Mother–child interactions impact child social development and psychological health. This study focused on eye-gaze interactions, especially eye contact as synchronized gaze, which is an important non-verbal communication tool in human interactions. We performed brain-image analysis of mothers and children using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and quantitatively evaluated the quality of mother–child interactions using the Interaction Rating Scale to investigate how it is related to the frequency of mother–child eye contact. As a result, we found a positive correlation between the frequency of eye gaze and the right anterior insula (AI) or middle frontal gyrus in children and a positive correlation with the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and precuneus/cuneus in mothers. Especially, when eye contact was made, the association with the right AI in children and ACC in mothers was retained, suggesting the involvement of the salience network responsible for modulating internal and external cognition. In addition, the frequency of eye contact was positively associated with the quality of mother–child interaction. These results suggest that the salience network is a major candidate for the neural basis involved in maintaining efficient eye contact and that it plays an important role in establishing positive mother–child interactions.

Child-rearing mothers with high levels of trait anxiety have a tendency for less adaptive sensory processing, which causes parenting stress. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this sensory processing and trait anxiety remain unclear. We aimed to determine the whole-brain spontaneous neural activity and sensory processing characteristics in mothers with varying parenting stress levels. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed mothers caring for more than one preschool aged (2-5 years) child and presenting with varying levels of sensory processing, trait anxiety, and parenting stress. Spontaneous neural activities in select brain regions were evaluated by whole-brain correlation analyses based on the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF). We found significant positive correlations between levels of sensory processing with trait anxiety and parenting stress. Mothers having less adaptive sensory processing had significantly increased resting-state network activities in the left lobule VI of the cerebellum. Increased fALFF values in the left lobule VI confirmed the mediation effect on the relationship between trait anxiety and sensory processing. A tendency for less adaptive sensory processing involving increased brain activity in lobule VI could be an indicator of maternal trait anxiety and the risk of parenting stress.

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