2017年5月17日星期三

"In new moms, there arechanges in many of the brain areas," Kim continued. "Growth in brainregions involved in emotion regulation, empathy-related regions, but also whatwe call maternal motivation—and I think this region could be largely related toobsessive-compulsive behaviors. In animals and humans during the postpartumperiod, there's an enormous desire to take care of their own child."

“新媽媽大腦的很多區(qū)域都發(fā)生了變化，”Kim說，“大腦里涉及情緒管理聊闯、與理心相關(guān)的等區(qū)域增加，特別是很大程度上與這些強迫性行為相關(guān)的區(qū)域浩淘。動物和人類一樣，在產(chǎn)后期碧囊，媽媽們都會有很大的保護自己孩子的欲望特漩。”

There are several interconnectedbrain regions that help drive mothering behaviors and mood.

大腦中有一些區(qū)域相互聯(lián)系嘹黔，驅(qū)動母性行為和情緒的發(fā)生账嚎。

Of particular interest toresearchers is the almond-shaped set of neurons known as the amygdala, whichhelps process memory and drives emotional reactions like fear, anxiety, andaggression. In a normal brain, activity in the amygdala grows in the weeks andmonths after giving birth. This growth, researchers believe, is correlated withhow a new mother behaves—an enhanced amygdala makes her hypersensitive to her baby'sneeds—while a cocktail of hormones, which find more receptors in a largeramygdala, help create a positive feedback loop to motivate mothering behaviors.Just by staring at her baby, the reward centers of a mother's brain will lightup, scientists have found in several studies. This maternal brain circuitryinfluences the syrupy way a mother speaks to her baby, how attentive she is,even the affection she feels for her baby. It's not surprising, then, thatdamage to the amygdala is associated with higher levels of depression inmothers.

大腦中有一個由神經(jīng)元組成的杏仁形的區(qū)域，被稱為杏仁核儡蔓，該區(qū)域幫助記性形成郭蕉，驅(qū)動類似恐懼、焦慮和過激情緒反應(yīng)喂江。研究者對這一區(qū)域持有特別的興趣召锈。正常情況下，分娩數(shù)周或數(shù)月后获询，杏仁核的活動才會增加涨岁。研究者認為這一增加與新媽媽的行為方式是相互聯(lián)系，杏仁核活動增加使得媽媽們對寶寶的需要特別敏感吉嚣。面積更大的杏仁核中有更多的激素受體梢薪，這些激素創(chuàng)造了一個母性行為驅(qū)動的正向閉環(huán)⊥咂荩科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)沮尿，僅僅是盯著寶寶看丛塌，就可以激活媽媽大腦中的獎賞中樞较解。母親的大腦回路決定了她與寶寶的說話方式是很甜蜜的，她對寶寶是很關(guān)注的赴邻，她甚至能與寶寶感同身受印衔。既然這樣，那杏仁核的破壞與媽媽們高度的抑郁情緒是相關(guān)的這一結(jié)論就不奇怪了姥敛。

Amygdala damage in babies couldaffect the mother-child bond as well. In a 2004 Journal of Neuroscience study,infant monkeys who had amygdala lesions were less likely to vocalize theirdistress, or pick their own mothers over other adults. A newborn's ability todistinguish between his mother and anybody else is linked to the amygdala.

寶寶的杏仁核受到破壞也會影響媽媽和寶寶之間的聯(lián)系奸焙。2004年神經(jīng)學(xué)雜志曾刊登一項研究，杏仁核技能受損的幼兒猴子更少用聲音表達他們的悲痛彤敛，從一群成年猴媽媽中認出自己新生母親的概率也更低与帆。新生兒區(qū)分自己新生媽媽和其他成熟個體的能力與杏仁核有關(guān)。

Activity in the amygdala is alsoassociated with a mother's strong feelings about her own baby versus babies ingeneral. In a 2011 study of amygdala response in new mothers, women reportedfeeling more positive about photos depicting their own smiling babies comparedwith photos of unfamiliar smiling babies, and their brain activity reflectedthat discrepancy. Scientists recorded bolder brain response—in the amygdala,thalamus, and elsewhere—among mothers as they looked at photos of their ownbabies.

