Presence of spouses who are co-parenting can alter each other’s brain activity: Study

When spouses, who are co-parenting,  are together, they show higher similarities in brain responses to the infant stimuli than when they are separated, suggests a novel study.
The study led by researchers at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The researchers analysed how the brain activity of 24 pairs of husband and wife from Singapore changed in response to recordings of infant stimuli such as crying, when they were physically together and when they were separated.
This effect was only found in true couples and not in randomly matched study participants.
The area of the brain the researchers monitored is the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with complex behaviour and emotional states.
When similar brain activity in the same area of the brain (i.e. greater synchrony) is observed in two people, it suggests that both are highly attuned to each other’s emotions and behaviours.
The senior author of the study, NTU Associate Professor Gianluca Esposito, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Social Sciences and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, said, “Our study indicates that when spouses are physically together, there is greater synchrony in their attentional and cognitive control mechanisms when parenting.”
“Since the brain response of parents may be shaped by the presence of the spouse, then it is likely that spouses who do not spend much time together while attending their children may find it harder to understand each other’s viewpoint and have reduced ability to coordinate co-parenting responsibilities. This may undermine the quality of parental care in the long run,” the professor added.
Assoc Prof Esposito who also leads the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab (SAN-Lab) at NTU said more time together while attending a child may seem a “waste of time”. However, it may prove to help the couple with parenting.
“This finding is particularly useful for parents who are working from home during this “circuit breaker” period in Singapore – as families spend more time together at home as part of social distancing measures in the fight against COVID-19.
The entire family interacting together for an extended period may be stressful, but parents can take this time to tune into each other’s behaviour and emotions while caring for their children,” Assoc Prof Esposito said.
The study, undertaken in collaboration with researchers from the United States’ National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Italy’s University of Trento, was published in the Nature Scientific Reports in May 2020. (ANI)