Mothers and the rat race

Mother rat nursing babies.

by Katrina on April 12, 2010

Do you ever feel like being a parent has turned you into an expert multitasker? It probably has.

Studies show mother rats are better at finding Fruit Loops in a maze than their childless counterparts (1999 study published in the journal Nature).

From Ann Crittenden’s “If You’ve Raised Kids, You Can Manage Anything”:

It is beginning to appear that motherhood, and caring for the young, may actually promote enhanced brain functioning. A study done on mice at two universities in Virginia has found that dendrites, special cell structures which are necessary for communication between neurons, doubled in pregnant and nursing lab mice. The number of the brain’s glial cells, which act as communication conductors, also doubled. The mother mice learned mazes more quickly, and were bolder and more curious than control animals.

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Jane Ferriera

Rats! I think it’s true!

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