'Cute enough to eat' It turns out that the baby's smell has a drug-like effect
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Although babies are sometimes described as 'cute enough to make you want to eat,' new research shows that the smell of babies acts like a drug for women.
Why do you want to'eat' the baby? Strange urge could have biological underpinnings --ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130923092215.htm
The research was conducted by Johannes Frasnelli, a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of Montreal. The research team, including Frasnelli, divided 15 women into two groups, one who gave birth to a child within the last 3 to 6 weeks and the other who had never given birth, when they smelled the baby. I saw the reaction of the brain. At this time, all the women were non-smokers, and the baby's scent was collected from the two-day-old newborn pajamas.
And when women in both groups perceived the baby's odor with the same intensity, the mother woman responded more strongly to the dopamine system in the caudate nucleus in the brain than to women who had never given birth. I showed you.
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The caudate nucleus is an organ located near the center of the brain and on both sides of the thalamus, and is thought to be an important part of reward learning in the brain. Dopamine is also an important neurotransmitter in the reward system. This reward system reinforces the motivation to take action in a way when a particular action is associated with joy. 'This circuit makes us crave for certain foods and causes addiction to tobacco, drugs, etc. Not all scents cause this reaction, only those related to satisfying food and human desires. Causes this activation, 'Frasnelli says. Dopamine is also associated with sexual pleasure and satisfaction, and past studies have shown that rats that have been able to raise their dopamine levels by inserting electrodes into their brains continue to stimulate their brains and eat. It is said that he quit.
'Even without words and visuals, the communication signal between mother and child is intense. In our study, it is the first time that one of the signals, the smell of a newborn baby, activates the mother's reward system. Okay, this circuit is especially active when you eat on an empty stomach, but at the same time you see the same reaction when a drug addict receives the drug. It's a satisfying desire, 'Frasnelli said. I told you.
The study found that newborn odors play a role in maternal and child developmental motivations and emotional responses, inducing maternal protective functions such as breastfeeding and protecting babies. matter. The mother-child connection, which seems to be the mother's affection for the child, is indispensable for the newborn to live and can be said to be the product of evolution born from natural selection.
However, this study does not clarify whether such dopamine activation is a natural reaction associated with childbirth itself or a result of experience. 'The reward system circuit in the caudate nucleus may change with hormones, but it is also possible that it changes with experience,' he said.
It is also unknown at this stage whether this reaction is peculiar to the mother or is also seen by the father.
by ben haley
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