Waaah: Crying babies push same 'buttons' in mothers' brains
NEW YORK (AP) — A new study suggests that crying babies push the same "buttons" in their mothers' brains no matter what their culture.
The research found that mothers in a variety of countries tend to react the same way to their bawling child — by picking up and talking to the baby. And brain scans suggested that response may be programmed into their brain circuits.
The results were published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers watched 684 mothers in 11 countries react to their own crying children. And they scanned the brains of mothers in the U.S., China and Italy.