title: Anxiety and neural responses to infant and adult faces during pregnancy.
abstract: Women are vulnerable to anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum. However, little is known about antenatal anxiety and neural processing of infant-relevant information. In this experiment, the N170, P300, and LPP (late positive potential) event-related potentials were measured from 43 pregnant women as they viewed infant and adult faces, which were either neutral or distressed in expression. Mother's self-reported anxiety levels were also assessed. The N170 was comparable across face conditions and was not associated with anxiety. However, our central finding was that greater levels of antenatal anxiety were associated with a larger LPP, but only for neutral infant faces. Results suggest that antenatal anxiety may result in deeper processing of neutral, emotionally ambiguous, infant faces during pregnancy. These findings are discussed in light of other work indicating an interpretive bias toward threat in response to neutral stimuli in anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. Electronic address: helena.rutherford@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Helena J V
authors.initials: HJV
authors.lastname: Rutherford
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Grace M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Crowley
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Mayes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Anxiety; EEG/ERP; Face perception; Pregnancy