Affective, cognitive, and motivational processes of maternal care

Abstract

The present chapter reviews current knowledge of the neurobiology of maternal behavior in mammals. In the first section, we present existing information of the affective, motivational, and cognitive processes that characterize maternal behavior, primarily discussing research findings in rats and humans, because most of the work on the neurobiological basis of this behavior has been done in these species. The second section outlines the maternal neural circuitry, with a special emphasis on the mechanisms that underlie the affective, motivational, and cognitive processes of motherhood. Finally, we summarize some of the main themes raised in the chapter and issues yet to be explored.