The substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area -- two midbrain regions important to bond formation -- activated only in response to images of their children. On the other hand, the fusiform gyrus, which is involved in visual processing functions like facial recognition, displayed greater response to puppy pics than baby photos. Additionally, the nucleus accumbens, which played a pair-bonding role in previous human and animal studies, showed greater deactivation when mothers viewed images of their dogs -- instead of their children, which was unexpected.
“We think the greater response of the fusiform gyrus to images of participants’ dogs may reflect the increased reliance on visual than verbal cues in human-animal communications,” Stoeckel explains. Humans communicate primarily through language, rather than the facial cues dogs might look for. The differences in activation may reflect the varying evolutionary course and function of these relationships.
While the study was small and fMRI is only an indirect measure of brain activity, Stoeckel adds, there appears to be a common brain network important for pair-bond formation and maintenance that’s activated in mothers viewing images of their babies, furry and otherwise.
The substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area -- two midbrain regions important to bond formation -- activated only in response to images of their children. On the other hand, the fusiform gyrus, which is involved in visual processing functions like facial recognition, displayed greater response to puppy pics than baby photos. Additionally, the nucleus accumbens, which played a pair-bonding role in previous human and animal studies, showed greater deactivation when mothers viewed images of their dogs -- instead of their children, which was unexpected.
“We think the greater response of the fusiform gyrus to images of participants’ dogs may reflect the increased reliance on visual than verbal cues in human-animal communications,” Stoeckel explains. Humans communicate primarily through language, rather than the facial cues dogs might look for. The differences in activation may reflect the varying evolutionary course and function of these relationships.
While the study was small and fMRI is only an indirect measure of brain activity, Stoeckel adds, there appears to be a common brain network important for pair-bond formation and maintenance that’s activated in mothers viewing images of their babies, furry and otherwise.
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