48. Growing a Social Brain

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Shir Atzil an Assistant Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We discuss her recent Perspective in Nature Human Behaviour titled ‘Growing A Social Brain’. A must read! We talk about the importance of a caregiver or caregivers in growing a social brain, what happens when infants are more challenging or parents are struggling, and the fact that the parental brain is actually in charge of two brains. You won’t want to miss this one! For more information on Dr Atzil see https://www.atzillab.com/ Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0384-6#auth-Shir-Atzil Citation: Atzil, S., Gao, W., Fradkin, I. et al. Growing a social brain. Nat Hum Behav 2, 624–636 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0384-6 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Catherine Preston, an Associate Professor at the University of York. We talk about body sensations in pregnancy, trusting your perinatal body, bonding to bump, birth experience, and more. We also talk about the need to focus our research on pregnancy and importance of understanding the connection between interoception and the maternal brain in health and illness. For more information on Dr Preston’s research see https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academicstaff/cp1039/ Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026661382400024X Citation for paper: Lucy Stafford, Lydia Munns, Anna E. Crossland, Elizabeth Kirk, Catherine E.J. Preston, Bonding with bump: Interoceptive sensibility moderates the relationship between pregnancy body satisfaction and antenatal attachment, Midwifery, Volume 131, 2024, 103940, ISSN 0266-6138, --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Danielle Stolzenberg, an Associate Professor at UC Davis, about the nonhormonal basis of parenting, modelling perinatal mental illness, and the 51 Foundation which she started. We also talk about the need to understand current treatments for perinatal mental illness (particularly SSRIs) and the importance of funding research in females. Yes! For more information on Dr Stolzenberg see https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/people/dstolzen Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34674243/ Paper citation: Rosinger ZJ, Mayer HS, Geyfen JI, Orser MK, Stolzenberg DS. Ethologically relevant repeated acute social stress induces maternal neglect in the lactating female mouse. Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Nov;63(7):e22173. doi: 10.1002/dev.22173. PMID: 34674243; PMCID: PMC10631567. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Maria Muzik and Dr. Katherine Rosenblum about Mom Power, a parenting intervention they developed, and how it impacts parents and the parental brain. Both are Professors in the Departments Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, as well as Co-Directors of Zero To Thrive & Women and Infant Mental Health Program at the University of Michigan. We talk about the development of Mom Power, it’s core components and the research supporting the importance of this group intervention. We also talk about attachment, the importance of nature, and building ‘strong roots’. It was an honor to speak with these two inspiring clinician-scientists. If you work with parents, this episode is a must. For more information on Mom Power and Zero to Thrive, including research and training opportunities see: https://zerotothrive.org/ Here is a link to the paper on the parental brain that we talk about: https://zerotothrive.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Frontiers-Mom-Power.pdf --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Jonny Kohl, Group Leader, State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK. We talk about his new research on how the hormones of pregnancy affect specific neurons in the MPOA that essential for parenting. It’s a fascinating new finding and provides valuable insight into the neuroendocrine factors governing parental care. We also talk about whether or not we should be using reproductively experienced females more in general neuroscience research because of the long-term impact of pregnancy on the brain, the importance of state in general and practical considerations for doing these types of studies. It’s a good one. You won’t want to miss it. For more information on Dr Kohl and his group: https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/jonny-kohl Here is a link to the paper we talk about: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0576 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Pascal Vrticka, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. We talk about all thing’s attachment and neural synchrony in mother-child and father-child dyads. We also talk about attachment parenting and how our beliefs about parenting can impact how our brain functions. Fascinating! Don’t miss this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited. It will make you rethink about how the parental brain is working and why! For more information on Dr Vrticka’s work: https://pvrticka.com/ For a free pdf of the book we talk about see: https://babygro.org/babygro-book Follow Dr Vrticka on Instagram @pascalvrticka where you at ask him about attachment in his Q&A! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Kristina M. Deligiannidis, MD, Professor, Institute of Behavioral Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Director, Women’s Behavioral Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, Professor, Psychiatry, Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, USA. We talk about her research on the development of neurosteroid treatments for postpartum depression. In particular we talk about her work on the new FDA approved oral medication for postpartum depression – Zuranolone as well as some practical information on Zuranolone, itself. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It’s an important one for understanding the current treatment options and challenges for perinatal mental illness. For more information on Dr Deligiannidis’ work and her contact information see: https://feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-researchers/our-researchers/kristina-m-deligiannidis-md Download one of the publications that we talk about here: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.20220785 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Devaleena Pradhan, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and Physiology at Idaho State University, USA. We talk about fatherhood, the neural mechanisms mediating parenting, the origins of parenting behaviors and more. We also talk about her research on parenting in sex-changing fish and what we can learn from them. Don’t miss this episode. It will make you rethink sex/gender and parenting! For more information on Dr Pradhan’s work and her contact information see: https://www.isu.edu/biology/people/faculty---professors/--devaleena-s-pradhan/ Download one of the publications that we talk about here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24827441/   Music: Luna Wave via Soundstrip --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Tara Chaplin, Associate Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, USA. We talk about parenting, mindfulness, and the parental brain. We also talk about the importance of mindfulness in terms of parenting tweens and teens, how mindfulness helps empower parents to parent with intention (wow!), and her ongoing research in this area. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It will make you want to be more mindful! Download the publication that we talk about here: Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7962669/pdf/nihms-1525033.pdf For more information on Dr Chaplin’s work: https://yel.gmu.edu/ Although the Mindfulness intervention they use is not readily available it is based on MBSR or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction techniques and other evidence based interventions. Book recommendation: Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn. Citation of study we talk about: Turpyn CC, Chaplin TM, Fischer S, Thompson JC, Fedota JR, Baer RA, Martelli AM. Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention. Mindfulness (N Y). 2021 Feb;12(2):392-404. doi: 10.1007/s12671-019-01118-6. Epub 2019 Feb 16. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Robert Froemke, Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Skirball Professor of Genetics, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at New York University. We talk about oxytocin neurons, learning to parent and alloparenting. We also talk about the importance of experience with offspring, making mistakes, and ‘mouse midwifery’. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain. So interesting! Download the publication in Nature that we talk about here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34381215/ For more information on Dr Froemke’s work: https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/robert-c-froemke   Citation: Carcea I, Caraballo NL, Marlin BJ, Ooyama R, Riceberg JS, Mendoza Navarro JM, Opendak M, Diaz VE, Schuster L, Alvarado Torres MI, Lethin H, Ramos D, Minder J, Mendoza SL, Bair-Marshall CJ, Samadjopoulos GH, Hidema S, Falkner A, Lin D, Mar A, Wadghiri YZ, Nishimori K, Kikusui T, Mogi K, Sullivan RM, Froemke RC. Oxytocin neurons enable social transmission of maternal behaviour. Nature. 2021 Aug;596(7873):553-557. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03814-7. Epub 2021 Aug 11. PMID: 34381215; PMCID: PMC8387235.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support