Weikum, W. M., Oberlander, T. F., Hensch, T. K., & Werker, J. F. (2012). Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(Supplement 2), 17221-17227.
This article raises the question of antidepressant use during pregnancy and perinatal depression, including the effects that this depression can have on the development of verbal perception in infants.
In the experiment presented in this article, infants are organized into three groups: a control group, a group whose mother is depressed but not treated pharmacologically, and a group whose mother is on antidepressant. The question is whether this antidepressant, when prescribed in the case of pregnant woman’s depression, can have an effect on sensitive periods of children’s father tongue acquisition.
Children are presented with Hindi phonemes, which sound the same for an adult but which are clearly different for people whose mother tongue is Hindi. In children controls there is a preference for the new phoneme at 6 months, but more at 10 months. There is therefore a sensitive period for mother tongue discrimination at 6 months, but a perceptual specialization afterwards. In the case where the mother is depressed, she interacts less with her child, the sensitive period of language development is therefore late.
In another manipulation, Hindi phonemes are presented to fetuses. Their heart rate decreases when they notice a change. It should be noted that all children notice vowel changes (which is normal) but only children whose mothers are on antidepressants distinguish consonant changes at an age when they should not normally be able to do so. The entire period of language function is accelerated in children on antidepressants. This may make their brain function more rigid too early, which may lead to difficulties in future learning.
According to the authors, pregnant women should therefore be avoided, but offered treatment as soon as the child is born, in order to treat the symptoms and allow for better interaction with the baby. Of course, it also depends on the mother’s condition and the extent and duration of the depression. Only if we don’t treat depression it will increase the mother’s anxiety level, which also has effects on the fetus.
Words I have learned :
- Antidépresseurs : antidepressants
- Foetus : fetus
- Sensitive period : période sensible
- Tongue : langue