Early detection of distinct language development in infants of mothers with severe mental illness using fNIRS.

Authors

Alessandra Piatti, Holly Hope, Matthias Pierce, Kathryn Abel

Published in

Communications psychology. Jun 15, 2026. Epub Jun 15, 2026.

Abstract

Infants of mothers with severe mental illness are at elevated risk of neurodevelopmental difficulties. This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to compare 8-10-month-old infants exposed to severe maternal mental illness (n = 30) and unexposed controls (n = 30) during two experiments assessing brain activation to voice versus non-voice sounds and to sentences with angry, happy, or neutral prosody. Exposed infants showed atypical right-temporal activation, with stronger activation to non-voice than voice stimuli, unlike controls. Socioeconomic status was positively correlated with activation to non-voice and to sentences, independently of emotional prosody. Further analysis indicated that brain response to non-voice stimuli mediated the relation between socioeconomic status and activation to sentences. These findings reveal distinct neural trajectories in infants exposed to severe maternal mental illness, detectable within the first year of life, and highlight socioeconomic background as a key factor in early brain development.

PMID:
42298134
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jun 2026.

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