ReviewHormones and behavior2016
The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans.
Review in Hormones and behavior, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
131 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The influence of attachment and relational quality on developmental outcomes across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analytic insights (2014-2024).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The Influences of Drug Abuse on Mother-Infant Interaction Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness: A Review.Frontiers in public health · 2019Pooled it
- Initiated Breastfeeding and Physiological Patterns in Newborn Infants When Reunited With Mother After Separation Due to Elective Cesarean Birth.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2025Trial
- Parental experience and professional training shape the perception of comfort and discomfort in preterm and term newborns.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Postpartum adversity in rats creates a hypervigilant maternal state through selective salience-circuit recruitment.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- The paternal brain: longitudinal insights into structural and functional plasticity and attachment over 24 weeks postpartum.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Altered functional connectivity of emotional circuits and default mode network in postpartum women: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- The Early Emotional Bond: An Evolutionary-Developmental Perspective Integrating Psychoanalysis, Neuroscience, and Cross-Cultural Evidence.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Investigating the role of executive function in brain responses to infant crying among new parents.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Article
- Motion-based baby schema in infant gait: inversion effect and the influence of maternal experience.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Engage & connect psychotherapy improves social reward responsivity and reduces postpartum depression.Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research · 2025Article
- Information Dynamics of the Mother-Fetus System Using Kolmogorov-Sinai Entropy Derived from Heart Sounds: A Longitudinal Study from Early Pregnancy to Postpartum.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Breastfeeding and Infant Formulas: Short- and Long-Term Impacts on Infant Nutrition and Health.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Experience-dependent maternal defense behavior mediated by profrontal cortical projections to the medial preoptic area in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Immediate Skin-to-Skin Contact at Very Preterm Birth and Neurodevelopment the First Two Years: Secondary Outcomes from a Randomised Clinical Trial.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Improving maternal well-being: a matrescence education pilot study for new mothers.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2025Article
- The significance of mothers' neural responding to infant emotional cues for caregiving behaviors: The moderating role of infant temperamental distress.Developmental psychology · 2025Article
- Protective role of parenthood on age-related brain function in mid- to late-life.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Birthing parents' neural response to infant cry: moderating effects of oxytocin and perceived childhood care.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- One and one makes three-mothers' and fathers' attachment, mentalizing and parenting sensitivity.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". Early mother-infant relationships play important roles in infants' optimal development. New mothers undergo neurobiological changes that support developing mother-infant relationships regardless of great individual differences in those relationships. In this article, we review the neural plasticity in human mothers' brains based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. First, we review the neural circuits that are involved in establishing and maintaining mother-infant relationships. Second, we discuss early postpartum factors (e.g., birth and feeding methods, hormones, and parental sensitivity) that are associated with individual differences in maternal brain neuroplasticity. Third, we discuss abnormal changes in the maternal brain related to psychopathology (i.e., postpartum depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse) and potential brain remodeling associated with interventions. Last, we highlight potentially important future research directions to better understand normative changes in the maternal brain and risks for abnormal changes that may disrupt early mother-infant relationships.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.