Pregnancy quickly reorganizes the brain to respond to infants:
Pregnancy shrinks parts of the brain. That sounds bad. Throw in the forgetfulness and fogginess, or "momnesia," that many moms report, and what's left is the notion that for the brain, the transition to motherhood is a net loss.
[...] But that's just not true, Pawluski says. The perception that the maternal brain is dysfunctional has gone on long enough: It's time to "start giving the maternal brain the credit it deserves," Pawluski and her colleagues write February 6 in in JAMA Neurology.
Pregnancy does kick-start structural changes in the brain, including a loss of gray matter. But the loss isn't automatically a bad thing — reductions can reflect a fine-tuning process that makes the brain more efficient (SN: 3/18/22).
During the transition to motherhood, the brain reorganizes its connections, strengthening those that are useful and letting go of those that aren't, Pawluski says. This reorganization prepares the brain "to learn rapidly to keep a baby alive," she says.
[...] Giving the maternal brain its due for its incredible adaptations does not mean that caregiving is a skill exclusive to those who give birth. While hormones trigger brain modifications during pregnancy, nonbirthing parents' brains change with the experience of having a newborn. After the birth of their first child, new fathers' brains showed a reduction in gray matter, but childless men's brains didn't, researchers reported in Cerebral Cortex in 2022.
Changing misperceptions about the brain during the transition to motherhood "comes back to acknowledging the importance of caregiving," Pawluski says, by all parents. "The ability for your brain to actually learn to keep a baby alive is a big deal."
Journal Reference:
Clare McCormack; Bridget L. Callaghan; Jodi L. Pawluski. It's Time to Rebrand "Mommy Brain", JAMA Neuro (DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.5180)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28, @07:41PM
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnlennon/justlikestartingover.html [azlyrics.com]
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, @07:44PM (1 child)
Is this just opinion? All I see is speculation that it's time to "give it the credit it deserves" scold scold scold. The brain changes during pregnancy were already known.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7975506/ [nih.gov]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28, @08:17PM
It's not merely opinion, it's opinion on what opinions should be promoted.
For what it's worth, I don't disagree, but: yes, this isn't new science, this is attempting to take existing science and cast it in a new light to shape public opinion.
I am currently participating in a similar campaign to expand the public awareness of not only Autism, but the distinction between "I talk about trains incessantly and can tell you every possible detail of every engine ever commissioned and built at the York engine sheds and locomotive works" and profound Autism in which communication isn't just quirky, it's severely limited and completely precludes things like: being allowed out in public unsupervised at age 30. It's a spectrum, and the needs of the "we want special considerations for our brilliant but quirky child" crowd is entirely different from those dealing with profound life long disabilities.
In short: public opinion matters, a lot. It has profound effects on how conditions are perceived and supported, or not.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Entropy on Tuesday February 28, @08:25PM (12 children)
Or at least not as intelligent as before they had kids. Pretty much matches my
observation, thanks.
(Score: 4, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28, @08:54PM (11 children)
There's a special amnesia associated with child birth and infant care. If there weren't the species would die out, quickly, because nobody who clearly remembers the experience would choose do that twice.
As for "dumber" - that's up in the air... sounds like mommy brain is more of an opportunity for learning and growth, which can actually make you quite a bit smarter than the crap you learned when you were younger.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday February 28, @10:17PM (9 children)
I mean, pretty much the entirety of the first year of my kids' life is a blur to me. Wife says, yeah, blah, blah, x thing happened and I'm like errmmm... ?!? xD Now, my memory isn't exactly the greatest, but that time of my life was normal me, with even less sleep.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Mykl on Wednesday March 01, @12:00AM (8 children)
I spent 5 weeks at home after my wife came out of hospital with our second child. I was fully responsible for the 7pm to 7am shift, as well as doing normal things around the house during the day and taking care of our then 2 year old.
During those 5 weeks I could actually feel parts of my brain shutting down - mostly due to the lack of sleep. My body adapted to living on around 3 hours a night to the point where I was no longer tired, but just operating in "low power mode". Thinking about anything complex was either too tiring, or required substantial time for me to spin up again to be able to properly think about it - most of the time I just didn't bother.
I suspect baby-brain also is partly a defence mechanism, as playing with babies and counting how many horsies are in the picture for hours on end isn't exactly intellectually stimulating for an adult.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @02:14AM
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 01, @02:38AM (6 children)
Many song birds grow bigger brains in mating season, enabling them to sing more complex and mate-attractive songs. After season passes their brain shrinks again, conserving energy, lowering the mass they have to carry and robbing them of their complex singing abilities.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @06:29AM (5 children)
Funny, it works the exact opposite in humans.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday March 01, @10:46AM (1 child)
I've heard parents sing to their kids. In most cases, I cannot accept the theory that they develop any kind of advanced singing capabilities.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 01, @02:54PM
It certainly didn't help here, but that's not to say that it did no good.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 01, @06:16PM (2 children)
Seems like the mammals divert blood flow from the brain to other areas for that "quick shrink" of critical thinking capacity.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @07:02PM (1 child)
Post-but clarity needs the credit it deserves. Where's *my* Science article?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @07:04PM
but/nut whatever bah
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @02:10AM
Yeah the author just goes "that's just not true" and doesn't really back it up with anything solid. Forgetfulness is a dysfunction. We're not talking about not being able to remember stuff that we don't care about remembering. Forgetfulness is not being able to easily remember the normally easily remembered stuff we wanted to remember.
If the author can do that I can make unbacked claims of my own too:
My claim is a lot of the brain shrinkage/damage etc is due to the lack of sleep.
As for behavior changes, some brainwashing techniques involve sleep deprivation.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by EJ on Wednesday March 01, @12:24AM (1 child)
Samus Aran might have something to say about the Mother Brain.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01, @06:31AM
Yo momma might have something to say abou... Too late?
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday March 01, @02:43PM
So, "parents are stupid" is valid objectivism observation by many (all?) children...
Also, corporations should actively employ only childless people, for those are smarter, by scientific knowledge now.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design