The Parental Brain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Paternal Behavior ◽  
Feeling States ◽  
Alloparental Behavior ◽  
Parental Brain ◽  
Development And Evolution ◽  
Epigenetic Processes

The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution takes a three-pronged approach to the parental brain. The first part of the book deals with neural mechanisms. Subcortical circuits are crucially involved in parental behavior, and, for most mammals, the physiological events of pregnancy and parturition prime these circuits so that they become responsive to infant stimuli, allowing for the onset of maternal behavior at parturition. However, since paternal behavior and alloparental behavior occur in some mammalian species, alternate mechanisms are shown to exist that regulate the access of infant stimuli to these circuits. In humans, cortical circuits interact with subcortical circuits so that parental feeling states (emotions) and cognitions can be translated into parental behavior. The section on development emphasizes the experiential basis of the intergenerational continuity of normal and abnormal maternal behavior in animals and humans: The way a mother treats her infant affects the development of the infant’s brain and subsequent maternal behavior. Genetic factors, including epigenetic processes and gene by environment (G × E) interactions, are also involved. The chapter on evolution presents evidence that the parental brain most likely provided the foundation or template for other strong prosocial bonds. In particular, cortical and subcortical parental brain circuits have probably been utilized by natural selection to promote the evolution of the hyper-cooperation and hyper-prosociality that exist in human social groups. A unique aspect of this book is its integration of animal and human research to create a complete understanding of the parental brain.

Parental Behavior

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-13
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Breeding System ◽  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Paternal Behavior ◽  
Alloparental Behavior ◽  
Care System

Chapter 2 describes the types of parental behavior that can occur in vertebrates: maternal, paternal, and alloparental behavior. The dominant form of parental behavior in mammals is a uniparental maternal care system, where the mother raises her offspring by herself. A mother can form either a nonselective or selective bond with her infants, depending on the maturity of her infants at birth. A biparental care system, in which both maternal and paternal behavior occur, is present in about 5% of mammalian species. Approximately 3% of mammalian species exhibit a cooperative breeding system, where some offspring remain in their social group and help their parents raise subsequent offspring. The parental behavior of these helpers is referred to as alloparental behavior. The occurrence of paternal and alloparental behavior shows that alternative mechanisms, not requiring pregnancy and parturition, can evolve which allow for these forms of parental behavior.

Alloparental Behavior and Paternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals

2020 ◽  
pp. 194-228
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Genetic Selection ◽  
Virgin Female ◽  
Ventromedial Hypothalamus ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Paternal Behavior ◽  
Mesolimbic Dopamine System ◽  
Laboratory Rats ◽  
Alloparental Behavior

Chapter 7 examines alloparental and paternal behavior. Although these behaviors are rare in mammals, their occurrence indicates that parental behavior can occur in the absence of pregnancy and parturition. For mammals of both sexes, dual brain circuits affect whether parental behavior occurs: An inhibitory defensive circuit (anterior hypothalamus/ventromedial hypothalamus projections to periaqueductal gray), and an excitatory parental circuit (medial preoptic area, mesolimbic dopamine system, and the oxytocin system). When alloparental behavior occurs, either through experimental genetic selection (virgin female laboratory house mice) or through natural selection (prairie voles, marmosets), the defensive circuit has been downregulated and the parental circuit has been upregulated by such selection. When paternal behavior occurs, either naturally (California mice, dwarf hamsters) or experimentally (laboratory rats and house mice), copulation with a female and remaining with her through parturition depresses the male’s defensive circuitry while activating his parental circuitry.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Parental Cognitions ◽  
Caregiving System ◽  
Intergenerational Continuity ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Parental Brain

The introduction provides a brief overview of the book, describing its three major themes: (a) the mechanisms through which the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman mammals and parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humans; (b) the experiential and genetic factors that affect the development of the parental brain, with a focus on the intergenerational continuity of normal and abnormal parental behavior; and (c) an evolutionary perspective based on the fact that maternal behavior is the most basic mammalian caregiving system. It is proposed that the parental brain served as a foundation upon which natural selection acted to result in the evolution of other forms of strong prosocial behaviors in mammals, including humans.

Perceived Maternal Child-Rearing Behavior among Disabled and Non-Disabled Adolescents

1977 ◽  
Vol 44 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1095-1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Severity Of Disability ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Partial Correlations ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The purposes of this study were (a) to contrast the reported perceptions of maternal rearing using the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory of 70 disabled (cerebral palsied) and 70 non-disabled adolescents of similar sex, age, intelligence, and socioeconomic status and (b) to evaluate the impact of severity of physical impairment within the disabled group. Analyses of variance were completed using group (disabled/controls) as one dimension and sex as the within-groups source. Partial correlations were used to assess the relationship between severity of incapacitation and perceived maternal behavior. Of the 18 main effects, two were significant, suggesting that the non-disabled perceived their mothers as more possessive and intrusive than did the disabled. Males perceived their mothers as significantly more lax in discipline and allowing more autonomy than did females. Severity of disability was only modestly related to perceived maternal behavior. With this sample of disabled adolescents it was suggested that a physically handicapping condition and its severity may be of more limited influence in the maternal rearing process than assumed.

