ABSTRACT
Human infants need prolonged, intensive caregiving to survive and thrive. Human infants’ dependency is unlike many other newborn animals that are mobile shortly after birth, allowing them a much larger degree of independence from their parents. This chapter reviews the emerging evidence for the way that underlying human brain systems support the parent-infant relationship. Starting with the earliest elements of the parent-infant relationship, orienting to infant cues, it demonstrates how the human brain is optimized to perceive cues across multiple sensory modalities rapidly and efficiently. This “parental instinct” in response to infant cues appears to be present for nonparents as well as parents, demonstrating how our parental capacities are well substantiated in the brain prior to parenthood. The chapter also shows how the expertise gained through parenting experience changes the structural and functional properties of the brain in ways that may optimize future caregiving.
