Attachment and Neurodevelopment Laboratory

The Attachment and Neurodevelopment Lab is directed by Dr Lane Strathearn, a neuroscientist and developmental pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. The lab’s research focuses on the neurobiology of mother-infant attachment, and neurodevelopmental disabilities such as autism. This includes a longitudinal study of women and their infants, examining maternal brain and hormone responses to infant facial expressions using functional MRI. The lab also explores the development of attachment behavior, and how drugs of abuse may highjack these relationships.

The lab is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with studies examining maternal brain responses in drug-addicted mothers, and the potential role of intranasal oxytocin to enhance maternal and paternal caregiving.