An associative learning deficit in 1-year-old infants of depressed mothers: Role of depression duration

▶ Twelve-month-old infants of currently depressed mothers with perinatal depression onset did not learn to associate a segment of IDS with a face, but 12-month-old infants of currently depressed mothers with later onset showed significant learning. ▶ Differences in infant learning in the two depressed groups could not be explained based upon severity of maternal depression, level of social functioning, or antidepressant medication use. ▶ These findings suggest that infant learning deficits in this paradigm are related to the chronicity of maternal depression.