As it turns out, your brain responds differently to a cute cuddly little baby faces than it does to an adult face. Research that was published this week, took adult participants and used a technique called magnetoencephalography. . .a really fancy word that means using magnetic imaging on your head. (Or something like that.) Then they showed participants pictures of babies, pictures of kids, and pictures of adults, and noted that the area of the brain that responds to babies (even ones you haven’t seen before), was different than the one that responds to adults or even other kids. Simply put, we are hard wired to fall in love with little babies.
When I first read this, all sorts of light bulbs flashed in my head. This explains why we instantaneously love our newborn baby despite the fact that it’s all wrinkly and purpley and well, let’s face it–not the most physically attractive of creatures. But it doesn’t matter, because that’s our baby. It also can explain why we often coo and ahh over strangers’ babies. It’s not because they’re so cute, but because we’re hard wired to do so. (I admit–that fact remains debatable–I happen to think that babies are all awfully cute.)
The next step in this project is to see if mothers who suffer from depression have the same response that shows up via the magnetoencephalography. The theory right now, is that perhaps those mothers who are prone to post partum depression, will not have the same response, but respond to babies the same way they respond to adults.
While the research wouldn’t improve upon treatments that are given for severe post partum depression, what it could do is potentially identify those mothers who are more prone towards post partum depression thereby offering treatment earlier before the symptoms become unmanageable.
Either way, as you anxiously await for b-day to arrive, know that the bond you’ll share with your baby is instantaneous. You’ll love him no matter what!
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