Infants must be consistently caressed for the proper development of the limbic system
All mammalian mothers—and many fathers, as well—give their infants sensory stimulation that has long-term positive effects on their offspring’s Limbic system. Such sensory stimulation is so necessary for the human infant’s healthy biological development that babies who are never picked up simply die. They stress themselves to death. Premature babies who have to live in incubators for weeks or months have faster brain growth if they are stroked for just ten minutes a day. Humans hold and cuddle and stroke; rats lick. A 1998 study found that rats whose mothers had given them more licking and other kinds of nurturing contact during their infancy had, as adults, more efficient brain circuitry for reducing anxiety. They also had more receptors on their neurons for benzodiazepines, which are natural tranquilizing chemicals found in the brain.6
References
- Mate, Gabor. (2010). In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Chapter 18. Trauma, Stress, and the Biology of Addiction (p. 242). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Developmental Neurology Status:⛅️