ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how primary maternal preoccupation has laid a foundation for a number of neuroimaging studies that have evidenced how the brain is shaped with the onset of parenthood and the importance of individual differences in how that parental brain responds to infant signals. It reviews neurobiological studies of mothers and fathers that have begun to unpack how their minds may be shaped through the emerging relationship with their child and vice versa. Thus the absence of a group difference may reflect in part existing neurobiological changes that have occurred already for the women after their pregnancies and delivery of their biological children. Traditionally, how adults transition to parenthood has been examined with a combination of self-report measures and observations of parenting behaviours. In summary, reduced sensitivity to infant signals may represent an important mechanism that underscores a number of psychopathologies impacting caregiving capacity.