Paternal Behavior from a Neuroendocrine Perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleigh Guoynes ◽  
Catherine Marler
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Hormonal Changes ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Paternal Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Offspring Protection ◽  
High Degree

How hormones and neuromodulators initiate and maintain paternal care is important for understanding the evolution of paternal care and the plasticity of the social brain. The focus here is on mammalian paternal behavior in rodents, non-human primates and humans. Only 5% of mammalian species express paternal care, and many of those species likely evolved the behavior convergently. This means that there is a high degree of variability in how hormones and neuromodulators shape paternal care across species. Important factors to consider include social experience (alloparental care, mating, pair bonding, raising a previous litter), types of care expressed (offspring protection, providing and sharing food, socio-cognitive development), and timing of hormonal changes (after mating, during gestation, after contact with offspring). The presence or absence of infanticide towards offspring prior to mating may also be a contributor, especially in rodents. Taking these important factors into account, we have found some general trends across species. (1) Testosterone and progesterone tend to be negatively correlated with paternal care but promote offspring defense in some species. The most evidence for a positive association between paternal care and testosterone have appeared in rodents. (2) Prolactin, oxytocin, corticosterone, and cortisol tend to be positively correlated. (3) Estradiol and vasopressin are likely nuclei specific—with some areas having a positive correlation with paternal care and others having a negative association. Some mechanisms appear to be coopted from females and others appear to have evolved independently. Overall, the neuroendocrine system seems especially important for mediating environmental influences on paternal behavior.

scholarly journals The Paternal Transition Entails Neuroanatomic Adaptations that are Associated with the Father’s Brain Response to his Infant Cues

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Paternina-Die ◽  
Magdalena Martínez-García ◽  
Clara Pretus ◽  
Elseline Hoekzema ◽  
Erika Barba-Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Paternal Behavior ◽  
Cortical Volume ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
First Time ◽  
Infant Cues ◽  
Parental Brain

Abstract The transition into fatherhood is a life-changing event that requires substantial psychological adaptations. In families that include a father figure, sensitive paternal behavior has been shown to positively impact the infant’s development. Yet, studies exploring the neuroanatomic adaptations of men in their transition into fatherhood are scarce. The present study used surface-based methods to reanalyze a previously published prospective magnetic resonance imaging dataset comprised of 20 first-time fathers (preconception-to-postpartum) and 17 childless men. We tested if the transition into fatherhood entailed changes in cortical volume, thickness, and area and whether these changes were related to 2 indicators of paternal experience. Specifically, we tested if such changes were associated with (1) the baby’s age and/or (2) the fathers’ brain activity in response to pictures of their babies compared with an unknown baby. Results indicated that first-time fathers exhibited a significant reduction in cortical volume and thickness of the precuneus. Moreover, higher volume reduction and cortical thinning were associated with stronger brain responses to pictures of their own baby in parental brain regions. This is the first study showing preconception-to-postpartum neuroanatomical adaptations in first-time fathers associated with the father’s brain response to cues of his infant.

scholarly journals Length of the Neurogenic Period—A Key Determinant for the Generation of Upper-Layer Neurons During Neocortex Development and Evolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara K. Stepien ◽  
Samir Vaid ◽  
Wieland B. Huttner
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Cortical Neurogenesis ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Development And Evolution

The neocortex, a six-layer neuronal brain structure that arose during the evolution of, and is unique to, mammals, is the seat of higher order brain functions responsible for human cognitive abilities. Despite its recent evolutionary origin, it shows a striking variability in size and folding complexity even among closely related mammalian species. In most mammals, cortical neurogenesis occurs prenatally, and its length correlates with the length of gestation. The evolutionary expansion of the neocortex, notably in human, is associated with an increase in the number of neurons, particularly within its upper layers. Various mechanisms have been proposed and investigated to explain the evolutionary enlargement of the human neocortex, focussing in particular on changes pertaining to neural progenitor types and their division modes, driven in part by the emergence of human-specific genes with novel functions. These led to an amplification of the progenitor pool size, which affects the rate and timing of neuron production. In addition, in early theoretical studies, another mechanism of neocortex expansion was proposed—the lengthening of the neurogenic period. A critical role of neurogenic period length in determining neocortical neuron number was subsequently supported by mathematical modeling studies. Recently, we have provided experimental evidence in rodents directly supporting the mechanism of extending neurogenesis to specifically increase the number of upper-layer cortical neurons. Moreover, our study examined the relationship between cortical neurogenesis and gestation, linking the extension of the neurogenic period to the maternal environment. As the exact nature of factors promoting neurogenic period prolongation, as well as the generalization of this mechanism for evolutionary distinct lineages, remain elusive, the directions for future studies are outlined and discussed.

Maternal Behavior and Family Constellation as Predictors of Social Competence in Learning Disabled Children

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Horen Freund ◽  
Richard Elardo
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Preliminary Data ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Family Constellation ◽  
The Social

The extent to which the social relationship deficits exhibited by some learning disabled children might be associated with parental behavior is largely undetermined. This study is an attempt to analyze a variety of factors related to maternal behavior and family constellations in a learning disabled population. While the study suffers from a small number of subjects, the results provide preliminary data in a research area largely neglected in learning disabilities.

Development of the Parental Brain in Humans

2020 ◽  
pp. 310-352
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Corticotropin Releasing Factor ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Gene By Environment Interactions ◽  
Intergenerational Continuity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Maternal Motivation ◽  
Parental Brain

Chapter 10 deals with the development of the parental brain in humans, emphasizing experiential influences on the intergenerational continuity of maternal behavior: A history of experiencing childhood maltreatment (CMT; maternal neglect and/or abuse) is associated with alterations in the development of the child’s parental brain, which may lead to subsequent deficits in its maternal behavior. The manner in which parents treat their children may affect the development of neural systems (a) that regulate emotionality, with poor parental care resulting in deficits in emotion regulation, and (b) that underpin maternal motivation, love, and empathy, with poor parental care decreasing these processes. Alterations in the development of medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, mesolimbic dopamine, oxytocin, corticotropin-releasing factor, and serotonin neural systems are involved, as are epigenetic effects. Not all mothers who experience CMT become poor mothers, and the involvement of gene by environment interactions are highlighted.

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