SYNOPSIS

Ecologically valid experimental paradigms are critical if we are to identify meaningful behavioral and neural substrates of parental responsiveness to infant cues. In this commentary, we discuss how Rigo et al. (2019) in their fMRI study of responses to infant cues make advances toward developing a paradigm that better mimics real-world parenting demands. In contrast to the standard infant cue paradigm, Rigo and colleagues exposed participants to infant sounds while engaged in competing goal-directed demands – multitasking. Although several central hypotheses were not confirmed, we hold that the use of ecologically improved paradigms is a necessary step toward understanding the multitasking reality of the parenting brain.

概要

如果我们要确定父母对婴儿暗示的反应的有意义的行为和神经基础，那么生态上有效的实验范式就至关重要。在这篇评论中，我们讨论了Rigo等人。（2019）在他们对婴儿线索反应的功能磁共振成像研究中，在发展更好地模仿现实世界中育儿需求的范例方面取得了进展。与标准的婴儿提示范例相反，Rigo和同事在参与竞争目标导向的需求-多任务处理时，将参与者暴露于婴儿的声音中。尽管尚未确认几个主要假设，但我们认为使用生态改良的范例是理解父母大脑多任务现实的必要步骤。