White matter in baby brains and grey matter in mommy brains

A new study led by UNC School of Medicine researchers concluded that patterns of white matter microstructure present at birth and that develop after birth predict the cognitive function of children at ages 1 and 2.

"To our knowledge, this study is the first to measure and describe the development of white matter microstructure in children and its relationship to cognitive development from the time they are born until the age of 2 years," said John H. Gilmore, MD, senior author of the study and director of the Early Brain Development Program in the UNC Department of Psychiatry
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The study was published online on December 19, 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

White matter is the tissue in the brain that contains axon fibers, which connect neurons in one brain region to neurons in another region. White matter is critical for normal brain function, and little is known about how white matter develops in humans or how it is related to growth of cognitive skills in early childhood, including language development. In the study, a total of 685 children received diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans of their brains. DTI is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that provides a description of the diffusion of water through tissue, and can be used to identify white matter tracts in the brain and describe the organization and maturation of the tracts."  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161219200955.htm

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"Pregnancy causes "long-lasting" physical changes to a woman's brain, with significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a study said today. Some alterations lasted at least two years, they reported but did not appear to erode memory or other mental processes." http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/201216/pregnancy-causes-change-in-womans-brain-study.html

 Hmm.  I remember "baby brain" and I'm not so sure it doesn't affect mental processes.  Article appears in Nature Neuroscience 20,287–296(2017), and primary authors appear to be women--probably mothers.