Researchers in Barcelona have discovered how the brain, quite literally, “remodels” during pregnancy. A study published on Monday in Nature Neuroscience shows the significant changes that occur in a woman’s brain during pregnancy.
The changes are influential; they can predict the level of the mother’s maternal attachment.
They’re also drastic; the researchers found they were so clear that a computer algorithm could identify which women had been pregnant by the amount of grey matter – the tissue that contains most of brain’s neuronal cell bodies, and includes regions that are involved in muscle control and sensory perception – in their brains.
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The study, led by neuroscientist Elseline Hoekzema of Leiden University, conducted detailed anatomical brain scans on a group of women who were trying to fall pregnant. The 25 women who did fall pregnant were re-scanned soon after they gave birth and 11 participants were scanned two years after that. For comparison, the researchers also scanned the brains of first-time fathers, as well as men and women who were not trying to fall pregnant.
The results were extreme. New mothers experienced a reduction in certain, very specific, areas of grey matter. These reductions were still evident two years later.
The changes in grey matter were most pronounced in regions involved in social cognition, particularly the network associated with theory of mind – or the place where we think about what is going on in someone else’s mind. This region also showed the strongest response when mothers looked at photographs of their infants.
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Although researchers aren’t 100 per cent sure why the reduction in grey matter occurs during pregnancy, Hoekzema believes it may have something to do with preparing the brain for motherhood. Almost like specialising the brain to more effectively respond to the needs of a baby.
No grey matter loss was seen in new fathers or those not trying for a child.
