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While parenting is a universal human behavior, its neuroanatomic basis is currently unknown. Animal data suggest that the cingulate may play an important function in mammalian parenting behavior. For example, in rodents cingulate lesions impair maternal behavior. Here, in an attempt to understand the brain basis of human maternal behavior, we had mothers listen to recorded infant cries and white noise control sounds while they underwent functional MRI (fMRI) of the brain. We hypothesized that mothers would show significantly greater cingulate activity during the cries compared to the control sounds. Of 7 subjects scanned, 4 had fMRI data suitable for analysis. When fMRI data were averaged for these 4 subjects, the anterior cingulate and right medial prefrontal cortex were the only brain regions showing statistically increased activity with the cries compared to white noise control sounds (cluster analysis with one-tailed z-map threshold of P < 0.001 and spatial extent threshold of P < 0.05). These results demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to study brain activity in mothers listening to infant cries and that the anterior cingulate may be involved in mothers listening to crying babies. We are currently replicating this study in a larger group of mothers. Future work in this area may help (1) unravel the functional neuroanatomy of the parent-infant bond and (2) examine whether markers of this bond, such as maternal brain response to infant crying, can predict maternal style (i.e., child neglect), offspring temperament, or offspring depression or anxiety.

A 12-week, open label flexible dosing study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of bupropion-SR in the treatment of generalized social phobia. The primary outcome measures include the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) and the Brief Social Phobia Rating Scale (BSPS). A total of 18 subjects were enrolled. Five of the ten subjects who completed all 12 weeks were considered as responders. Response to treatment was defined as a CGI-I score of 1 or 2, (“much improved” or “very much improved,” respectively) and a >50% decrease in BSPS score. The final doses for the completers ranged between 200 and 400 mg/day (mean 366±68 mg/day). The medication was generally well tolerated. Findings from this open-label trial suggest that bupropion-SR may be useful in treating generalized social phobia. Depression and Anxiety 12:111–113, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.