Interrelated effects of age and parenthood on whole-brain controllability: protective effects of parenthood in mothers.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Controllability is a measure of the brain's ability to orchestrate neural activity which can be quantified in terms of properties of the brain's network connectivity. Evidence from the literature suggests that aging can exert a general effect on whole-brain controllability. Mounting evidence, on the other hand, suggests that parenthood and motherhood in particular lead to long-lasting changes in brain architecture that effectively slow down brain aging. We hypothesize that parenthood might preserve brain controllability properties from aging.

Methods

In a sample of 814 healthy individuals (aged 33.9 ± 12.7 years, 522 females), we estimate whole-brain controllability and compare the aging effects in subjects with vs. those without children. We use diffusion tensor

SUBMITTER: Jamalabadi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10618679 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature