Introducing the brain: pregnancy effects (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, September 11, 2022, 16:45 (802 days ago) @ David Turell

In men slight shrinkage:

https://www.sciencealert.com/first-time-dads-may-experience-brain-shrinkage-scientists-...

"The study is only small, but it suggests that the neural substrates of parenthood are not exclusive to mothers. Men, as it turns out, can also be impacted by their new role as a parent, albeit in a less pronounced and uniform way.

"On average, the researchers found new fathers lost a percentage or two of cortical volume following the birth of their first child.

"This shrinkage was mainly confined to an area of the brain known as the 'default mode network', which is associated with parental acceptance and warmth.

"At first, a loss in cortical volume might sound like a bad thing, but it can actually indicate a refinement of the brain that makes connecting with a child more powerful and efficient.

"Similar cortical losses in mothers, for example, are associated with greater neural responses to a child and stronger child-parent attachment,

***

"They did, however, show signs of brain plasticity in their cortical gray matter, which is largely involved in social understanding – and the researchers also found pronounced reductions in the visual system's volume.

"More research on this visual brain region and its role in parenthood is needed, but the findings do align with a recent study in 2020 that found fathers are better at visual memory tasks than those men without children.

"'These findings may suggest a unique role of the visual system in helping fathers to recognize their infants and respond accordingly, a hypothesis to be confirmed by future studies," the authors of the new paper write."

Comment: the amazing ability of the brain to adjust itself on display again. If dhw's brilliant cell committees can speciate, they must be neuron committees