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Pregnancy Alters Woman's Brains 'For At Least Two Years' (bbc.com)

EzInKy writes: The BBC and others are reporting the results of a study that women's brains do in fact change during pregnancy. BBC reports: "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. 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 recognize the needs of their child, be more aware of potential social threats and become more attached to their baby." Thanks Mom! As for first-time fathers, the researchers found no changes in their grey matter.

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  1. Re:Oh well... by SlashDread · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Nice flamebait. First of all, there are no Feminazi's. That derogatory term is mostly used by male chauvinists who want to enforce old fashioned gender -roles-. There are feminists, and they hold various ideas about equality. Second, the research is not about gender, its about changing brain functions of mothers.

    Let me rephrase that for your tiny tiny male chauvinist brain: no feminist ever said that men and woman were created biologically identical. Most feminist do agree that most gender ROLES are a social construct. Most feminists see the fact that some people feel like they have been born in the wrong sexe, and therefore identify themselves as a different gender.