathers have been an important source of child endurance and prosperity since the dawn of civilization, promoting adaptation to social rules, defining cultural meaning systems, teaching daily living skills, and providing the material background against which children developed; still, the recent reformulation in the role of the father requires theory-building. Paternal caregiving is rare in mammals, occurring in 3-5% of species, expresses in multiple formats, and involves flexible neurobiological accommodations to ecological conditions and active caregiving. Here, we discuss father contribution to resilience across development.

Mother-Infant Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Patterns Reflect Caregiving Profiles.

Biobehavioral synchrony, the coordination of physiological and behavioral signals between mother and infant during social contact, tunes the child's brain to the social world. Probing this mechanism from a two-brain perspective, we examine the associations between patterns of mother-infant inter-brain synchrony and the two well-studied maternal behavioral orientations-sensitivity and intrusiveness-which have repeatedly been shown to predict positive and negative socio-emotional outcomes, respectively. Using dual-electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, we measure inter-brain connectivity between 60 mothers and their 5- to 12-month-old infants during face-to-face interaction.

Dialogue intervention for youth amidst intractable conflict attenuates neural prejudice response and promotes adults' peacemaking.

Humans' dependence on group living has led to the formation of tenacious, often nonconscious negative perceptions of other social groups, a phenomenon termed "intergroup bias" that sustains one of the world's most imminent problem: intergroup conflicts. Adolescents' participation in intergroup conflicts has been continuously on the rise, rendering the need to devise interventions that can mitigate some of their deleterious effects on youth an urgent societal priority. Framed within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and targeting youth, we implemented a dialogue-enhancing intervention for adolescents (16 to 18 years) reared amidst intractable conflict that builds on social synchrony and the neurobiology of affiliation.

The neurobiology of hatred: Tools of Dialogue© intervention for youth reared amidst intractable conflict impacts brain, behaviour, and peacebuilding attitudes.

Myths, drama, and sacred texts have warned against the fragile nature of human love; the closer the affiliative bond, the quicker it can turn into hatred, suggesting similarities in the neurobiological underpinnings of love and hatred. Here, I offer a theoretical account on the neurobiology of hatred based on our model on the biology of human attachments and its three foundations; the oxytocin system, the "affiliative brain", comprising the neural network sustaining attachment, and biobehavioural synchrony, the process by which humans create a coupled biology through coordinated action. These systems mature in mammals in the context of the mother-infant bond and then transfer to support life within social groups.