Mothers and fathers show different neural synchrony with their children during shared experiences
Qi Liu,
Siyu Zhu,
Xinqi Zhou,
Fang Liu,
Benjamin Becker,
Keith M. Kendrick,
Weihua Zhao
Affiliations
Qi Liu
The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China
Siyu Zhu
School of Sport Training, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, 610041, PR China
Xinqi Zhou
Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, PR China
Fang Liu
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China
Benjamin Becker
The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, PR China; The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China
Keith M. Kendrick
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; Corresponding authors at: The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, PR China.
Weihua Zhao
The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; Institute of Electronic and Information Engineering of UESTC in Guangdong, Dongguan, 523808, PR China; Corresponding authors at: The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, PR China.
Parent-child shared experiences has an important influence on social development in children although contributions of mothers and fathers may differ. Neural synchronicity occurs between mothers and fathers and their children during social interactions but it is unclear whether they differ in this respect. We used data from simultaneous fNIRS hyperscanning in mothers (n = 33) and fathers (n = 29) and their children (3–4 years) to determine different patterns and strengths of neural synchronization in the frontal cortex during co-viewing of videos or free-play. Mothers showed greater synchrony with child than fathers during passive viewing of videos and the synchronization was positively associated with video complexity and negatively associated with parental stress. During play interactions, mothers showed more controlling behaviors over their child and greater evidence for joint gaze and joint imitation play with child whereas fathers spent more time gazing at other things. In addition, different aspects of child communication promoted neural synchrony between mothers and fathers and child during active play interactions. Overall, our findings indicate greater neural and behavioral synchrony between mothers than fathers and young children during passive or active shared experiences, although for both it was weakened by parental distress and child difficulty.
