63. Fatherhood, Motivation, and the Paternal Brain

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, host Dr. Jodi Pawluski speaks with Dr. James Rilling from the Department of Psychology at Emory University about his recent paper published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology special issue on the parental brain. The conversation explores how fatherhood changes the brain, with a focus on motivation, reward, and neural mechanisms involved in paternal caregiving.Drawing on both human and animal research, Dr. Rillingdiscusses how becoming a parent may reshape motivational systems in the brain.Inspired by studies in maternal behavior in rats, his research investigates whether human fathers experience similar shifts in reward processing and caregiving motivation across the transition to parenthood.The ResearchThe featured study examined how brain function and caregiving motivation change in first-time fathers from pregnancy through the postpartum period. The research is published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology.Publication information: The transition to human fatherhood involves increased brain activation to infant stimuli in regions involved with reward and motivationJames K. Rilling, Minwoo Lee, Carolyn Zhou, Esther Jung, Ella Arrant, Sijia Wu, Jessica A. Cooper, Agena Davenport-Nicholson, Michael T. TreadwayFirst published: 22 December 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/jne.70127 Special thanks to Agnes, the Communications Officer, BritishSociety for Neuroendocrinology for editing! Visit www.jodipawluski.com for more on all things parenting and perinatal mental health.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I answer thoughtful and candid questions submitted by midwifery students, our next generation of birth workers. I dive into what questions they have around brain changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period, what this means for perinatal mental health, what mechanisms may be involved, and more. This episode offers insight for both students and anyone curious about brain changes in pregnancy and the postpartum period. ---If you would like to learn more about the parental brain and perinatal mental health, check out my workshop and training offers at www.jodipawluski.com

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, Dr Tim Oberlander and I briefly discuss SSRI use in pregnancy and the importance of focusing on maternal mental health in this area of research. Our conversation centers on our perspective, Potential risks and benefits of prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications for maternal mental health and child development published in Nature Mental Health. We emphasize the complexity of separating medication effects from underlying maternal depression and the importance of comprehensive approaches, including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. For more on current treatment guidelines for perinatal mental health see: https://www.canmat.org/2025/02/12/available-now-canmat-2024-guidelines-for-perinatal-mood-anxiety-and-related-disorders-and-accompanying-patient-and-family-guide/ Dr. Tim Oberlander  has over 3 decades of research on maternal mental health, SSRIs and child development. He is a Developmental Pediatrician, Clinician-Scientist and Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Population Public Health, University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital. Our publication: Pawluski, J., Oberlander, T.F. Potential risksand benefits of prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications for maternal mental health and child development. Nat. Mental Health 3,1304–1310 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00480-wFor more on your host see www.jodipawluski.com or follow Jodi on Instagram or LinkedIn.

In this episode, I sit down with Danielle S. Stolzenberg, Ph.D. , Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, whose work explores the neuroscience of care. Dr. Stolzenberg shares insights from her emerging research on psychedelic compounds in the postpartum period, examining how substances like psilocybin may influence maternal stress, bonding, and brain plasticity.Whether you’re interested in neuroscience, maternal health, or the rapidly evolving field of psychedelic science, this conversation provides a grounded and thought-provoking look at what we know—and what we still need to learn—about psychedelics postpartum.Dr Stolzenberg's Lab : https://stolzenberg.wixsite.com/laboratoryPaper we discuss: Hatzipantelis, C.J., Liu, M., Love, A. et al. Psilocybin during the postpartum period induces long-lasting adverse effects in both mothers and offspring. Nat Commun 16, 8630 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64371-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64371-5Music: Luna Wave via SoundstripeEditing with the help of Descript!

Welcome to another episode of Mommy Brain Revisited! In this episode, I’m joined by Prof. Joseph Lonstein (Michigan State University) to talk about our recent research on how probiotic treatment shapes the maternal gut–microbiota–brain axis.This work—published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology as part of the Parental Brain Special Issue—explores how reproductive experience influences the effects of Lactocaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001 on gut microbiota and hippocampal plasticity in female rats:📖 Citation: Pawluski JL, Kacimi K, Zhang C, Guillot L, Guidice AL, Charlier TD, Lonstein JS. Reproductive experience influences the effects of Lactocaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001 on gut microbiota and hippocampal plasticity in female rats. J Neuroendocrinol. 2025 Jul 22:e70068. doi: 10.1111/jne.70068The Journal of Neuroendocrinology (owned by the British Society for Neuroendocrinology) is the go-to international journal for neuroendocrine research, with an Impact Factor of 4.1 and a CiteScore of 7.9. Learn more here: Journal website.Stay tuned for more episodes in collaboration with the Parental Brain Special Issue at Mommy Brain Revisited!🎵 Music: Luna Wave – “All In My Head” via SoundStripe.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I’m joined by Dr. Mariana Pereira, an Associate Professor at UMass. We dive into the maternal affective state and mother-offspring interactions in an animal model of depressive-like behavior. We also talk about dopamine, maternal mental health and treatment strategies. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on brain changes with maternal mood!For more about Dr Pereira's research, see here. Here is a direct link to the study we talk about. Tuncali, I., Sorial, N., Torr, K. et al. Positive maternal affect during mother–litter interaction is reduced in new mother rats exhibiting a depression-like phenotype. Sci Rep 13, 6552 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33035-z

Pregnancy isn’t just about a baby bump—it’s also a massive hormonal and physiological shift, including how the body regulates temperature.In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I’m joined by Dr. Rosie Brown, a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader at the University of Otago in New Zealand. We dive into the hormone prolactin—its role in motherhood and the brain—and explore her team’s groundbreaking research on how prolactin helps regulate body temperature during pregnancy. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on all things prolactin and parenting!For more information on Dr Brown’s research see:https://www.otago.ac.nz/neuroendocrinology/research/rosie-brown Here is the citation and link to the publication we talk about:Ladyman SR, Georgescu TR, Stewart AM, Khant Aung Z, Cheong I, Grattan DR, Brown RSE. Prolactin modulation of thermoregulatory circuits provides resilience to thermal challenge of pregnancy. Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22;44(4):115567. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115567. Epub 2025 Apr 11. PMID: 40215163. 

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Prof Dr Natalya Chechko, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy at Aachen University. We talk about her recent research investigating maternal brain changes and mental health. We also talk about the neuroendocrine factors that may be involved and how to visualize them in the human brain. Fascinating research! Enjoy. For more information on Dr Chechko’s research see here .Here is a link to her recent .

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Katie Haigler, a graduate student at Penn State, about her research detailing how the maternal brain processes infant and adult emotion cues - aiding in our understanding of emotion regulation in parents. Interesting!For more about Katie’s research seehttps://hhd.psu.edu/contact/katherine-haigler Here is a direct link to the paper we talk about.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Prof Wendy Saltzman, who is in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at the University of California, Riverside. We talk about her research detailing how caregiving affects the paternal brain and how fascinating parenting is in many species! For more about her research see :https://profiles.ucr.edu/wendy.saltzmanFor a direct link to her lab website see :https://sites.google.com/site/saltzmanlaboratory/Do you want to show your support fo MBR? Give us a rating or buy me a coffee (beer or book) https://buymeacoffee.com/mommybrainrevisited