Nurture over nature: Loving mothers boost their baby's intelligence by stimulating the growth of brain cells, study claims
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Good mothering really does boost a baby's brainpower, according to new research.
Scientists found that a mother's presence can have a positive influence on the neuron generation of her children.
And they hope to develop diagnostic tools and therapies for people whose brains may have been impaired or simply underdeveloped during infancy.
Researchers from New York University studied mothering habits, and they found babies had better neuron generation when in their mother's presence (stock image shown), which can apparently regulate and control electrical signalling in a positive way that boosts brain development
COOING AT BABIES IS VITAL TO SPEECH DEVELOPMENT
In other infant news, scientists think that cooing at a newborn baby is a vital part of teaching them to speak.
Exaggerated vowels that experts call 'motherese' - the 'goos' and 'gaas' that can be infuriating to non-parents - are a key part of the learning process, a study by the University of Washington suggests.
Exposing infants to clear vocal sounds from birth helps them distinguish language from other noises, the researchers suggest.
They found that babies aged seven months can differentiate voices from other sounds - even when they cannot see the person speaking.
By the age of 11 months, before they can speak themselves, the children have already learned to differentiate their mother tongue from other languages, the scientists discovered.
The study serves as evidence that speaking to infants at a very early age is vital for their development.
And the authors say the long, clear vowels that parents babble at their newborns is a key part of the process.
The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, are the first to show how such natural, early attachment behaviours including nesting, nursing and grooming impact key stages in postnatal brain development.
'Our research shows how in mammals the mother's sensory stimulation helps sculpt and mould the infant's growing brain and helps define the role played by "nurturing" in healthy brain development, and offers overall greater insight into what constitutes good mothering,' said Professor Regina Sullivan of New York University.
'The study also helps explain how differences in the way mothers nurture their young could account, in part, for the wide variation in infant behaviour among animals, including people, with similar backgrounds, or in uniform, tightly knit cultures.'
In the study the researchers observed new-born rats and found as they were protected, warmed and fed their neurons grew and communicated better with each other.
An analysis of almost 100 hours of video and electrical readings from the pups brains found maternal-infant bonding directly moulds early neural activity.
The study found the mother's presence in the nest regulated and controlled electrical signalling in the infant pup's brain.
The 'slow wave', neural signalling patterns seen during the initial phases of mammalian brain development in rats aged between 12 and 20 days, closely resembled those seen in humans for meditation and sleep-wake cycles and during highly focused attention.
This suggested that, when the rats were with their mother, their brains were undergoing periods of increased neuron generation.
When their mother was not present, however, their brain activity was more erratic.
Professor Sullivan's previous research in animals showed how maternal interactions influenced gene activity in the infant brain.
And this latest study offers an even more profound perspective on maternal caregiving.
'There are so many factors that go into rearing children,' added co-author Dr Emma Sarro.
'Our findings will help scientists and clinicians better understand the whole brain implications of quality interactions and bonding between mothers and infants so closely after birth, and how these biological attachment behaviours frame the brain's hard wiring.'
The study came to the conclusion by observing rats aged 12 to 20 days and studying over 100 hours of video. In the presence of their mother they had periods of increased neuron generation (shown), but brain activity became more erratic when they were separated
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