The baby was crying half the night, the three year-old has decided that his older brother is a punching bag and the older brother has imposed a moratorium on speaking to either parent. This isn’t the plot of a movie; it’s the role of a lifetime. And few people survive parenthood without at least occasionally feeling that the process is turning their brains into mush.

A study reported in Nature Neuroscience (20 August 2006; Kozorovitskiy, et al.), from the amazingly innovative laboratory of Elizabeth Gould, provides some degree of solace for fathers. These authors report that in a controlled study in marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), fatherhood results in remarkably positive brain changes. These findings are made doubly interesting by the location in the brain where these changes occur. It wasn’t in an area of the brain typically associated with parenthood. In fact the brain showed these positive changes in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that controls higher order cognitive processes, such as planning and social interaction.

It’s like becoming a dad could really make you smarter.

The notion that parenting affects the brain has been explored for some time. Particularly, there have long been anecdotal reports that pregnancy results in a “fuzzy brain” syndrome.

In the late 1990’s I led a research team that found objective signs of cognitive decline among women in the latter stages of pregnancy (Buckwalter, et al, Psychoneuroendocrinology 1999;24:69-84 ). This decline improved dramatically within a month after delivery. There is also some evidence that women not only recover from any deficits during pregnancy but they may show improved cognitive performance some time after pregnancy.

A more recent study suggests that there may also be negative structural changes in the brain associated with pregnancy. Angela Oatridge and colleagues in a 2002 report in the American Journal of Neuroradiology found a decrease in the size of the brain among pregnant women, again with an increase to normal size after delivery.

The causes underlying any brain changes associated with parenthood are unclear. One factor that is thought to relate to the changes women experience are the changes that occur in the endocrine system. The hormonal changes that women undergo during pregnancy are unparalleled. Interestingly males also undergo hormonal changes during the pregnancy of their mate. Men show a clear rise in estrogen and a decline in testosterone although the increase in estrogen is in no way comparable to the changes seen in women.

No one can yet claim to understand the impact of the changes that the brain undergoes during the process of becoming, and being, a parent. The fact that the process is remolding, on at least a temporary basis, aspects of brain structure is intriguing to say the least. It does need to be stressed that there is no compelling evidence that any positive or negative changes in the brain associated with parenthood are permanent.

So for all the moms and dads who are wondering what to make of this, it seems like everything else in marriage—working together is the key. This preliminary research drives home the point that the parenthood alters your life in so many ways. It’s a process that that can only be helped with an active social support system.

And if during pregnancy, what if dad may have certain cognitive resources that may escape mom? Ah the miracle of birth!