Inside the Brain of a Mother

A mother’s love is a unique and powerful force of nature. With built in benevolence, understanding and sharing, a mother’s love is extremely special. Any child who has been graced by a loving mother would attest to this as being one of the most influential factors in creating a happy life. But what is this thing that we call “mother’s love” and how specific is it exactly?nnA recent brain imaging study that looked at the brains of mothers as they watched their own infants and other peoples’ children showed that mothers have specific responses to their own infants. In particular, mothers activated the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), periaqueductal gray, anterior insula and putamen when they looked at their own children as opposed to other children. Their brain responses were highly specific, indicating that the uniqueness of a mother’s love is in fact reflected in the brain as well. In fact, this same study showed that mothers also have a unique brain response to the distress of their own infants as opposed to other children. They appear to have an in-built protective brain mechanism that is geared to respond to the distress of their own infants. Because of our knowledge of mirror neuron system, we may infer that a similar uniqueness is being activated in the brain of the child, thereby making the mother-child connection a unique contained system all on its own.nnAn earlier study of maternal love showed that maternal and romantic love activated some overlapping areas, but that there were some brain regions unique to each. The overlapping regions were rich in oxytocin and dopamine receptors, and oxytocin has been implicated as the “trust hormone”. Thus, both forms of love activated “trust” mechanisms in the human brain. Mothers feel trusting when they see their own children. That is why they are often so shocked by behaviors that they might not have anticipated. It is not that they are being short-sighted-they are just being mothers. nnAnother reason that mothers feel so trusting and unambivalent is that their brains shut off the systems that are usually activated by social judgment. That is, maternal love deactivates brain regions involved in social assessment and negative emotions. Whereas normally, they might register appropriate negative emotions, the brains of mothers appear to turn off these brain centers when they are looking at their own children. This may explain why mothers often have a biased view of their own children. This also explains why so many mothers dote on their children regardless of their actual behavior. To ask a mother to be objective is to ask her not to be a mother. This mechanism appears to be important to survival. It is one reason that people look to fall in love – to activate similar brain regions that have previously been important to their survival.nnIn fact, many of the brain regions (insula, periaqueductal gray, basal ganglia) activated by maternal love in mothers are also activated in unconditional love. This kind of love is often sought out by people, again because it appears to confer a protective function. While romantic love is not identical, it does cover some of the important brain regions.nnFurthermore, the regions activated by unconditional love as well as the regions activated by maternal love are all key components of the brain’s reward system. Hence, there is also a considerable reward for mothers when they have the opportunity to love their children. This keeps mothers motivated to love their children.nnSo, while it may be difficult to understand why some mothers love their children, it is important to understand that what is going on in their brains is very different from what is going on in yours. These mothers and you will never see eye to eye: their eyes are all for their children.nnHappy Mother’s Day!!nnnThis blog is dedicated to my mother Raz, who is the most amazing human being that ever graced this earth…and to all the other amazing mothers who will always be the most amazing human beings to their own children.