A mother’s brain becomes significantly less responsive to her own child's face by the time they reach toddlerhood.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
Selective attenuation of neural responses to own infant’s face across early motherhood: An MEG study
PsyArXiv · 3uhne_v1
The Takeaway
While first-time mothers show intense neural spikes when seeing their infant, this 'motivated attention' drops off to baseline levels by the second year. Perceptual recognition stays stable, but the brain's unique affective 'spark' for its own offspring appears to be a temporary phase.
From the abstract
The transition to parenthood is associated with heightened neural responsiveness to infant cues, particularly to one’s own infant. Yet it remains unclear how this sensitivity changes with caregiving experience. Magnetoencephalography was recorded from 16 first time mothers viewing images of their own infant, an unfamiliar infant, and an unfamiliar adult at two timepoints spanning infancy and early toddlerhood. We examined early orbitofrontal activity (~140 ms), structural face encoding (M170, ~1