The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution presents a comprehensive analysis of how the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman animals and in humans, how these brain mechanisms develop, and how such development can go awry, leading to faulty parental behavior. Further, the proposal is examined that the maternal brain served as a foundation or template for the evolution of other types of strong prosocial bonds in mammals, such as the hyper-prosociality that occurs in humans. Unique aspects of this book are its multilevel perspective and the integration and comparison of animal and human research in order to create a complete understanding of the parental brain.Topics covered include the following:· Maternal, paternal, and alloparental behavior· Hormonal regulation of parental behavior· Oxytocin and parental behavior· Subcortical neural circuits regulating parental behavior in nonhuman mammals· The interactions between cortical and subcortical neural circuits that are associated with parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humans· How maternal care directed toward one's infants influences the development of the parental brain in the affected infants· The intergenerational transmission or continuity of normal and abnormal maternal behavior· The involvement of epigenetics and gene by environment interactions in the development of the parental brain· Evolutionary perspectives on the parental brain, particularly with respect to alloparenting and cooperative breeding that have provided a framework for appreciating how the parental brain could have provided a foundation for the hyper-prosociality that occurs within human social groupsThis book will be a valuable resource for behavioral neuroscientists and neuroendocrinologists, social neuroscientists, developmental psychobiologists and psychologists, anthropologists, and evolutionary psychologists with an interest in parental behavior, mother-infant relationships, child development, and the evolution of prosocial behavior.

Chapter 1. IntroductionChapter 2. Parental Behavior: Descriptions, Terms, and Definitions1. Parental Behavior in Vertebrates2. Parental Behavior in MammalsChapter 3. Hormonal Control of Maternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals1. Introduction2. Hormonal Regulation of Maternal Behavior in Rats, Rabbits, and Sheep3. Hormones and Maternal Behavior in Mice4. The Maintenance of Maternal Behavior and the Onset-Maintenance Dichotomy in RatsRabbits, and Sheep5. Hormones and Maternal Behavior in Nonhuman Primates6. General ConclusionsChapter 4. Brain Mechanisms Regulating Maternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals: Oxytocin and Olfaction1. Introduction2. A Tour of the Rodent Brain3. Oxytocin and Maternal Behavior4. Olfaction and Maternal Behavior in Rodents, Rabbits, and Sheep5. General ConclusionsChapter 5. Central Neural Circuits Regulating Maternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals1. Introduction2. The Essential Role of the Medial Preoptic Area3. The Larger Neural Circuitry within Which the MPOA Operates to Influence MaternalBehavior4. Neural Plasticity within Maternal Brain Circuits, the Maintenance of Maternal Behavior, andMaternal Memory5. General ConclusionsChapter 6. Anxiety Reduction and Maternal Aggression in Postpartum Nonhuman Mammals1. Introduction2. Behavioral Characteristics of the Postpartum Reduction in Fearfulness3. Behavioral Characteristics of the Postpartum Increase in Maternal Aggression4. Opposing Roles of Oxytocin (OT) and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (CRF) in AnxietyRelated Behaviors5. The Neural Circuitry of Maternal Aggression6. The Neural Circuitry of Fear/Anxiety and the Mechanisms Mediating its PostpartumDownregulation7. Critical Evaluation of the Hypothesis that Decreased Activity within Fear/Anxiety NeuralCircuits Exerts a Permissive Effect on the Occurrence of Maternal Aggression by ReleasingAggression Circuits from Inhibition8. The Effects of High Activity within CRF Neural Systems on Infant-Directed Maternal Behavior9. ConclusionsChapter 7. Alloparental Behavior and Paternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals1. Introduction2. The Laboratory Mouse as an Experimental Model of Allomaternal behavior3. Alloparental Behavior in Prairie Voles4. Alloparental Behavior in Marmosets and Tamarins5. Conclusions on Alloparenting6. Naturally Occurring Paternal Behavior7. Experimentally-Induced Paternal Behavior in Mammalian Species that Naturally Exhibit aUniparental Maternal Care System8. Conclusions on Paternal BehaviorChapter 8. The Parental Brain in Humans1. Introduction2. Subcortical Neural Regions and Circuits Implicated in the Maternal Behavior of Women3. Cortical Neural Regions and Circuits Relevant to Maternal Behavior in Women4. Cortical Neural Activations Associated with Maternal Responsiveness in Women5. Postpartum Depression6. The Paternal Brain in Men7. General ConclusionsChapter 9. Development of the Parental Brain in Nonhuman Mammals1. Introduction2. Normal Variations in Maternal Licking/Grooming of Pups Affect the Development of theMPOA-to-VTA-to-NA Circuit in Rodent Offspring3. Normal Variations in Maternal Licking/Grooming of Pups Affect the Development ofNeural Circuits that Regulate Stress Reactivity, Fearfulness, and Anxiety in Rodent Offspring4. The Effects of Various Forms of Maternal Neglect of a Young Infant on the SubsequentDevelopment of Maternal Behavior and its Associated Neural Systems in the Affected Infant5. ConclusionsChapter 10. Development of the Parental Brain in Humans1. Introduction2. The Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Responsiveness: A Behavioral Analysis3. Normal Variations in Parental Behavior are Related to the Development of the Parental Brainin Offspring4. The Relationships Between Abnormal Parental Care and the Development of Neural Circuitsthat Could Impact Parental Behavior in the Affected Offspring5. ConclusionsChapter 11. Evolutionary Perspectives on the Parental Brain1. Introduction2. Brain Modifications that May Underpin Alloparental Behavior3. MPOA Interactions with the Mesolimbic DA System Regulate the Appetitive Aspects ofMaternal Behavior, Male Sexual Behavior, and Female Sexual Behavior4. Modifications to the Core MPOA-to-VTA-DA Circuit and the Formation of an EnduringMother-Infant Bond in Mammals5. The Neural Mechanism of the Mother-Infant Bond: A Potential Neural Foundation for theEnduring Pair Bond that Forms between Mates in Socially Monogamous Mammalian Species6. The Potential Contribution of Maternal Neural Circuits to the Neural Basis of HumanHyper-Cooperation and Hyper-Prosociality7. Conclusions