La neurociència de l'embaràs. Com canvia el cervell de la mare?
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Pregnancy involves radical physical, muscular, respiratory, cardiovascular and hormonal changes. However, the effects of pregnancy on the human brain are unknown. For this reason, this project aims to inform and raise awareness of this biologically and socially important line of research.
The objectives of this TDR are to investigate brain activity during pregnancy,
specifically, to study the reduction of grey matter in the brain, as well as to observe the adaptation that the female brain undergoes to receive the arrival of the foetus, relating it to the hormones involved. Taking this theoretical framework into account, different practices have been carried out to see how women experience these changes in their daily lives and whether they have long-term repercussions.The results indicate that pregnant women show a reduction in grey brain matter and other permanent changes. In fact, it is possible to classify women as mothers or not, with 91.67% accuracy, by looking at magnetic resonance images of their brains. These changes represent a process of specialisation for the mother to recognise the needs of her own baby and develop new skills. From these results, we can conclude that pregnancy confers lasting changes on a woman's brain, which have an evolutionary purpose for the mother to establish an intense maternal-filial bond