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JULY 19, 2000

Canadian researchers who conducted a study indicating that rats who nuture their children improve their offspring's intelligence says the results are broadly applicable to human mothers.

But others have cautioned against applying the study to women. "I don't want to put any more pressure on mothers," Rebecca Burwell, a psychologist at Brown University, told the Associated Press.

The McGill University researchers report in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience compared two groups of mother rats. One group nurtured their offspring with stroking, grooming, licking and attentive nursing, while the other was indifferent.

The more nurtured group eventually scored higher on memory and intelligence tests than the other. The researchers found extra synapses, or nerve cell connections, in samples from the nurtured offsprings' hippocampus.

The hippocampus is the region of the brain vital to memory and learning. The researchers also found more receptors for growth hormones and the NMDA neurotransmitter crucial to learning.

The other rats, on the other hand, did not exhibit any of these findings.

Get the Story:
Nurturing may boost intelligence (AP 7/19)
Good moms make for smart rats (The National Post 7/19)

Relevant Links:
Nature Neuroscience - www.nature.com/neuro
McGill University - www.mcgill.edu