The medial prefrontal regulation of maternal behavior across postpartum: A triadic model.
Ming Li
Abstract
system (centered around the olfactory bulb-medial amygdala-ventromedial hypothalamus system). Dopamine and serotonin are hypothesized to operate in all three neural systems to regulate maternal behavior by influencing the motivational, executive control, and memory processes. This triadic model provides a useful framework for understanding dynamic changes of postpartum maternal behavior, as it integrates the evidence-supported approach-withdrawal model with the new prefrontal regulatory model of maternal behavior. Future research aimed at delineating the exact maternal neurocircuits and their interactions could benefit from the ideas derived from this model. Given that human maternal behavior is mainly cortical-driven, this model has significant implications for constructing neural models of human parental behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).