Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia have discovered a surprising connection between grandmothers and their grandchildren.
A study by anthropologist James Rilling, professor at Emory University in Atlanta in Georgia, United States, shows an unprecedented connection between grandmothers and their grandchildren.
To better understand this astonishing fusion, the scientist and his team analyzed the brain functions of fifty women all having at least one grandchild aged 3 to 12 years.
Thanks to a functional magnetic resonance imaging system, the researchers then noticed a surprising brain mechanism. When they see a picture of their grandchildren, some parts of the grannies’ brains are activated, including “Areas associated with emotional empathy”.
This finding suggests that “Grandmothers would be able to sense what their grandchildren feel when they interact with them. If their grandchild smiles, they feel his joy. And if he cries, they feel his pain and his distress ”, says the head of the study.
A cuteness factor?
To confirm this hypothesis, the same type of examination was carried out with the grandmothers, but this time they were offered photos of their own children as adults. According to the test results, the areas of the brain that were activated were no longer exactly the same: in this case, it was the brain parts of cognitive empathy that reacted.
“Emotional empathy enables you to sense the emotions of another person. Cognitive empathy allows you to be in connection with others at the cognitive level, that is to say, it allows you to understand what another person is feeling and why ”, explained James Rilling.
Thanks to this study, we can then explain why grandmothers are sometimes more enthusiastic about reuniting with their grandchildren rather than their own children.
According to the anthropologist, this connection could be explained by a factor of cuteness: “Young children have probably developed traits to be able to manipulate not only their mothers ‘brains, but also their grandmothers’ brains. A child who has become an adult does not have this “cute” factor ”.
To complete their study, scientists now want to reproduce the experiment on grandfathers.