A Japanese scientist studied the brains of 50 people in their 20s and had them fill out a survey about their relationships with their parents. He found that people with neglectful or overbearing parents had less gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with personality development. However, an Australian scientist critiqued the study for not accounting for other factors like socioeconomic status that could also influence brain development and cognitive tests. The effects found could be real but larger factors may be at play.

1. Over Protective Parents,
Could They Damage Your
Brain?
By Amanda Shepherd
and
Alex Scheman

2. What was done?
A Japanese scientist named Kosuke Narita looked at the
brains of 50 people in their 20's and had them fill out a
survey about their parents in the first 26 years of their
life
They used a survey called The Parental Bonding Instrument
which asks the person to rate their relationships with their
parents in a number of areas

3. Neglect and Overbearing
-He found that people with neglectful parents had less gray
matter in the pre-frontal cortex of their brain (the part of
your brain that concerns personality)
-The same results were found with parents who were over
bearing
-This part of your brain develops in you childhood, and up
until this study, abnormalities were only thought to be
caused by schizophrenia and other mental illnesses
-Narita believes that this is caused by the increased
amount of the stress hormone

4. Potential Problems
-An Australian scientist named Stephen Wood says that
this study may not be accurate
-He says that it is quite possible for the subjects studied
to have been born with the abnormality, and the relationship
with their parents just lowered it even more
-He also notices that the study excluded people with low
socioeconomic status and uneducated parents which are two
things known to contribute to bad performance on cognitive
tests
"The effect they found may be real, but why worry about
parenting if there are other factors that are so much
larger?" -Stephen Wood

5. Acknowledgments
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18633-mom-and-
dad-stop-stifling-me--its-damaging-my-brain.html?
DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=life

6. Q&A
???

7. Seminar Questions
Do you think there is
Do you think there is
enough evidence to support
enough evidence to support
this theory?
this theory?
What other tests could be
Why could this information
done to prove or disprove
be useful?
this theory?
Do you think that it is
Do you think that it is
reverse order, and that
reverse order, and that
they are born with this
they are born with this
abnormality and the
abnormality and the
relationship with their
relationship with their
parents just increased the
parents just increased the
problem?
problem?