Nurturing Moms Boost Brain Growth
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A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that preschool children whose mothers display nurturing behaviors have a larger hippocampus than their peers. The hippocampus is a part of the brain tied to memory, learning and stress regulation, suggesting such behavior can have significant effects on abilities related to how a child learns and performs at school. Researchers identified the correlation after placing children ages 3 to 6 and their mothers in a scenario meant to mimic the stressors of real life: Children were presented with a brightly wrapped gift and told they had to wait for their mothers to fill out a series of forms before they could open it. The mothers who offered support to their (likely impatient) children and helped them deal with their frustration were rated as being nurturing. Those who either ignored or scolded their children were not. Four years later, researchers did MRI scans of the children who participated in the earlier scenario. They discovered that children from mothers rated "nurturing" had hippocampi 10 percent larger than others. Read more: Mom’s love good for child’s brain SHARE:
Posted In: Child Adolescent Mental Health | Cognitive Psychology | Family Dynamics | Parenting | Learning and Learning Disorders | Intelligence | Tags: Posted by FindCounseling.com Staff on February 06, 2012 at 09:06 PM | Permalink |
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