In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, host Dr. Jodi Pawluski speaks with Dr. James Rilling from the Department of Psychology at Emory University about his recent paper published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology special issue on the parental brain.

The conversation explores how fatherhood changes the brain, with a focus on motivation, reward, and neural mechanisms involved in paternal caregiving.

Drawing on both human and animal research, Dr. Rillingdiscusses how becoming a parent may reshape motivational systems in the brain.

Inspired by studies in maternal behavior in rats, his research investigates whether human fathers experience similar shifts in reward processing and caregiving motivation across the transition to parenthood.

The Research

The featured study examined how brain function and caregiving motivation change in first-time fathers from pregnancy through the postpartum period.

The research is published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology.

Publication information:

The transition to human fatherhood involves increased brain activation to infant stimuli in regions involved with reward and motivation

James K. Rilling, Minwoo Lee, Carolyn Zhou, Esther Jung, Ella Arrant, Sijia Wu, Jessica A. Cooper, Agena Davenport-Nicholson, Michael T. Treadway

First published: 22 December 2025

https://doi.org/10.1111/jne.70127

Special thanks to Agnes, the Communications Officer, BritishSociety for Neuroendocrinology for editing!

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