The Parental Brain by Michael Numan, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution presents a comprehensive analysis of how the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman animals and in humans, how these brain mechanisms develop, and how such development can go awry, leading to faulty parental behavior. Further, the proposal is examined that the maternal brain served as a foundation or template for the evolution of other types of strong prosocial bonds in mammals, such as the hyper-prosociality that occurs in humans. Unique aspects of this book are its multilevel perspective and the integration andcomparison of animal and human research in order to create a complete understanding of the parental brain. Topics covered include the following:DT Maternal, paternal, and alloparental behaviorDT Hormonal regulation of parental behaviorDT Oxytocin and parental behaviorDT Subcortical neural circuits regulating parental behavior in nonhuman mammalsDT The interactions between cortical and subcortical neural circuits that are associated with parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humansDT How maternal care directed toward one's infants influences the development of the parental brain in the affected infantsDT The intergenerational transmission or continuity of normal and abnormal maternal behaviorDT The involvement of epigenetics and gene by environment interactions in the development of the parental brainDT Evolutionary perspectives on the parental brain, particularly with respect to alloparenting and cooperative breeding that have provided a framework for appreciating how the parental brain could have provided a foundation for the hyper-prosociality that occurs within human social groupsThis book will be a valuable resource for behavioral neuroscientists and neuroendocrinologists, social neuroscientists, developmental psychobiologists and psychologists, anthropologists, and evolutionary psychologists with an interest in parental behavior, mother-infant relationships, childdevelopment, and the evolution of prosocial behavior. | The Parental Brain by Michael Numan, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters