How babies of depressed mothers pay attention to emotional faces
Official title: Development of Attentional Biases for Affective Cues in Infants of Mothers with Depression
Funded at State University of Ny,binghamton · NIH-11170553 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how 6–12-month-old babies whose mothers had depression since the baby's birth notice and sometimes avoid sad faces, and how that relates to their arousal and interactions with their mother.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | State University of Ny,binghamton NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Binghamton, United States) |
| Project start | August 15, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $741,603 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH132667-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11170553 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are infants aged 6–12 months and their mothers, specifically infants whose mothers had major depressive disorder since the baby's birth as well as infants whose mothers never had MDD for comparison.
✕Less likely to help
Infants older than 12 months, families unable to attend repeated in-person visits, or infants whose mothers developed depression after the baby's birth are unlikely to be eligible or to receive direct benefit.
What this research studies
You would be invited to enroll an infant aged 6–12 months and their mother for repeat visits over time. The study will follow 225 mother–infant pairs (150 with mothers who had major depressive disorder since the baby's birth and 75 with mothers with no lifetime MDD) to track changes in infants' attention to emotional faces. Researchers will measure infants' looking patterns, physiological arousal (for example heart rate), and observe mother–infant interactions to understand whether avoidance of sad faces helps regulate arousal. The team will also examine different features of maternal depression to see which are most tied to infants' attention patterns.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could reveal early attention and arousal signs of emotional risk and point to targets for early support for at‑risk infants and their families.
How similar studies have gone: Prior cross-sectional work has found attentional avoidance of sad faces in children of depressed mothers, but longitudinal tests of infant arousal and mother–infant transactions are relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
State University of Ny,binghamton
Binghamton, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gibb, Brandon E — State University of Ny,binghamton
- Study coordinator: Gibb, Brandon E
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.