Neuromythography

The Architecture of the Soul

The (Sexually Dimorphic) Importance of Motherly Love

2 min read

In previous posts, we have introduced the idea of a feminine Spirit of Community and a masculine Spirit of Dominion, and associated them with oxytocin and vasopressin, respectively. We further proposed the archetypal role of two of their receptors:

OTR (Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion)

V1a (Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of kingship)

I don’t come up with this stuff without harvesting and distilling many research studies. For example, let us examine this rat study Naturally Occurring Differences in Maternal Care are Associated with the Expression of Oxytocin and Vasopressin (V1a) Receptors: Gender Differences.

Variations in maternal care have been associated with long‐term changes in neurochemistry and behaviour in adult rats. Rats receiving high levels of licking and grooming as pups are less fearful and more maternal than rats receiving low levels of maternal licking and grooming. Central pathways for oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated in the neurobiology of anxiety and social behaviours. We assessed whether variations in maternal care were associated with differences in oxytocin receptors (OTR) or vasopressin (V1a) receptors in the brains of adult offspring. In the central nucleus of the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, OTR binding was increased in adult females, but not adult males, that had received high levels of maternal licking and grooming as pups. Conversely, amygdala V1a receptor binding was increased in males, but not females, that had received high levels of maternal licking and grooming. These findings suggest that variations in maternal care may influence the expression of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors in a gender‐specific manner.

Here we see that maternal affection upregulates OTR (Tara) receptors in female rats, but upregulates v1a (Morrigan) receptors in male rats. This is because these distinct effects in females and males advantages them socially in their respective gender roles, and attaches their offspring to their mother in the mode appropriate for their sex.

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