Does 'mommy brain' last? Study shows motherhood does not diminish
attention

Date:
June 23, 2020
Source:
Purdue University
Summary:
'Mommy brain' is a long-held perception that mothers are more
forgetful and less attentive. A new study shows that mothers are
equally as attentive, or more attentive than, non-mothers.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== "Mommy brain" is a long-held perception that mothers are more forgetful
and less attentive.


==========================================================================
"In most studies, however, attention and memory tests are given to mothers
very early postpartum," said Valerie Tucker Miller, a Ph.D. student
in Purdue University's Department of Anthropology department. Miller
is studying the effects of motherhood on attention, memory and other psychological processes.

"There are few issues with that," she added. "When you first have a
child, you have a cascade of hormones and sleep deprivation that might be affecting attention and memory processes in the brain." In a new study
testing the prevalence of "mommy brain," Miller used a revised version of
the Attention Network Test (ANT), called the ANT-R, to compare reaction
times among 60 mothers, all of whom were at least one year postpartum,
and 70 non-mothers. The results, published online in the journal Current Psychology, show that mothers performed equally as well or better compared
with women who had never been pregnant or had children.

"For this particular study, we recruited moms who were past that
first year postpartum because we wanted to see the long-term effects
of maternity," she said. "Overall, moms did not have significantly
different attention than non- mothers, so we did not find evidence to
support 'mommy brain' as our culture understands it. It's possible, if anything, that maternity is related to improved, rather than diminished, attentiveness." Co-author Amanda Veile, an assistant professor of
anthropology at Purdue, said the mixed-method study may be the first to investigate the long-term effects of biological motherhood on real-life attention network functioning. Lisa A.

VanWormer, a Purdue University alumna and visiting associate professor
of psychology at St. Norbert College, also is a co-author.



========================================================================== Researchers used a seven-point scale to measure participants' responses
to survey questions such as, "How sleepy do you feel?" and "How do you
think your attentiveness is?" Women's perceived attention functioning
was strongly associated with their tested attention scores, regardless
of motherhood status, Veile said.

"This means that women have accurate awareness of their cognitive state,
and that their concerns regarding their perceived attentional functioning should be taken seriously," she said. "We also believe that 'mommy-brain'
may be a culture-bound phenomenon, and that mothers will feel the most distracted and forgetful when they feel stressed, overextended and
unsupported. Unfortunately, many U.S. moms feel this way, especially
now in the midst of economic and political instability and pandemic."
During the computer test, a cue box flashes for 100 milliseconds in
one of two possible locations where a target image will appear on the
screen. Next, an image of five arrows, each pointing left or right
in consistent or conflicting directions, flashes on the screen for
500 milliseconds. Participants are then asked to press a button that corresponds to the direction of only the middle arrow.

Miller said the test measures response times and provides scores for
the three main networks of attention: The alerting network helps the
brain prepare for incoming stimuli; the orienting network directs the
brain's attention to something new; and the executive control network
helps resolve conflicting information.

Mothers in the study were, on average, 10 years older than
non-mothers. Even after controlling for age, however, the researchers
found that mothers had similar alerting and orienting attention, and
better executive control attention, compared to non-mothers.

"Moms were not as distracted by those outside, incongruent items,"
Miller said.

"It makes perfect sense that moms who have brought children into this
world have more stimuli that needs to be processed to keep themselves
and other humans alive, and then to continue with all the other tasks
that were required before the children." Heightened attention isn't
always a good thing. It could become amplified with feelings of stress
and isolation, which many U.S. moms experience, causing them to develop anxiety, Veile said.

"We plan to do cross-cultural investigations to further examine how
narratives of motherhood and social support are associated with maternal
tested attention and well-being around the world," she said.

The research was supported by the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue and
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Purdue_University. Original written
by Joseph Paul. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Valerie Miller, Lisa A. VanWormer, Amanda Veile. Assessment of
attention
in biological mothers using the attention network test -
revised. Current Psychology, 2020; DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-00826-w ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200623145352.htm

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