How Men’s Bodies Change When they Become Fathers

But while both new mothers and new fathers show activation in the brain regions linked with empathy and understanding their child’s emotional state and behavioral intentions, a 2012 study by neuroscientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel suggested that the parts of the brain that light up the most are startlingly different for each parent. For moms, regions closer to the core of the brain — which enable them to care, nurture and detect risk — were most active. But for dads, the parts that shone most brightly were located on the outer surface of the brain, where higher, more conscious cognitive functions sit, such as thought, goal orientation, planning and problem solving.

Scientists are so sexist.

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