The maternal brain is more flexible and responsive at rest : Effective connectivity of the parental caregiving network in postpartum mothers

Journal article


Orchard, Edwina R., Voigt, Katharina, Chopra, Sidhant, Thapa, Tribikram, Ward, Phillip G. D., Egan, Gary F. and Jamadar, Sharna D.. (2023). The maternal brain is more flexible and responsive at rest : Effective connectivity of the parental caregiving network in postpartum mothers. Scientific Reports. 13(1), p. Article 4719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31696-4
AuthorsOrchard, Edwina R., Voigt, Katharina, Chopra, Sidhant, Thapa, Tribikram, Ward, Phillip G. D., Egan, Gary F. and Jamadar, Sharna D.
Abstract

The field of neuroscience has largely overlooked the impact of motherhood on brain function outside the context of responses to infant stimuli. Here, we apply spectral dynamic causal modelling (spDCM) to resting-state fMRI data to investigate differences in brain function between a group of 40 first-time mothers at 1-year postpartum and 39 age- and education-matched women who have never been pregnant. Using spDCM, we investigate the directionality (top–down vs. bottom–up) and valence (inhibition vs excitation) of functional connections between six key left hemisphere brain regions implicated in motherhood: the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens. We show a selective modulation of inhibitory pathways related to differences between (1) mothers and non-mothers, (2) the interactions between group and cognitive performance and (3) group and social cognition, and (4) differences related to maternal caregiving behaviour. Across analyses, we show consistent disinhibition between cognitive and affective regions suggesting more efficient, flexible, and responsive behaviour, subserving cognitive performance, social cognition, and maternal caregiving. Together our results support the interpretation of these key regions as constituting a parental caregiving network. The nucleus accumbens and the parahippocampal gyrus emerging as ‘hub’ regions of this network, highlighting the global importance of the affective limbic network for maternal caregiving, social cognition, and cognitive performance in the postpartum period.

Year2023
JournalScientific Reports
Journal citation13 (1), p. Article 4719
PublisherNature Publishing Group
ISSN2045-2322
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31696-4
PubMed ID36959247
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85150874953
PubMed Central IDPMC10036465
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range1-13
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online23 Mar 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted15 Mar 2023
Deposited05 May 2025
Additional information

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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