Recent research from Washington University School of Medicine shows a connection between receiving mother’s love at an early age and later development of stress response, learning and memory. Researchers say the study “validates something that seems to be intuitive.”

In the initial study, ages 3 to 6 were closely observed by researchers while interacting with their mothers. The parents were asked to complete a task while the children were each given a gift, but asked to wait to open it. The researchers noted how much the mothers offered support and nurturing to the children. Researchers then went back at conducted brain scans of these same children when they were ages 7 to 10. The mentally healthy children who had nurturing mothers revealed a hippocampus region of the brain about 10 percent larger than children of less nurturing mothers. The changes in the brain were smaller for children who had symptoms of depression.

The hippocampus helps people cope with stress and is key in memory and learning.

Researchers say the effect is likely to be similar for other nurturing primary caregivers, such as dads or grandparents.

— Alandra Johnson, The Bulletin