title: Maternal bonding in childhood moderates autonomic responses to distress stimuli in adult males.
abstract: Mother-child bonding influences the development of cognitive and social skills. In this study we investigate how maternal attachment, developed in early childhood, modulates physiological responses to social stimuli later in life. Our results suggest that the autonomic nervous system's responses to vocal distress are moderated by the quality of participants' maternal bonding. In particular, participants with optimal maternal bonding showed a greater calming response to distressful stimuli whereas participants with non-optimal maternal bonding showed a heightened distress response.
authors.affiliation: Affiliative Behaviour and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalsant
authors.affiliation: Affiliative Behaviour and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Truzzi
authors.affiliation: Early Cognition Lab, Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Peipei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Setoh
authors.affiliation: Affiliative Behaviour and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trento, Italy; Early Cognition Lab, Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Electronic address: gianluca.esposito@unitn.it.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System; D001831:Body Temperature; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attachment; Autonomic responses; Heart-rate variability; Maternal bonding; Nose temperature