Processes of Attachment and the Regulation of Development

Our research has centered on the role of the parent-infant relationship as the first major environmental influence on postnatal development. I and my colleagues have explored how early maternal separation and different patterns of mothering exert long-term effects on vulnerability to disease. Through an experimental analysis of the psychobiological events that enmesh the infant rat and its mother, we discovered hidden regulatory processes that have become the basis for a new understanding of the early origins of attachment, the dynamics of the separation response and the shaping of development by that first relationship. In 2000, I became the director of the Sackler Institute For Developmental Psychobiology.

Recent work has focused on the infant rats' vocal response to isolation as a model of the first anxiety state. We have explored its neural basis, how it is regulated behaviorally by littermates, dams and predators, and how its developmental course can be altered by continued selection for high and/or low responders (see Brunelli and Shair entries). Dr. Polan and I studied the developmental origins of the capacity of newborns to recognize, approach and stay close to their own mothers in the hours after birth. Currently, I have become interested in theoretical aspects of development, and its role as a participant as well as a product of evolution, with the aim of deriving a set of principles that can help bridge the gap between developmental processes at the molecular, cellular and behavioral levels.

Selected publications:

Hofer, M.A. (2005) Developmental selection: evolutionary clues to the nature of ontogeny. Developmental Psychobiology, 47: 43.

Hofer, M.A. (2004) Developmental Psychobiology of Early Attachment. In: B.J. Casey (Ed.) American Psychiatric Publishing Review of Psychiatry Series (Vol. 23), American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.

Weller, A., Legusiamo, A., Town, L., Ramboz, S., Hofer, M.A., Hen, R. and Brunner, D. (2003) Maternal environment affects infant and adult phenotype in 5HT-1A and -1B receptor knockout mice. Developmental Psychobiology 42,194-205.

Lira A, Zhou M, Castanon N, Ansorge MS, Gordon JA, Francis JH, Bradley-Moore M, Lira J, Underwood MD, Arango V, Kung HF, Hofer MA, Hen R, Gingrich JA (2003) Altered depression-related behaviors and functional changes in the dorsal raphe nucleus of serotonin transporter-deficient mice. Biological Psychiatry 54: 960-971.

Hofer, M. A. (2002). The riddle of development. In D. J. Lewkowicz, & R. Lickliter (Eds.), Conceptions of Development (pp. 5-29). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Hofer, M. A. (2002). Unexplained infant crying: an evolutionary perspective. Acta Paediatr 91: 491-6.

Hofer, M. A. (2002). Evolutionary Concepts. In S. D.J., & E. Hollander (Eds.), Textbook of Anxiety Disorders (pp. 65-78). Washington: Am. Psychiatric Press.

Polan, H. J., Milano, D., Eljuga, L., & Hofer, M. A. (2002). Development of rats: maternally directed orienting behaviors from birth to day 2. Developmental Psychobiology 40: 81-103.

Hofer, M.A. (2001) Toward a Neurobiology of Attachment. In Nelson, C.A. & Luciana, M. (Eds.) Handbook of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, pp 599-616, MIT Press, Boston.

Hofer, M. A., Shair, H. S., & Brunelli, S. A. (2001). Ultrasonic vocalization in rat and mouse pups, Current Protocols in Neuroscience (pp. 8.14.1-8.14.16)

Hofer, M. A., Brunelli, S. A., & Shair, H. N. (2001). Developmental effects of selective breeding for an infantile trait: the rat pups ultrasonic isolation call (USV). Developmental Psychobiology 39: 231-246.

Hofer, M. A., Masmela, J. R., Brunelli, S. A., & Shair, H. N. (1999). Behavioral mechanisms for active maternal potentiation of isolation calling in rat pups. Behavioral Neuroscience 113: 51-61.

Hofer, M.A., Masmela, J.R., Brunelli, S.A. & Shair, H.N. (1998) The ontogeny of maternal potentiation of the infant rats' isolation call. Developmental Psychobiology 33: 189-201.

Hofer, M.A. (1996) Multiple regulators of ultrasonic vocalization in the infant rat. Psychoneuroendocrinology 21: 203-217.

Hofer, M.A. (1995) Hidden regulators: Implications for a new understanding of attachment, separation and loss. In Goldberg S., Muir R., & Kerr, J. Attachment Theory: Social, Developmental and Clinical Perspectives. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 203-230.