Maternal Brain

September 16, 2024 11:26 PM

Scientists mapped what pregnancy really does to a mom's brain - "The research shows how pregnancy remodels the brain in unprecedented detail and opens a new window into matrescence -- the transition to becoming a mother."[1] (AP, CNN, NYT, BBC)

We're Finally Starting to Understand the Pregnant Brain - "The body's most complex organ undergoes an incredible transformation during pregnancy, possibly becoming more efficient."

Study shows how a woman's brain reorganizes during pregnancy - "The scientists said that since the study's completion they have observed the same pattern in several other pregnant women who have undergone brain scans in an ongoing research initiative called the Maternal Brain Project. They aim to expand the number into the hundreds."[2,3]

posted by kliuless (18 comments total)

this supports the reconceptualization of motherhood as one of the periods of highest neuroplasticity in adult life

I'm curious as to whether the pattern of neuroplasticity is repeated in second and third and nth pregnancies or if it's one and done. this isn't addressed here as so far it's a very small pool of subjects, but anyway the whole dynamic is fascinating.

[it would also be interesting to see if there is any synchronicity with the development of the fetal brain; that's probably just wishful woo thinking but it might be more than that (or no correlation at all, of course)]
posted by chavenet at 1:11 AM on September 17 [7 favorites]

There is also the awkwardness of the much higher incidence of Alzheimer's for women though the current thinking is that is related to immune system differences rather than brain differences but a trimming back of grey matter seems like something that could be hazardous if immune system goes on to attack a less inefficient (or less redundant) structure.
posted by srboisvert at 6:10 AM on September 17 [2 favorites]

This is indeed interesting. As much as I want answers, it seems this area of research is just getting started. I hope it is pursued.
posted by falsedmitri at 6:16 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Can anyone figure out what this *means* in real terms? Grey matter decreases during pregnancy and then bounces back to normal afterwards, okay, so? How exactly is this significant? None of these articles provide a possible hypothesis of what difference any of this actually makes. From what I have read in other books and textbooks, the brain has enough redundancy and plasticity to accommodate and use other/cells/grey matter to compensate for much more grey matter loss than this study has found, with no discernible difference to functioning in any way.
posted by MiraK at 6:22 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

@MiraK: I think not enough is known, not enough study has been down to answer that question. My fear is that because this is a *female* thing, it won't be studied at the same level that a male thing would be.
posted by falsedmitri at 6:26 AM on September 17 [6 favorites]

Pregnancy involves huge and complex changes to the body, so surely it would actually be a bit weird if there were no changes in the brain?
posted by Phanx at 7:17 AM on September 17 [2 favorites]

My fear is that because this is a *female* thing, it won't be studied at the same level that a male thing would be.

My fear is that because this is a *female* thing, it will be a good excuse for the patriarchy to relegate women to being nothing but brood mares, because obviously a woman's brain isn't fully developed until she's pregnant. Of course, rape isn't a problem, because the woman's brain wants the baby. Men are actually doing women a favor by insisting they should be tradwives. And on and on with the bullshit.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:29 AM on September 17 [6 favorites]

The BBC link goes to a dead MSN link? Mods to the rescue, I hope,
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 8:08 AM on September 17

I wonder what changes, if any, happen to the brain of someone who has an unwanted pregnancy once, and terminates 8 weeks into the pregnancy.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:25 AM on September 17 [2 favorites]

matrescence sounds gross to me because I’m familiar with the similar words putrescence—the process of rotting—and senescence—the process of developing dementia. Sure, it’s the suffix -escence’s fault, but surely there is a better word for the process of becoming a mother.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:46 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

They mention in the first link that there is evidence that fathers also experience changes, which means the most accurate title would be "New parents can experience changes to neuro-plasticity and brains, but this is mostly about one mother who took scans of herself so let's say 'Mothers' instead".
posted by burntbook at 9:17 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Sure, it’s the suffix -escence’s fault, but surely there is a better word for the process of becoming a mother.

Matrification
Matrization
Matruration

They mention in the first link that there is evidence that fathers also experience changes

Patrifaction
Patrosis
Paterplegia
posted by rory at 9:21 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

I want to call it maitresence, but that sounds like the process of becoming a snooty French waiter.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:40 AM on September 17 [4 favorites]

I would love to see research that can separate out the effects of hormones from the effects of that grinding sleeplessness during late pregnancy and the first few months (hell, the first full year) after the baby's birth.

And postpartum depression is a clear indicator that something is amiss in the mothers who suffer from it; separating out the mental health aspects from purely mechanical changes would be of great benefit, I think, to destigmatize it further and to help prevent it for future families.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:28 AM on September 17 [3 favorites]

Everything about this is binary as fuck. People of all genders get pregnant.
posted by Dysk at 9:11 PM on September 17 [4 favorites]

I would love to see research that can separate out the effects of hormones from the effects of that grinding sleeplessness during late pregnancy and the first few months (hell, the first full year) after the baby's birth

That would actually be possible, if you compared a sample population of surrogate mothers who gestated but did not take the baby home from hospital with them,

vs mothers who took the baby home from hospital with them.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 3:24 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

I'm reminded that Timothy Leary talked about pregnancy causing neuroplasticity in adults, I think more than anything but psychedelics.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 4:34 AM on September 18

No need to study surrogate mothers to find out the effects of not taking ones' baby home from the hospital, although some of those cases might be similar to mothers victimized by the adoption industry.

If anyone actually wants to study the effects on mothers of not taking your baby home from the hospital, there is a whole population of us out there, in many cases mentally scarred for life. I am one, we are mothers who were given no fair choice except to giving our babies up for adoption for the "terrible crime" of being unmarried and pregnant. Check out Concerned United Birthparents :

https://concernedunitedbirthparents.org/

There are legions of us, most who had children born between the 1940s and 1980s, but it is still happening on a much smaller scale today. Even though I later married and had 3 more children, the damage was done. And we were supposed to pretend it never happened and to keep the whole experience as a dark shameful secret forever.

I had severe post partum depression after placing my firstborn son into foster care at birth and eventually surrendering him for adoption when I was given no other choice. The medical and counseling care I got was horendous and slanted towards only one outcome,, adoptiom. I never even heard of "post partum depression" until years later.

Many women of my generation suffered what I did and much more, and the pain and damage never really goes away. This happened all over the world, from Ireland with the infamous Magdalen Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes, to Spain, Australia, and the US where my son was born in 1968. Religious agencies of all kinds were responsible for a lot of this abuse of women. Just another crime of the Patriarchy.
posted by mermayd at 8:38 AM on September 18 [4 favorites]