Abstract
It is not the question of nature or nurture any longer. There seems to be a strong interaction between nature and nurture. By epigenetic mechanisms environmental factors can methylate or demethylate the genome and in this way affect the outcome. Environmental factors can change the programming of the physiological homeostasis during development, which may explain why growth-retarded offspring more often develop hypertension, diabetes, and also mental disorders as adults. Imprinting is an important evolutionary mechanism for survival. It may be less important for humans. There is a biological mechanism to take care of the offsprings. Newborns activate the orbitofrontal cortex in all adults. Mothers activate emotional processing networks involving oxytocin release and the amygdala, while mainly sociocognitive circuits are involved in caring fathers.
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Lagercrantz, H. (2016). Genes and Parents. In: Infant Brain Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44845-9_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44845-9_10
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