1. Peter S. Kaplan University of Colorado, Denver
An Acquired Learning Disability in Infants of Chronically Depressed Mothers
Peter S. Kaplan
University of Colorado, Denver

2. Depression is a Serious Public Health Problem
WHO estimates that by the year 2020 depression will be 2nd leading cause of disability world-wide
economic costs
personal suffering
family suffering

3. Behavioral and Physiological Correlates of Postpartum Depression
Mothers
withdrawn or intrusive
negative affect
less playful
less contingent responding
relative left frontal EEG hypoactivation
Infants
negative affect
less attentive
less play/exploration
relative left frontal EEG hypoactivation
at risk for insecure attachment, later psychopathology, and cognitive deficits

4. Properties of Infant-Directed Speech
elevated vocal pitch (fundamental frequency or F0 )
exaggerated pitch changes
different pitch contour shapes (e.g., rising, falling) in different interactional contexts (arousing, soothing)
nearly universal across cultures

5. Functions of Infant-Directed Speech
elicit and maintain infant attention
modulate affect and arousal
facilitate learning
speed language processing

8. Funded By… National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Swan Foundation of Denver
CU-Denver (thanks to Dr. Fernie Baca, Vice Chancellor for Research)
Psychology Faculty Research Fund (thanks to Dr. Rick Gardner)

9. Four-Month-Old Infant

12. Conditioned-Attention Paradigm
Pairing Phase
“Forward:” Tone-->Face (6 pairings)
“Backward:” Face-->Tone (6 pairings)
“Random:” Tone//Face (6 of each)
“No Tone:” Face Alone (6 times)
Summation Test Phase
Tone + Checkerboard
vs.
Checkerboard Alone

13. Rapid Associative Learning in 4-Month-Old Infants

14. ID Speech Promotes Infant Learning Better Than AD Speech

15. Effects of ID Speech Produced By Depressed Mothers
recruited 20 mothers of 2- to 6-month-olds
administered BDI and SCID
tape recorded “pet the gorilla” speech segments
used tapes in tests with month-old infants of non-depressed mothers

16. ID Speech Produced By Mothers with Symptoms of Depression Fails to Promote Infant Associative Learning

17. Acoustic Correlates of Maternal Depression
measured mean F0 and mean DF0 in “gorilla” utterances
performed hierarchical linear regression to examine proportion of variance in acoustic measures accounted for by maternal age, education, number of children, infant age, depression diagnosis, medication, and remission status

18. Acoustic Correlates of Postpartum Depression

19. “3-Test” Design Own Unfamiliar DEP Unfamiliar ND Mother Depressed n=12
Mother Not Depressed

20. Infants of Depressed Mothers Are Competent Learners, But Fail to Learn in Response to Their Own Mothers’ ID Speech

21. Older Infants of Depressed Mothers Fail to Learn in Response to Non-Depressed Mothers’ ID Speech

22. Conclusions 4-month-old infants readily learn associations
ID speech facilitates associative learning
postpartum depression affects ID speech
flat ID speech fails to promote learning
younger infants of depressed mothers learn well in response to non-depressed caregivers
longer exposure to depressed caregivers has generalized effects on infant learning
implications for interventions

23. Implications and Future Directions
does this generalize to the “real world?”
interventions: who, what, and when?
can infants of depressed mothers be “inoculated” against potential adverse effects?
long-term follow-ups: MCDI Vocabulary Study