Post: #1

So it turns out that the anecdotal evidence about "Baby Brain" and how wives change into a completely different person after kids might be true after all.

Quote:Pregnancy reduces grey matter in specific parts of a woman's brain, helping her bond with her baby and prepare for the demands of motherhood.

Scans of 25 first-time mums showed these structural brain changes lasted for at least two years after giving birth.

European researchers said the scale of brain changes during pregnancy were akin to those seen during adolescence.

But they found no evidence of women's memory deteriorating.

Many women have said they feel forgetful and emotional during pregnancy and put it down to "pregnancy" or "baby" brain - and, it seems, with good reason.

Hormone surge

Pregnancy is characterised by extreme surges of sex hormones and involves drastic physiological and physical changes in the body, the researchers say.

During those nine months, women experience a flood of oestrogen which is greater than for the whole of the rest of their lives.

Yet research on the effects of pregnancy on the human brain is scarce.

This study, from researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Leiden University and published in Nature Neuroscience, looked at the brain scans of women before they became pregnant, soon after they gave birth, and two years later, to see how the brain changed.

And they compared these women's brains with those of 19 first-time fathers, 17 men without children and 20 women who had never given birth.

The researchers found "substantial" reductions in the volume of grey matter in the brains of first-time mothers.

The grey matter changes occurred in areas of the brain involved in social interactions used for attributing thoughts and feelings to other people - known as "theory-of-mind" tasks.

The researchers thought this would give new mothers an advantage in various ways - help them recognise the needs of their child, be more aware of potential social threats and become more attached to their baby.

Just by analysing the brain images, computers were able to pick out the women who had been pregnant.
Bonding with baby

In one task, women were shown pictures of their own babies and other babies and their brain activity was monitored.

The parts of the brain which lit up when they saw pictures of their own babies closely matched the areas where grey matter had been reduced or "fine-tuned" during pregnancy.

The same areas did not light up when pictures of other babies were viewed.

Elseline Hoekzema, study author and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said: "We can speculate that the volume reductions observed in pregnancy represent a process of specialisation or further maturation of this Theory of Mind network that, in some way, serves an adaptive purpose for pending motherhood."

The study found that pregnant women were all affected in similar ways, regardless of whether they conceived naturally or underwent IVF.

And there were no changes in first-time fathers' grey matter in the study when their brains were monitored before and after their partners' pregnancy.

The research team also found no major changes in white matter in the brain.

Post: #2

does it make them not crazy?

Post: #3

Confirms my own experience with my wife. So I guess I just reset the clock timer for another year and a half at least. Oh well...

All I can tell you guys is just be patient with them. They cannot help it. If you have to repeat yourself alot or micromanage them more, just do it and hang in there. LOL

Post: #4

TL;DR, science proves women become protective and caring mothers during pregnancy

Post: #5

Quote:The grey matter changes occurred in areas of the brain involved in social interactions used for attributing thoughts and feelings to other people - known as "theory-of-mind" tasks.

Moms care more about other people and are less solipsistic than single women: news at 11.

Post: #6

Only two? That seems a bit generous...

Post: #7

I'd be surprised if there were no changes, it's really a massive shift in body composition, hormones, metabolism... it takes time to rebalance after that.

Post: #8

Western pregnant women: please stop wearing yoga pants. Just stop.

Post: #9

I wonder if any cranial changes have less impact or are more readily resolved, when the chick is younger.
A follow up would be to test a group of pregnant chicks at 20 years of age against a group of chicks at 35 years of age.

If you could find enough candidates at 35 who are pregnant that is...

Post: #10

After four kids, I can agree with this assertion.

Post: #11

(03-28-2017 10:21 PM)Tytalus Wrote:  After four kids, I can agree with this assertion.

Congrats!

Post: #12

I for one, am most shocked. I didn't even realise they had brains.

Post: #13

I can also confirm this.

I wonder if they check the testosterone vs estrogen levels of women who never reproduced. My guess is they drop estrogen but this allows the increase in testosterone?

I ask because some women I know who will never breed get a sinewy, angular masculine look as well as become very combative. Essentially the total opposite of the mothers I spend time with, who are caring and almost 'ditzy' in a fun and cute way.

Quote:The researchers thought this would give new mothers an advantage in various ways - help them recognise the needs of their child, be more aware of potential social threats and become more attached to their baby.

This is what I notice the most with mothers. I have mentioned in other threads numerous times that almost all the mothers I spend time with are more conservative, support alpha males like Trump, and are extremely cold to men who come across as flaky.

Post: #14

(03-29-2017 03:02 PM)Laner Wrote:  I can also confirm this.



I ask because some women I know who will never breed get a sinewy, angular masculine look as well as become very combative. Essentially the total opposite of the mothers I spend time with, who are caring and almost 'ditzy' in a fun and cute way.

There has been some research that the hormones in birth control pills cause permanent mental / physical changes in women. My wife took the pills for a brief period (part of going through IVF) and the effects on her mood was definitely negative. She was happy to be off them.

So maybe your observation is not just women who never breed, but women who for many years were on the pill?

Post: #15

(03-29-2017 03:30 PM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 03:02 PM)Laner Wrote:  I can also confirm this.



I ask because some women I know who will never breed get a sinewy, angular masculine look as well as become very combative. Essentially the total opposite of the mothers I spend time with, who are caring and almost 'ditzy' in a fun and cute way.

There has been some research that the hormones in birth control pills cause permanent mental / physical changes in women. My wife took the pills for a brief period (part of going through IVF) and the effects on her mood was definitely negative. She was happy to be off them.

So maybe your observation is not just women who never breed, but women who for many years were on the pill?

I suspect it can be one, the other, or both.

Part of what happens with women who have children is that their ribcage is pushed out and their hips widen some. Older women who've never had children can still have the build of a 20s something woman (bone structure, I don't mean attraction) who've never had children. When most women you've met have had at least one kid, this look is odd on older woman and stands out.

Post: #16

(03-29-2017 03:02 PM)Laner Wrote:  I ask because some women I know who will never breed get a sinewy, angular masculine look as well as become very combative. Essentially the total opposite of the mothers I spend time with, who are caring and almost 'ditzy' in a fun and cute way.