John Bowlby proposed, in his theory of attachment, that humans
are ‘hardwired’ to respond to social releasers from infants –
they can’t help but respond to an infant’s smiles or cries of
distress and this responsiveness is in our genes. New research
has provided evidence of the brain circuitry involved in this
response. Dr. Madoka Noriuchi and his colleagues in Tokyo (2008,
abstract) used a brain scanning technique (fMRI) to look at how
mothers’ brains respond to infants who are happy or
upset/crying. Certain areas were active when the mothers
observed their own infant’s smiles and cries as opposed to other
infants (in particular it was areas in the cerebral cortex and
limbic system). Smiling and crying are attachment behaviours –
they elicit caregiving from the infant’s mother figure and
ensure safety for the infant. This research shows us the
neurophysiological basis for the attachment response (maternal
love) and supports the view that such a response is innate –
because there is a specialised area in the