Neonatal Handling Affects Durably Bonding and Social Development

The neonatal period in humans and in most mammals is characterized by intense mother-young interactions favoring pair bonding and the adaptation of neonates to their new environment. However, in many post-delivery procedures, human babies commonly experience combined maternal separation and intense handling for about one hour post-birth. Currently, the effects of such disturbances on later attachment and on the development of newborns are still debated: clearly, further investigations are required. As animals present good models for controlled experimentation, we chose domestic horses to investigate this issue. Horses, like humans, are characterized by single births, long lactating periods and selective mother-infant bonds. Routine postnatal procedures for foals, as for human babies, also involve intense handling and maternal separation. In the present study, we monitored the behavior of foals from early stages of development to “adolescence”, in a normal ecological context (social groups with adults and peers). Experimental foals, separated from their mothers and handled for only 1 hour post-birth, were compared to control foals, left undisturbed after birth. Our results revealed short- and long-term effects of this unique neonatal experience on attachment and subsequent social competences. Thus, experimental foals presented patterns of insecure attachment to their mothers (strong dependence on their mothers, little play) and impaired social competences (social withdrawal, aggressiveness) at all ages. We discuss these results in terms of mother-young interactions, timing of interactions and relationships between bonding and subsequent social competences. Our results indicate that this ungulate species could become an interesting animal model. To our knowledge, this is the first clear demonstration that intervention just after birth affects bonding and subsequent social competences (at least until “adolescence”). It opens new research directions for studies on both humans and other animals

The social neuroscience of attachment

Attachment theory, developed by the British psychoanalyst John Bowlby and his American colleague Mary Ainsworth (Bowlby, Attachment and loss, 1969; Ainsworth et al., Patterns of attachment, 1978), aims at explaining why early interactions with caregivers have such a pervasive and lasting effect on personality development beyond childhood. Combining aspects of Darwinian evolutionary biology with social and personality psychology, attachment theory is built upon an inherent cross talk between disciplines. Attachment is conceptualized to rely upon both a behavioral system with a biological function and a cognitive substrate in terms of mental representations of person-environment interactions. Because of its comprehensive nature, attachment theory has become one of the most heavily researched conceptual frameworks in modern psychology (Mikulincer & Shaver, Attachment in adulthood: structure, dynamics, and change, 2007) and has recently inspired growing interest in the field of social neuroscience (Vrtička & Vuilleumier, Front Hum Neurosci 6, 212, 2012). Within the context of this book concerned with the missing link between neuroscience and social science, attachment theory offers a good practical example of a fruitful dialogue between disciplines helping to better understand human development. In the present chapter, I will first describe the fundamental assumptions of attachment theory and discuss their implications from an evolutionary as well as sociocultural perspective. I will then illustrate how attachment theory has inspired applied research in the field of social neuroscience and how the insights gained so far can inform possible prevention and intervention strategies in the context of mental and physical health and policy making across disciplines. Finally, I will comment on the remaining issues and future avenues of this still very young and exciting field of research termed “the social neuroscience of attachment.