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

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

#21

Post by pc86 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:03 PM UTC

manarth wrote: post #18

caminante wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 "P…

Not trying to split hairs but is the study statistically significant that they can safely generalize to all women? Regardless I think the phrase "some womens'" would have been better in the title.

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

#22

Post by novia » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:14 PM UTC

Ensorceled wrote: post #10

novia wrote: post #3

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

There is very little interpretation in this article and none about the differences, just a note that men's brains are not structurally changed. Is this a pre-emptive warning to fellow commentators?

A warning to fellow commentators and readers. Humanity already has a pretty sizable history of biased interpretation of brain measurements. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11129/box/A1833/

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

#23

Post by user982 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:14 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #19

mibbiting wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Otherwise we'll be called sexist?

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

"Otherwise," apparently.

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

#24

Post by feintruled » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:23 PM UTC

supergreg wrote: post #9

caminante wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It would have been interesting to also compare women pregnant with their second child. Is this phenomenon only seen in first time mothers?

Might explain why the first child gets wrapped in cotton wool, and the second is allowed to juggle knives!

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

#25

Post by 6DM » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:28 PM UTC

johnlbevan2 wrote: post #15

caminante wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

I think this was ultimately the leap I was missing. The narrowing down of choices does tend to make things clearer and decisions easier.

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

#26

Post by ingamx77 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:37 PM UTC

I had the baby while at university, and it's true. While I was always brilliant in math and physics, I couldn't do simple things anymore. That was very frustrating. Thanks god the physics professor was very forgiving as he noticed the change

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

#27

Post by statictype » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

user982 wrote: post #23

tptacek wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"Otherwise," apparently.

"Called" - implies that it's not actually sexist when in fact it is.

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

#28

Post by bogrollben » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

Whereas the child itself alters the brain for the rest of your life.

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

#29

Post by alphydan » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

6DM wrote: post #25

johnlbevan2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

I think this was ultimately the leap I was missing. The narrowing down of choices does tend to make things clearer and decisions easier.

Following that argument then simple-minded businessmen or people with a Manichean world-view should be great at taking care of babies, since they make quick judgement calls?

It sounds a little too simplistic, doesn't it?

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

#30

Post by known » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 2:56 PM UTC

Salute the women;