Focus: Sex and Gender Health: Tobacco Smoking and the Resting Maternal Brain: A Preliminary Study of Frontal EEG |
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| Authors: | Haley E. Wilbanks Mariana Von Mohr Marc N. Potenza Linda C. Mayes Helena J.V. Rutherford |
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| Affiliation: | aSewanee: The University of the South, Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Sewanee, TN, USA;bYale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;cDepartment of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK;dDepartments of Psychiatry and Neurobiology and CASAColumbia, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;eConnecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, USA |
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| Abstract: | Tobacco smoking has been attributed to a wide range of detrimental health consequences for both women and their children. In addition to its known physical health effects, smoking may also impact maternal neural responses and subsequent caregiving behavior. To begin investigating this issue, we employed electroencephalography (EEG) to examine resting neural oscillations of tobacco-smoking mothers (n = 35) and non-smoking mothers (n = 35). We examined seven EEG frequency bands recorded from frontal electrode sites (delta, theta, alpha, alpha1, alpha2, beta, and gamma). While no between-group differences were present in high-frequency bands (alpha2, beta, gamma), smokers showed greater spectral power in low-frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, alpha1) compared to non-smokers. This increased power in low-frequency bands of tobacco-smoking mothers is consistent with a less aroused state and may be one mechanism through which smoking might affect the maternal brain and caregiving behavior. |
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| Keywords: | Tobacco smoking motherhood electroencephalography |
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