The study was published in Cerebral Cortex.
Both men and women experience new parenthood differently.
Studying the brain changes caused by motherhood is an area of previous research with a dozen or so studies. Fatherhood, on the other hand, has received comparatively little attention.
A new international study has found neurological changes in first-time fathers too.
The present study is limited, but it appears to show that parenthood does not exclusively function on neural substrates peculiar to mothers. In contrast to what was observed, however, new fathers appear to be less influenced by their parenting roles in a uniform and pronounced manner.
The researchers found that on average, new fathers lost about a percentage point or two of cortical volume after the birth of their first child.
In adults, the shrinkage primarily occurred in a region of the brain known as the ‘default mode network’, which is associated with parental acceptance and warmth.
A smaller cortex might initially seem like a bad thing, but it actually indicates a more efficient and powerful connection with a child.
Mothers with a similar degree of cortical loss are more quick to recognise their child’s facial expressions and stronger in their attachment to him or her.
Some research has indicated that subtle neurological changes occur in the male brain after the birth of a child, but the conflicting and mixed evidence that has been collected proves little.
Some studies indicate an increase in gray matter after childbirth, while others indicate a loss. There are also indications that different parts of the brain are affected, and that childless men, first-time fathers, and fathers of many children differ in their methods.
The new research is more rigorous than most and based on magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) data from 40 heterosexual first-time fathers half of whom were based in Spain and half of whom were based in the United States.
Researchers found that men who were about to father a child took part in brain imaging sessions before their children were born and then a few months afterward.
The late stages of pregnant women’s and partners’ US expectant fathers’ participation in the pregnancy, on the other hand, occurred between seven and eight months post partum.
A total of seventeen men without children were also involved in the new research.
The two laboratories combined all their data to assess the volume, thickness, and structural characteristics of the male brain in all three groups.
It was found that new fathers did not modify their limbic subcortical network in comparison to similar studies on new mothers. This makes sense as this area of the brain is associated with pregnancy hormones.
Even though fathers may not be carrying their offspring as they grow and develop, their brains are still affected by parenthood. Studies have found that men may experience postpartum depression, for example, despite the fact that it is rarely recognised as an issue.
It’s possible that changes in the brain of a new father are less pronounced than they are in a new mother, but thanks to technological advances, brain scans can now show even slight neurological adjustments.
There were no modifications in the subcortex of first-time fathers in both Spain and California during the current study.
However, the researchers also noticed significant reductions in the brain’s visual volume.
More research on this visual brain region and its role in parenthood is needed, but the findings do align with a recent study in 2020 that found fathers are better at visual memory tasks than those men without children.
According to the authors of the new study, these findings suggest a novel role of the visual system in helping fathers to recognise their infants and respond accordingly. Future studies should confirm this hypothesis.
“It is unknown how fatherhood affects structural changes, making it an exciting avenue for future research.”
The research was posted in the Cerebral Cortex journal.
