Much is said about how mother’s brain after the birth of children. This makes sense, because a new life has been ripening in it for nine months. But what about new parents? Biologically, their role may end after fertilization is complete. Although, fortunately, socially they continue to interfere in breeding. Or at least they should. Therefore, it is interesting to study whether your brain also experiences change through education. This is something that has been tried to be studied for many years, although usually with weak research. Now, on the other hand, a group of Spanish scientists have provided new, much more specific information on the subject.
In a study recently published in Cortex, in detail about how the brain of young parents shrinks after the birth of their children. This may sound very negative. But the truth is that it refinement which strengthens the bond with the child. In short, they do not lose abilities, but instead focus better on those that are really necessary for caring for offspring.
change they are not as sharp as mothersPerhaps that is why they went unnoticed. However, the results of the study are unequivocal: your brain also changes after the birth of your first child.
How the brain of young parents changes
Total 40 new heterosexual parents, of which 20 were in Spain and the rest in the US. The next steps were slightly different in each country.
Parents who were in Spain were given brain MRI before the pregnancy of their partners and after the birth of their children. However, US women have also been observed during pregnancy. In addition, there was control 17 men without children living in Spain. This served to check if the changes were found in the brain, whether they were really related to paternity.
When they analyzed the MRI, they saw that as pregnancy progressed and after childbirth, brain volume decreased in very specific areas. The most affected was cortical gray matterwhat is connected with reward and motivation. In addition, increased wrinkling was observed in the cerebral cortex in an area known as default mode network. Previous research has found a link between this and acceptance and attachment between parents and children, so this doesn’t seem to be a coincidence. It even seems that there is some reduction in the volume of the visual system. This may be related to the ability of parents to recognize their children, although more research is needed to clarify this.
Not as pronounced as in mothers
If until now these brain changes have been ignored, it is because neuronal plasticity mothers are much more pronounced. They interfere hormonal factors, which cause changes in areas such as the limbic subcortical network associated with emotions. The new parents do not have these modifications. In fact, it is not yet known exactly what they are and what they are caused by.
Nevertheless, it is clear that fatherhood leaves such a deep imprint that it can even be seen in the brain. Knowing this, there is no excuse to shy away from changing diapers.
Source: Hiper Textual
