Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years' • Hacker News Board

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#11

Post by Ensorceled » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

6DM wrote: post #5

I never thought a reduction could result in an improvement. The brain is so fascinating! "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 g…

Seems logical: a temporary "this isn't the time to think about the needs of your extended family" signal lasting just up until the point the kid can toddle around would be survival enhancer.

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#12

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

6DM wrote: post #5

I never thought a reduction could result in an improvement. The brain is so fascinating! "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 g…

[deleted]

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#13

Post by caminante » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:36 PM UTC

Ensorceled wrote: post #11

6DM wrote: post #5

I never thought a reduction could result in an improvement. The brain is so fascinating! "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 g…

Seems logical: a temporary "this isn't the time to think about the needs of your extended family" signal lasting just up until the point the kid can toddle around would be survival enhancer.

See, I don't think it seems consistent.

The author says that the reduction would make mom's MORE aware of social threats.

What am I missing?

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#14

Post by joncrocks » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:39 PM UTC

6DM wrote: post #5

I never thought a reduction could result in an improvement. The brain is so fascinating! "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 g…

I'd be slightly careful here about separating out the findings from the speculation.

The study[1] looked at what changed in the women's brains, the regions in which it changed, and then tested to see which areas 'lit up' when viewing a picture of their own child vs. other children. In addition measurements were taken over time to see how permanent the changes were.

The reasons for change and the actual/quantitative impact of the changes would have to come from another study. While what the "researchers thought" is interesting, it's not supported by any evidence, i.e. no measurements were taken to see if any of the suggested improvements were present.

[1] http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.44...

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#15

Post by johnlbevan2 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

caminante wrote: post #13

Ensorceled wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems logical: a temporary "this isn't the time to think about the needs of your extended family" signal lasting just up until the point the kid can toddle around would be survival enhancer.

See, I don't think it seems consistent. The author says that the reduction would make mom's MORE aware of social threats. What am I missing?

By being less able to read into the multiple possible reactions of a person; e.g.

  - "they're looking at my baby because she's cute"
  - "they're looking at my baby because they want to kill him"
  - "they're looking at my baby to feign interest in my life"

...the mothers are able to focus on the important options:

  - "they're probably a threat"
  - "they're probably not a threat"

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#16

Post by johnlbevan2 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:46 PM UTC

throwaway7645 wrote: post #7

My wife and I both took our Professional Engineering Exams (8 hour test that is brutally hard) and she was 6 mo pregnant and still passed while I failed. I really feel dumb now.

She was thinking for 2 though ;)

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#17

Post by mibbiting » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:55 PM UTC

novia wrote: post #3

Brain differences between the sexes are real, but we should interpret them with caution.

Otherwise we'll be called sexist?

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#18

Post by manarth » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

caminante wrote: post #8

kagamine wrote: post #6

"women's brains"? Or was it just one lady? Come on journalism, be clear in your meaning.

Stop trolling. 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.

I think kegamine is pointing to the grammatical oddity of using the singular "woman" in the title, rather than the plural "women":

  Pregnancy alters woman's brain

The article introduction phrases this in a little more concise a way:

  Pregnancy reduces grey matter in specific parts of a woman's brain

I can see how the introduction probably became contracted to form the title, but in the contracted version, the plural "Pregnancy alters women's brain" would seem a little more grammatically precise than "Pregnancy alters woman's brain".

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#19

Post by tptacek » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:00 PM UTC

mibbiting wrote: post #17

novia wrote: post #3

Brain differences between the sexes are real, but we should interpret them with caution.

Otherwise we'll be called sexist?

I think you accidentally left an extra word in your sentence.

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#20

Post by pc86 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:01 PM UTC

mibbiting wrote: post #17

novia wrote: post #3

Brain differences between the sexes are real, but we should interpret them with caution.

Otherwise we'll be called sexist?

Otherwise we'll project unrelated biases under the guise of science. Otherwise we risk unconsciously ignoring or lessening the relevance of facts that contradict those biases.

There's nothing sexist about studying the differences between male and female and learning about the biological/physiological strength and weaknesses of each. But there's little scientific justification in extrapolating that to unrelated conclusions.

Edit: Not to mention the fact that we know very little about the brain compared to literally any other internal organ, so attempting to draw conclusions about behavior or sociology based on changes in the brain in some women during pregnancy is probably a fool's errand.