Pregnancy completely rewires mothers' brains — study
Pregnancy completely rewires mothers' brains — study
Neuroscientists scanned the brain of a pregnant woman and captured a 'widespread reorganization' of her brain before, during and after pregnancy.
The researchers found sweeping changes in overall brain neuroanatomy which unfolded week by week during the pregnancy.
Inside Chrastil's brain, grey matter volume, cortical thickness, white matter microstructure, and ventricle volume all changed.
The changes were all over the brain too — "over 80% of my brain regions showed reductions in grey matter volume," Chrastil said.
Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy. Published by Pritschet, L., Taylor, C.M., Cossio, D. et al. in Nature Neuroscience (September 2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01741-0
Cool.
At this point, I wish there was a wiki for things that can rewire one’s brain. Ya know, beyond everyday experiences. This is hardly the only experience which does, and a database should be created of what can, how, why, etc.
Makes me wonder if sticking your head in an MRI every couple weeks would rewire your brain...
The changes were all over the brain too — "over 80% of my brain regions showed reductions in grey matter volume," Chrastil said.
Grey matter is brain tissue with high concentrations of neuron cell bodies, where information is processed. Reductions in grey matter volume are sometimes associated with reduced memory and cognitive function.
However, the study authors say a reduction in grey matter during pregnancy isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's more like a wave of brain refinement as the brain prepares for motherhood — like the process of chiseling a block of marble into a sculpture.
Seems like an overly positive framing of the effect.
this is the first study to consistently map brain changes during pregnancy, write the study authors in their paper.
"It's 2024 and this is the first glimpse we have of this fascinating neurological transition. There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy we don't understand yet. It's a biproduct of the fact that biosciences have historically ignored women's health," said Jacobs.
I knew that there were fundamental neurological changes that occurred during pregnancy, but had no idea that there hadn't been a comprehensive brain mapping study done yet. There is a surprising amount of sexism in academia.
I wouldn't be surprised if parenthood did much the same to fathers brains.