Face Preferences for Infant- and Adult-Directed Speakers in Infants of Depressed and Nondepressed Mothers: Association with Infant Cognitive Development.

Face preferences for speakers of infant-directed and adult-directed speech (IDS and ADS) were investigated in 4- to 13.5-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Following 1-min of exposure to an ID or AD speaker (order counterbalanced), infants had an immediate paired-comparison test with a still, silent image of the familiarized versus a novel face. In the test phase, ID face preference ratios were significantly lower in infants of depressed than non-depressed mothers. Infants' ID face preference ratios, but not AD face preference ratios, correlated with their percentile scores on the cognitive (Cog) scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant & Toddler Development (3rd Edition; BSID III), assessed concurrently. Regression analyses revealed that infant ID face preferences significantly predicted infant Cog percentiles even after demographic risk factors and maternal depression had been controlled. Infants may use IDS to select social partners who are likely to support and facilitate cognitive development.

Comparison of brain activation patterns during executive function tasks in hoarding disorder and non-hoarding OCD.

We examined differences in regional brain activation during tests of executive function in individuals with Hoarding Disorder (HD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and healthy controls (HC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants completed computerized versions of the Stroop and Go/No-Go task. We found that during the conflict monitoring and response inhibition condition in the Go/No-Go task, individuals with HD had significantly greater activity than controls in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). HD also exhibited significantly greater right DLPFC activity than OCD. We also observed significant differences in activity between HD and HC and between HD and OCD in regions (ACC, anterior insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and striatum) involved in evaluating stimulus-response-reward associations, or the personal and task-relevant value of stimuli and behavioral responses to stimuli. These results support the hypothesis that individuals with HD have difficulty deciding on the value or task relevance of stimuli, and may perceive an abnormally high risk of negative feedback for difficult or erroneous cognitive behavior.

Maternal depression and expressive communication in one-year-old infants.

To separate effects of maternal depression on infant cognitive versus language development, 1-year-olds were assessed using the revised Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III). Percentile scores on the Bayley Expressive Communication (EC) subscale were significantly negatively correlated with maternal self-report scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). However, mothers' BDI-II scores did not correlate with infant percentile scores on the general cognitive (COG) or receptive communication (RC) subscales. Boys had significantly lower percentile scores than girls on the RC and EC scales, but did not differ on the Cog scale. Gender and maternal depression did not significantly interact on any of the scales. These findings suggest problems with expressive communication precede, and may at least partially account for, apparent deficits in general cognitive development.