How pregnancy might stimulate memory

This was fascinating for the part about dendritic spines. From an email from Lumosity.  Original article below. I can see this as extremely important to us because we would need these dendritic spines to go around dead/damaged areas.

Prior research has found that certain female hormones such as oestradial and progesterone significantly increase the number of dendritic spines in the brain. Dendrites are what neurons use to reach out and connect with each other—so the more dendrites, the higher possibility of neural connections. Because these dendrite-enriching female hormones surge and stay high during pregnancy, researchers from the University of Richmond hoped to find significant differences in the brains of maternal rats.

In this 1999 study from the journal Nature, maternal rats were almost three times as fast at navigating to the food reward when put through a maze test. Maternal rats took only 43.2 seconds, compared to 128 seconds among non-maternal females. Researchers postulate that maternal rats had brains better adapted to the task of navigation because of its import role in supporting young—in this case, locating and securing food resources.
Here is the actual article

Motherhood improves learning and memory

 

Neural activity in rats is enhanced by pregnancy and the demands of rearing offspring.

When a female mammal makes the transition from virginity to motherhood, she is forced to refocus her activities dramatically. She must adapt to a multitude of new demands by her offspring or risk losing a significant metabolic and genetic investment.