ReviewDevelopmental psychobiology2021
Plasticity of the paternal brain: Effects of fatherhood on neural structure and function.
Review in Developmental psychobiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- The paternal brain: longitudinal insights into structural and functional plasticity and attachment over 24 weeks postpartum.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Traces of Parenthood but Not Pregnancy Loss in UK Biobank Structural Brain MRI Data.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- A sexually dimorphic neuronal cluster in the mouse medial amygdala responds to male sexual status.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- A holistic review of fatherhood in humans and non-human animals: mechanisms of fatherhood, effects on fathers themselves, and interactions of fathers with others.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Sex-Specific Effects of Experience With Pups on Perineuronal Net Expression in the Biparental California Mouse (Peromyscus californicus).The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Article
- Male caregiving experience alters hippocampal neuroplasticity and transcription independent of reproduction in a biparental species.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Leveraging research into sex differences and steroid hormones to improve brain health.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Brain aromatase and its relationship with parental experience and behavior in male mice.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Prenatal prolactin predicts postnatal parenting attitudes and brain structure remodeling in first-time fathers.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- First-time fathers show longitudinal gray matter cortical volume reductions: evidence from two international samples.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Dendritic Spines: Synaptogenesis and Synaptic Pruning for the Developmental Organization of Brain Circuits.Advances in neurobiology · 2023Article
- Sex differences in the human brain: a roadmap for more careful analysis and interpretation of a biological reality.Biology of sex differences · 2022Article
- What's wrong with my experiment?: The impact of hidden variables on neuropsychopharmacology research.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- The Neural Basis of Human Fatherhood: A Unique Biocultural Perspective on Plasticity of Brain and Behavior.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Care of infants is a hallmark of mammals. Whereas parental care by mothers is obligatory for offspring survival in virtually all mammals, fathers provide care for their offspring in only an estimated 5%-10% of genera. In these species, the transition into fatherhood is often accompanied by pronounced changes in males' behavioral responses to young, including a reduction in aggression toward infants and an increase in nurturant behavior. The onset of fatherhood can also be associated with sensory, affective, and cognitive changes. The neuroplasticity that mediates these changes is not well understood; however, fatherhood can alter the production and survival of new neurons; function and structure of existing neurons; morphology of brain structures; and neuroendocrine signaling systems. Although these changes are thought to promote infant care by fathers, very little evidence exists to support this hypothesis; in most cases, neither the mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity in fathers nor its functional significance is known. In this paper, we review the available data on the neuroplasticity that occurs during the transition into fatherhood. We highlight gaps in our knowledge and future directions that will provide key insights into how and why fatherhood alters the structure and functioning of the male brain.
Indexed as
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.