一個媽媽相比其他孩子對自己的孩子有更強烈的情感墨榄，這一現(xiàn)象也與杏仁核的活動有關(guān)玄糟。2011年一項新媽媽杏仁核反應(yīng)的研究中，相比陌生寶寶們的照片袄秩，新媽媽們對自己孩子微笑的照片的感覺更加積極正面阵翎，他們大腦的活動正好反應(yīng)了這種差別逢并。在媽媽們觀察自己孩子照片的時候，科學(xué)家們記錄下來了她們大腦中顯著的變化郭卫，包括杏仁核砍聊、丘腦以及其他區(qū)域。

2017年5月18日星期四

Greater amygdala response whenviewing their own children was tied to lower maternal anxiety and fewersymptoms of depression, researchers found. In other words, a new mother's brainchanges help motivate her to care for her baby but they may also help bufferher own emotional state. From the study:

研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)贰军，有著低水平母性焦慮和幾乎沒有抑郁癥狀的新媽媽看著自己的孩子時玻蝌，杏仁核活動更加強烈。也就是說词疼，新媽媽大腦中的變化不僅驅(qū)使他們關(guān)心自己的孩子灶伊，還很有可能幫助緩解自己的情緒。下面一段內(nèi)容摘自此研究報道寒跳。

Thus, the greater amygdala responseto one’s own infant face observed in our study likely reflects more positiveand pro-social aspects of maternal responsiveness, feelings, and experience.Mothers experiencing higher levels of anxiety and lower mood demonstrated lessamygdala response to their own infant and reported more stressful and morenegatively valenced parenting attitudes and experiences.

因此聘萨，根據(jù)我們研究中觀察發(fā)現(xiàn)的母親看到自己孩子時杏仁核區(qū)域活動激烈，這反映了母性應(yīng)對方式童太，情感和經(jīng)歷更加積極和新社會性的方面米辐。高度焦慮以及情緒低落的媽媽們看到自己孩子時，杏仁核區(qū)域活動相對較少书释，她們比其他媽媽有著更大的壓力翘贮，而且持有消極的育兒態(tài)度和經(jīng)歷。

Much of what happens in a newmother's amygdala has to do with the hormones flowing to it. The region has ahigh concentration of receptors for hormones like oxytocin, which surge duringpregnancy.

新媽媽大腦中杏仁核區(qū)域的變化與進入該區(qū)域的激素有關(guān)爆惧，該區(qū)域有豐富的激素（例如分娩時產(chǎn)生的催產(chǎn)素）受體狸页。

"We see changes at both thehormonal and brain levels," brain researcher Ruth Feldman told me in anemail. "Maternal oxytocin levels—the system responsible formaternal-infant bonding across all mammalian species—dramatically increaseduring pregnancy and the postpartum [period] and the more mother is involved inchildcare, the greater the increase in oxytocin."

“在激素和大腦水平上都產(chǎn)生了變化，”大腦研究者Ruth

Feldman在郵件中寫道扯再，“所有哺乳動物種類都會產(chǎn)生一種扮演母親和孩子之間扭帶的激素——催產(chǎn)素芍耘，在妊娠期和產(chǎn)后期，催產(chǎn)素水平快速升高熄阻，而且母親越關(guān)注自己的孩子斋竞，催產(chǎn)素水平就越高⊥貉常”

Becoming a parent looks—at least inthe brain—a lot like falling in love.

成為父母就像墜入愛河坝初，至少在大腦里的變化是一樣的。

Oxytocin also increases as womenlook at their babies, or hear their babies' coos and cries, or snuggle withtheir babies. An increase in oxytocin during breastfeeding may help explain whyresearchers have found that breastfeeding mothers are more sensitive to thesound of their babies' cries than non-breastfeeding mothers."Breastfeeding mothers show a greater level of [brain] responses to baby'scry compared with formula-feeding mothers in the first month postpartum,"Kim said. "It's just really interesting. We don't know if it's the act ofbreastfeeding or the oxytocin or any other factor."

當媽媽們看著自己的寶寶時钾军，或者聽著他們的叫聲和哭聲時鳄袍，或者懷抱著他們時，催產(chǎn)素水平都會提升吏恭。相較于非哺乳期媽媽們拗小，哺乳期的媽媽們對孩子的哭聲反映更加敏感。哺乳時催產(chǎn)素水平升高這一事實或許可以幫研究者解釋這一現(xiàn)象砸泛∈“在產(chǎn)后第一個月蛆封，母乳媽媽相比于喂孩子奶粉的媽媽在聽到孩子的哭喊聲時，大腦活動更加激烈勾栗，”Kim說惨篱，“這真的是很有趣的現(xiàn)象。我們不知道围俘，到底這是因為哺乳的行為砸讳，還是因為催產(chǎn)素水平變化，還是有其他的因素界牡〔炯牛”

