Is It True? Does Motherhood Really Make You Smarter? (2/2 ...)

Second Part ...

Michael Meaney of McGill University in Montreal has shown that the more attention the rat mom gives her offspring in the first three weeks of their lives, the less stressed mothers are at the end of their lives and the smarter they are in their water mazes.

"Sadly, research also suggests the flip side," says Dr. Lambert, "Neglect early in a child's life can result in high anxiety throughout adulthood among other problems. Our findings suggest that moms may have a post-puberty window of neuronal growth during their maternal experiences. If so, it is important for women to realize this window of opportunity and re-structure our cognitive approach toward motherhood."

Implications of this Research

"The changes that occur during pregnancy show the plasticity of the female brain," says Dr. Kinsley. "In rodents, hormonal events of single and multiple pregnancies and lactations appear to rework the female brain in ways that facilitate learning, memory, problem solving, stress reduction, and life-long cognitive activities."
Rat studies are relevant to humans because the parts of a rat's brain that activate during maternal behavior are almost identical to those of a human female.
 

"Of the systems that are affected as a result of pregnancy, and that regulate the many behavioral changes characteristic of the female, the brain experiences the most striking modifications," says Dr. Kinsley.

What Does This Mean for Mothers?

The plasticity of the brain through the influence of hormones, mental stimulation, and repetitive behavior as with mothers in pregnancy and child rearing contributes to the changing and growing of the brain over a lifetime. New neurons and connections are made all the time.
 
"There are certainly more times in life when there are windows of brain development, when the brain is more plastic than at other times. Motherhood is one of those times," says David Lyons, a Stanford University primatologist.
 
In her book, Ellison helps outline the benefits of Lambert and Kinsley's research, among others, and how this knowledge benefits mothers.

Five Attributes of a Baby-Boosted Brain

Perception: Nasal, audio, radar, touch. The plasticity of a mother's brain is strengthened. Senses used with a newborn re-map part of the mother's brain, improving ability to interpret information.

Efficiency: J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, says she would write voraciously when her child went down for a nap. Many mothers experience the feeling of not having enough time in the day to get things done, but the release of dopamine in the brain during stressful situations may play a role in developing/enhancing the characteristic of efficiency.

Resiliency: Oxytocin, a hormone found in high levels in mothers, keeps stress away so that moms can cope with more. Research has shown that it may directly help memory and learning.

Motivation: Just like the rats, mothers who feel a responsibility to protect and feed their young performed better at foraging for food and taking risks. These traits improve their ability to focus and attain goals, and induce competitiveness and ambitiousness, greater risk taking, the ability to adapt to change quickly, and bold displays of courage compared to those that are not mothers. This "no fear" attitude may be attributed to the release of oxytocin and prolactin—another hormone the helps moms handle anxiety and fear.

Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence (EI) traits, including self awareness, mood management, empathy, self motivation, and managing relationships, can contribute to stronger friendships, marriages, and physical health, as well as provide a competitive edge in workplace—particularly with jobs that involve a lot of contact.

Why We Should Care

"You can define smart in many ways, but for me one aspect is responding at a sign of trouble, especially if it involves your own offspring," says Katherine Ellison.
 
Prominent Australian neuroscientist Allan Snyder compares pregnant women with Albert Einstein. "Women's memory is not reduced during pregnancy," he maintains, "Rather their attention is on things that are more immediately crucial. Einstein was known to forget where he put checks of large amounts, not because of bad memory, but rather because of deep concentration on things of greater importance."

Additionally, Emotional Intelligence is placing a more significant role in the workplace. Ellison cites these findings:

• The most successful US Air Force recruiters turned out to score highest on EI test.
• Veteran partners in a multinational consulting firm who scored high on an EI survey delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than did other partners.
• In jobs such as sales and mechanics, top emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) performers were found to be 85 percent more productive than workers of average emotional intelligence. With more complex jobs such as insurance sales or account managers, the difference rose to 127 percent.

"Working mothers who care for their own children for large parts of each day may accordingly bring special talents to the millions of jobs available in fields such as nursing, physical therapy, and fitness," says Ellison.
Ellison hopes that mothers will inform themselves about cutting edge research to be more conscious of the changes they're going through, in particular the positive ones, and - keeping their attention on the positive-make the parenting experience more rewarding. "I do believe that when you're focused on what you can learn from a given experience, you learn more."

Source: http://www.babyzone.com/mom_dad/motherhood/article/motherhood-makes-you-smarter-pg4