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Grandmaternal Caregiving is Associated with Distinct Multi-Voxel Neural Representation of Grandchildren in the Parental Motivation Circuit
Grandmaternal Caregiving is Associated with Distinct Multi-Voxel Neural Representation of Grandchildren in the Parental Motivation Circuit
Minwoo Lee1, Amber Gonzalez2, and James K. Rilling3-7
1 Department of Psychology, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, 2 Department of Anthropology, Emory University , 3 Department of Psychology, Emory University, 4 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, 5 Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, 6 Center for Translational and Social Neuroscience, Emory University, 7 Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University
Grandmothers enhance grandchild survival and maternal health through caregiving. Comparative evidence suggests that human grandmotherhood reflects a unique life history strategy promoting the inclusive fitness of post-reproductive females. Despite its evolutionary importance, the proximate neural mechanisms supporting grandmaternal caregiving remain unclear. This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate approaches to investigate how grandmaternal brains encode information about grandchildren and translate it into caregiving. Forty-seven grandmothers (Age = 59.1±7) completed an fMRI task viewing photos of a grandchild, the grandchild's parent, unfamiliar individuals, and non-human objects. Multi-voxel activation patterns associated with these stimuli were analyzed using representational similarity analysis, focusing on the hypothalamic and mesolimbic regions critical for mammalian parenting. Results reveal that viewing grandchild photos elicits distinct neural patterns within this circuitry, best explained by a model reflecting grandmothers' neural sensitivity to kinship. This representational structure was observed regardless of the grandmother's lineage or genetic relatedness to the grandchild's parent. Indeed, greater neural dissimilarity between the grandchild and other social categories correlated with higher self-reported affection and supportive behaviors towards grandchildren, particularly in paternal grandmothers. Our findings provide novel insights into how grandmaternal brain promotes caregiving that enhances inclusive fitness.
Grandmothers enhance grandchild survival and maternal health through caregiving. Comparative evidence suggests that human grandmotherhood reflects a unique life history strategy promoting the inclusive fitness of post-reproductive females. Despite its evolutionary importance, the proximate neural mechanisms supporting grandmaternal caregiving remain unclear. This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate approaches to investigate how grandmaternal brains encode information about grandchildren and translate it into caregiving. Forty-seven grandmothers (Age = 59.1±7) completed an fMRI task viewing photos of a grandchild, the grandchild's parent, unfamiliar individuals, and non-human objects. Multi-voxel activation patterns associated with these stimuli were analyzed using representational similarity analysis, focusing on the hypothalamic and mesolimbic regions critical for mammalian parenting. Results reveal that viewing grandchild photos elicits distinct neural patterns within this circuitry, best explained by a model reflecting grandmothers' neural sensitivity to kinship. This representational structure was observed regardless of the grandmother's lineage or genetic relatedness to the grandchild's parent. Indeed, greater neural dissimilarity between the grandchild and other social categories correlated with higher self-reported affection and supportive behaviors towards grandchildren, particularly in paternal grandmothers. Our findings provide novel insights into how grandmaternal brain promotes caregiving that enhances inclusive fitness.
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