Mammalian Parenting: Biochemical, Neurobiological and Behavioural Determinants - Tapa dura

Parenting behaviour, the subject of this volume, is one of the most characteristic features of the class "mammalia". Because this behaviour regulates the care and nourishment necessary for the survival of newborns, modern biological theory looks upon parenting as an evolutionary strategy. Until recently, however, definitive information on the biological bases of parenting was not available. In this volume, the editors bring together a group of researchers who present state-of-the-art findings on the biochemical, neurobiological and behavioural regulation of parental behaviour in mammals. Using a comparative approach, the contributors address the question central to this book: to what extent is parenting in mammals, including humans, biologically regulated? The answer to this question, while incomplete, is that certain common neural and biological mechanisms may regulate parenting in all mammals, and that the specific behavioural responses of the organism are tuned by environmental, genetic and developmental events interacting with biological and anatomical substrates of that species.

Norman A. Krasnegor is Chief of the Human Learning and Behavior Branch, Center for Mothers and Children, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Robert S. Bridges is Associate Professor of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Harvard Medical School.