Gender differences in directional brain responses to infant hunger cries

Infant cries are a critical survival mechanism that draw the attention of adult caregivers, who can then satisfy the basic needs of otherwise helpless infants. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to investigate the effects of infant hunger cries on brain activity of adults who were in a cognitively non-demanding mental state of awake rest. We found that the brains of males and females, independent of parental status (parent or non parent), reacted differently to infant cries. Specifically, dorsal medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate areas, known to be involved in mind-wandering (the stream of thought typical of awake rest), remained active in men during exposure to infant cries, whereas in women activity in these regions decreased. These results reveal gender-dependent modulation of brain responses to infant requests to be fed, and specifically they indicate that women interrupt mind-wandering when exposed to the sounds of infant hunger cries, whereas men carry on without interruption.