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What's going on in my baby's mind? Mothers' executive functions contribute to individual differences in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions.
PLoS One. 2018; 13(11):e0207869.Plos

Abstract

Maternal mentalization refers to a mother's capacity to understand mental-states of herself and her child and to regard her child as a psychological agent. In mother-infant interactions, this capacity is commonly conceptualized as maternal mind-mindedness, which can be divided into two dimensions: appropriate and nonattuned interpretations of the infants' mental-states. Appropriate mind-mindedness refers to interpretations that seem to be compatible with the infant's behaviors, whereas nonattuned mind-mindedness refers to noncompatible interpretations. The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive mechanisms that contribute to mind-mindedness. Specifically, we investigated the role of executive functions in appropriate and nonattuned mind-mindedness, and the moderating roles of two infant-related factors, prematurity (as a stressful context) and child temperament (as a context of unpredictability and negative emotionality). To this end, mother-infant free play interactions were coded for mind-mindedness in a sample of 102 mothers and their 6-month-old infants (61 preterm, 41 full-term). When children were 66-months old, mothers completed cognitive tasks that assessed working memory updating, resistance to interference, response inhibition, and shifting. Appropriate mind-mindedness was positively associated with updating, and this link was stronger when infant temperament was rated as more difficult. Furthermore, among mothers of full-term infants, mothers' resistance to interference was negatively associated with nonattuned mind-mindedness. This link was not evident in the stressful context of premature birth. Mothers' response inhibition and shifting were not associated with either of the mind-mindedness dimensions. Implications on understanding variability in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions and the roles of executive functions in parenting are discussed.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Yatziv T
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Kessler Y
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Atzaba-Poria N
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.

MeSH

AdultChildExecutive FunctionFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornInhibition, PsychologicalMaleMentalizationMother-Child RelationsMothers

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

30500853

Citation

Yatziv, Tal, et al. "What's Going On in My Baby's Mind? Mothers' Executive Functions Contribute to Individual Differences in Maternal Mentalization During Mother-infant Interactions." PloS One, vol. 13, no. 11, 2018, pp. e0207869.
Yatziv T, Kessler Y, Atzaba-Poria N. What's going on in my baby's mind? Mothers' executive functions contribute to individual differences in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions. PLoS One. 2018;13(11):e0207869.
Yatziv, T., Kessler, Y., & Atzaba-Poria, N. (2018). What's going on in my baby's mind? Mothers' executive functions contribute to individual differences in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions. PloS One, 13(11), e0207869. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207869
Yatziv T, Kessler Y, Atzaba-Poria N. What's Going On in My Baby's Mind? Mothers' Executive Functions Contribute to Individual Differences in Maternal Mentalization During Mother-infant Interactions. PLoS One. 2018;13(11):e0207869. PubMed PMID: 30500853.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - What's going on in my baby's mind? Mothers' executive functions contribute to individual differences in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions. AU - Yatziv,Tal, AU - Kessler,Yoav, AU - Atzaba-Poria,Naama, Y1 - 2018/11/30/ PY - 2018/05/13/received PY - 2018/11/07/accepted PY - 2018/12/1/entrez PY - 2018/12/1/pubmed PY - 2019/4/23/medline SP - e0207869 EP - e0207869 JF - PloS one JO - PLoS One VL - 13 IS - 11 N2 - Maternal mentalization refers to a mother's capacity to understand mental-states of herself and her child and to regard her child as a psychological agent. In mother-infant interactions, this capacity is commonly conceptualized as maternal mind-mindedness, which can be divided into two dimensions: appropriate and nonattuned interpretations of the infants' mental-states. Appropriate mind-mindedness refers to interpretations that seem to be compatible with the infant's behaviors, whereas nonattuned mind-mindedness refers to noncompatible interpretations. The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive mechanisms that contribute to mind-mindedness. Specifically, we investigated the role of executive functions in appropriate and nonattuned mind-mindedness, and the moderating roles of two infant-related factors, prematurity (as a stressful context) and child temperament (as a context of unpredictability and negative emotionality). To this end, mother-infant free play interactions were coded for mind-mindedness in a sample of 102 mothers and their 6-month-old infants (61 preterm, 41 full-term). When children were 66-months old, mothers completed cognitive tasks that assessed working memory updating, resistance to interference, response inhibition, and shifting. Appropriate mind-mindedness was positively associated with updating, and this link was stronger when infant temperament was rated as more difficult. Furthermore, among mothers of full-term infants, mothers' resistance to interference was negatively associated with nonattuned mind-mindedness. This link was not evident in the stressful context of premature birth. Mothers' response inhibition and shifting were not associated with either of the mind-mindedness dimensions. Implications on understanding variability in maternal mentalization during mother-infant interactions and the roles of executive functions in parenting are discussed. SN - 1932-6203 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/30500853/What's_going_on_in_my_baby's_mind_Mothers'_executive_functions_contribute_to_individual_differences_in_maternal_mentalization_during_mother_infant_interactions_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -