Scientists say pregnancy creates lasting changes in women ’s brains that may help prepare them for maternity . They publish their findings in the journalNature Neuroscience .
“ maternity necessitate radical hormone surges and biological adaptation , ” the generator write . “ However , the effects of maternity on the human brain are almost unknown . ”
To investigate these effects , neuroscientist recruited couples who were trying to conceive for the first time and give them brain scan . Some of the couples became parents and some did not , which created a form of make - in control group . Once the baby were carry , the researchers skim participants ’ brains ; two year later , they did it again .
The scans revealed a clear departure between the two groups . New moms ’ brains were omit something : a substantial amount of gray matter in the region associated with socialization . The disparity between the two groups ’ learning ability were so significant that the researchers could spot which women had been meaning just by looking at their scans .
But far from being a job , the researchers say , this reduction in gray matter may actually be the brain ’s agency of pave the mode for a unassailable female parent - nipper human relationship . The researchers find no computer memory loss or other cognitive job . In other words , the gray subject personnel casualty is n’t mentality damage . It ’s tidying up in preparation for the challenging new cognitive study of motherhood .
To confirm this idea , the scientist yield the new moms another rhythm of brain scans , this time while the woman looked at pictures of their babies and baby they ’d never seen before . Sure enough , the tidy up - up portions of the woman ’s brains were especially active as they gaze on their own offspring . The more gray matter miss , the stiff the connectedness .
Two years after giving giving birth , new moms ’ learning ability were still lighter on gray matter in that realm than they had been before they became fraught .
Co - author Oscar Vilarroya is a neuroscientist at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain . “ The findings point to an adaptative appendage related to the benefits of better detecting the needs of the nestling , such as identifying the newborn ’s worked up nation , ” hesaidin a statement . “ Moreover , they offer primary clues regarding the neural basis of maternity , perinatal genial health and mastermind plasticity in general . "
