Jaak Panksepp coined the term affective neuroscience or the neuroscience of emotions. Culminating a lifetime of animal lab research, he identified seven primary-process emotions built into the brain by evolution, hardwired into the subcortical networks of all mammalian brains:
Panksepp says most neuroscientists accept the LUST and RAGE brain systems, because both emotions are clearly manifested in animal behavior and because these emotions are patently essential for survival. But of the seven primary-affect systems, perhaps CARING is the least studied but most important. We would not exist unless our brains and bodies were prepared to invest enormous time and energy in the care of offspring who could not survive without such CARE. You may not have heard of the primal CARE system, but, of course, you have heard of maternal CARE.
Maternal CARE is essential to survival in relation to the nurturing of the young. The ability of young animals to reach reproductive maturity is linked to the quality of motherly care. Fortunately, the investment of maternal attention has not been left to chance: it is grounded in a solid set of instinctual brain urges to nurture newborn infants and to bond with them.
Motherhood has life-long benefits for brain and behavior. Infants who have received loving motherly care are better off emotionally and physically for the rest of their lives. But infants who have not received loving motherly care are in for a rough ride through their lives.
The ways in which motherly and fatherly CARE help nurture the brain are of great importance for understanding how altruism, compassion, and empathy become possible. This is true not only for the offspring but for the mother herself. Animal research demonstrates that once a mother has exhibited competent and devoted maternal behavior following the birth of her first offspring, her maternal abilities remain elevated thereafter.
Oxytocin, one of the main maternal chemicals, is manufactured in greater quantities in female brains than in male brains. Oxytocin, like all chemical messengers of the nervous system, would be useless if it did not bind with specific chemical receptors. Estrogen controls the number of oxytocin receptors throughout the cell fields of the anterior hypothalamus. By increasing the number of oxytocin receptors in the hypothalamus where oxytocin is released, it makes oxytocin effective.
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Fathers are called to CAREing by an enzyme made in the brain’s hippocampus – a part of the midbrain limbic system – called aromatase that converts testosterone to estrogen which then mediates production of oxytocin. A more direct calling is with an intranasal spray of oxytocin. Either way facilitates the quality of father’s play and CARE with their children.
Most new human fathers will experience an increase in oxytocin and other similar hormones of pregnancy and motherhood. And infant contact then modulates fathers’ endocrine systems in a very similar way that infant contact effects mothers. But the effect of oxytocin and infant contact is much more significant with mothers.
Panksepp says that one aspect of the CARE system deserves particular attention. A branch of the CARE system extends through the hypothalamus from the dopamine-producing ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the heart of the SEEKING system.
SEEKING System
This segment of the CARE system most likely arouses SEEKING impulses, which surely promote goal-driven maternal foraging tendencies, which are especially important for nest building and retrieving pups. Indeed, injections of oxytocin into the VTA promote such maternal behaviors, indicating that the SEEKING system is sensitive to the practical and appetitive demands of maternal life. Again, we see highlighted one of the ways in which most other emotional systems utilize primal SEEKING to fulfill their affectively rich, action-oriented functions. Jaak Pankseep
Overall, the effect of oxytocin and other hormones, as well as infant contact, is to enhance the CARE system. In years to come, we will undoubtedly learn much more about the CARE system. New therapeutic methods might alter brain CARE chemistry and related social-emotional systems. Such interventions could help parents experience nurturing affect and display supportive behaviors more effectively. Facilitation of oxytocin activity may promote the kinds of accepting, positive, prosocial feelings that can increase confidence in one’s capacity for greater emotional openness. Jaak Pankseep
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
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