03:54 PM CDT on Thursday, May 4, 2006

By Mike Goldfien 11 News

Becoming a mom not only changes a woman’s body, but it may also have surprising effects on the brain too. Research conducted on rats shows that pregnancy actually made females smarter.  

Scientists at The University of Richmond and Randolph-Macon College conducted the study.  “There is a difference.  Large differences, significant differences,” said Dr. Craig Kinsley of The University of Richmond.  Researchers monitored rodent mothers and found that they are smarter than rats that had never given birth.

“We’re seeing what we think are significant changes in information Processing,” said Dr. Kinsley.

It’s believed the new skills were directly related to helping their new pups survive.

“They are definitely increasing in all their senses, especially

vision,” said Max Sirkin, a student researcher.

Mother rats also showed to have an uncanny new ability to find prey quickly and they had better hearing and memory.   These rodent mom could also multi-task better and seemed to learn

faster.

Researchers found the mother rodents’ bring cells had grown larger.  “What is probably most exciting is that these effects seem to be long-term,” said Dr. Kelly Lambert of Randolph-Macon College.  He and other researchers believe it’s likely the same thing happens in humans.

Dr. Lambert said that while it may be tough on our egos, rat brains and human brains are a lot alike.  

Early research shows human moms have similar intelligence gains as well.   That makes women not only better mothers, but more capable outside the home too.

There’s one more plus, Mother rats have found to have lower levels of a protein that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease in human.