What scientists do know, Feldmansays, is that becoming a parent looks—at least in the brain—a lot like fallingin love. Which helps explain how many new parents describe feeling when theymeet their newborns. At the brain level, the networks that become especiallysensitized are those that involve vigilance and social salience—the amygdala—aswell as dopamine networks that incentivize prioritizing the infant. "Inour research, we find that periods of social bonding involve change in the same'affiliative' circuits," Feldman said. "We showed that during thefirst months of 'falling in love' some similar changes occur between romanticpartners." Incidentally, that same circuitry is what makes babies smell sogood to their mothers, researchers found in a 2013 study.

Feldman說，科學(xué)家們現(xiàn)在所知道的是宿亡，成為父母就像陷入愛河常遂，至少大腦中的變化是一樣的，這也是父母見到新生兒第一眼的感覺挽荠。就大腦而言克胳，那些變得特別敏感的區(qū)域就是涉及警覺性和社會經(jīng)驗的區(qū)域，杏仁核以及多巴胺（該激素刺激父母萬事以孩子為重）圈匆∧恚“我們的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，建立社會聯(lián)系時期跃赚，在這些相同的“親密的腦回路”中也發(fā)生了變化笆搓，”Feldman說，“在戀愛前幾個月纬傲，陷入愛河的情侶的大腦中會發(fā)生相似的變化满败。2013年一項研究偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)，相同的腦回路就是寶寶們對父母微笑的原因嘹锁『迹”

The greatest brain changes occurwith a mother's first child, though it's not clear whether a mother's brainever goes back to what it was like before childbirth, several neurologists toldme. And yet brain changes aren't limited to new moms.

一些神經(jīng)學(xué)家告訴我，盡管現(xiàn)在還不清楚媽媽的大腦是否曾回到過有孩子之前的狀態(tài)领猾，但是大腦變化最大的時候就是女性有第一個孩子的時候，而且并不只是新媽媽大腦會發(fā)生變化骇扇。

Men show similar brain changes whenthey're deeply involved in caregiving. Oxytocin does not seem to drivenurturing behavior in men the way it does in women, Feldman and otherresearchers found in a study last year. Instead, a man's parental brain issupported by a socio-cognitive network that develops in the brain of both sexeslater in life, whereas women appear to have evolved to have a "brain-hormone-behaviorconstellation" that's automatically primed for mothering. Another way tolook at it: the blueprint for mothering behavior exists in the brain evenbefore a woman has children.

當爸爸們非常關(guān)注自己的寶寶時摔竿，他們的大腦也會發(fā)生相似的變化。Feldman和其他幾位研究者在去年的一個研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)少孝，與女性不同继低，催產(chǎn)素并不能驅(qū)動男性的養(yǎng)育行為。相反稍走，男性的父性大腦由一張社會認真網(wǎng)絡(luò)支撐袁翁，該網(wǎng)絡(luò)該之后的生命中男生和女生都會慢慢發(fā)展出來柴底，但是女性的會發(fā)育成為一個“大腦-激素-行為類星座”，是母性行為的基礎(chǔ)粱胜。換個角度看柄驻，母性行為的控制機制在女性有孩子之前就已經(jīng)存在其大腦中了。

Perhaps, then, motherhood really islike secret space in a woman's brain, waiting to be discovered. "Althoughonly mothers experience pregnancy, birth, and lactation, and these providepowerful primers for the expression of maternal care via amygdalasensitization," researchers wrote, "evolution created other pathwaysfor adaptation to the parental role in human fathers, and these alternativepathways come with practice, attunement, and day-by-day caregiving."

也可能焙压，母性就像女性大腦中的神秘空間鸿脓，等待著被發(fā)覺。研究者寫道涯曲，“雖然只有媽媽會經(jīng)歷妊娠野哭、分娩和哺乳，并且在此期間幻件，母親通過杏仁核感應(yīng)器表達出強大的母性關(guān)注行為拨黔，但是爸爸們確實通過其他方式完成對父母角色的適應(yīng)，這些方式伴隨著不斷的聯(lián)系绰沥，調(diào)整和一天天對孩子的看護蓉驹。”

In other words, the act of simplycaring for one's baby forges new neural pathways—undiscovered rooms in theparental brain.

換個說法就是揪利，對孩子簡單看護和關(guān)心行為會促進形成一種新的神經(jīng)通路——父母大腦中未被發(fā)覺的空間态兴。

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