Maternity: neural mechanisms, motivational processes, and physiological adaptations

Abstract

This review focuses on research on both the neural substrate of maternal responsiveness and on the physiological, behavioral, and motivational adaptations to the maternal state. The female's response to her young is presented as a model motivational system and the mechanisms and neural circuitry through which the medial preoptic area regulates this responsivity is described. This analysis is then used in support of an argument for a greater recognition of the role of hypothalamic nuclei in the stimulation of appetitive behavior. In the subsequent section of the manuscript the adaptations of other motivational systems to the maternal state together with the research investigating the mechanisms that produce these changes are described. Finally, we examine how these multiple adaptations may be coordinated and integrated.