Research: ‘Grandma is more emotionally connected with grandchild than with own child’
And that strong bond is even reflected in the brain.
More connected with grandchild
The study looked at the brain activity of 50 women with at least one biological grandchild between the ages of three and 12. While looking at pictures of their grandchild, the grandchild’s parents, and an unrelated child with an adult, an MRI scan of the brain was taken. What seems? Seeing their grandchild’s photo activates areas of the brain associated with emotional empathy. That suggests that grandmothers are focused on feeling what their grandchildren are feeling. When their grandchild smiles, they feel the child’s joy. And when their grandchild cries, they feel the child’s pain and sorrow,” said anthropologist and researcher James Rilling.
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Emotional empathy
Rilling did a similar study with fathers who looked at pictures of their child(ren). Activation in the emotion processing areas and the areas related to reward and motivation was stronger on average in grandmothers. In some cases, fathers responded more strongly. When the grandmothers looked at a picture of their own child, areas related to cognitive empathy were activated. That means they understand on a cognitive level what someone else is feeling and why. That is different from emotional empathy, where you actually feel what someone else is feeling. According to the research, children have developed abilities to manipulate not only the maternal brain, but also the grandmother’s brain. And not unimportant: an adult child simply does not have the same cuteness factor as a grandchild.
Source: The Guardian
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