16 Chapter 1 processing and mentalizing, that most likely come into play as the duration of eye contact increases (Cavallo et al., 2015; Kuzmanovic et al., 2009). These studies found that prolonged eye contact (i.e., 2-30 seconds) resulted in differential neural responses in orbitofrontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, paracingulate regions, anterior insula, premotor and supplementary motor area compared to short stimuli of <2 seconds. These brain regions are, amongst other things, involved in the preparation of a communicative response and the initiation of social interaction. To assess parents’ and adolescents’ responses to eye contact with one another, we designed a fMRI paradigm and compared these responses to eye contact with unknown others (i.e., an unfamiliar peer or adult). This allows for a better understanding of neural and affective processes in response to prolonged eye contact during warm and affectionate interactions between parents and adolescents of well-functioning families. Moreover, this will function as a solid baseline that helps to investigate potential alterations in these processes in situations in which parents and adolescents have difficulties to connect with each other. INTER-INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN CONNECTEDNESS Two inter-individual factors that are known to be associated with difficulties in social interactions and are found to have a negative impact on family dynamics, are childhood emotional maltreatment and depression. What these factors have in common is that they are linked to altered (more negative) cognitive schemas about others and the self, which may affect one’s ability to engage in interpersonal contact. As these processes might be strongly ingrained in one’s way of responding to social cues, it is of interest to examine whether parents with a history of childhood emotional maltreatment and depressed adolescents show altered responses to gazing into the eyes of their child or parent, respectively, and of unknown others. Childhood emotional maltreatment is common and includes situations in which parents fail to accurately perceive and appropriately respond to the emotional and psychological needs of their child. It encompasses both emotional abuse (i.e., verbal assaults and demeaning behaviors directed towards children by adults that are harmful for a child’s self-worth) and emotional neglect (i.e., caregivers’ irresponsibility or failure in satisfying children’s basic psychological needs for love, belonging, nurturance, and support) (Bernstein et al., 1994; Bernstein et al., 2003). Childhood emotional maltreatment can give rise to long-term negative consequences far into adulthood, including the development of negative cognitions about the self and others, possibly due to the perceived betrayal of trust during childhood by a primary caregiver (Baugh et al., 2019; Reyome, 2010; van Harmelen et al., 2010). People who have experienced childhood emotional maltreatment might on the one hand generalize distrust to others, believing that
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