title: As tears go by: Baby tears trigger more brain activity than adult tears in nulliparous women.
abstract: The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examines brain activity during the perception of infant and adult tears. Infant tears evoke stronger responses in the visual cortex than adult tears, indicating that infant tears are highly salient. In addition, our study shows that infant tears uniquely activate somatosensory pain regions, which could stimulate actions directed at the elimination of the source of pain. Shedding tears may be a strong means to elicit the parent's sharing of the infant's feelings, thereby strengthening caregiver-infant bonding and securing infant survival.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology , Tilburg University , Tilburg , The Netherlands.|b Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.|c Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M M E
authors.initials: MME
authors.lastname: Riem
authors.affiliation: b Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.|c Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van IJzendoorn
authors.affiliation: d Department of Psychology , University of Milano-Bicocca , Milano , Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Carli
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology , Tilburg University , Tilburg , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A J J M
authors.initials: AJJM
authors.lastname: Vingerhoets
authors.affiliation: b Centre for Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.|c Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bakermans-Kranenburg
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003448:Crying; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009769:Object Attachment; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Infant tears; caregiver-infant bonding; crying; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); somatosensory pain regions