A new study from the lab of Ruth Feldman at Bar-Ilan University in Israel has shown that gay fathers’ brains take on both the social understanding and emotional processing associated with childcare. These functions are usually primarily activated in either secondary-caregiving fathers or primary-caregiving mothers, respectively. Gay, primary-caregiving fathers brains showed activation in both of these functions, suggesting that childcare experience can change the structure and function of the brain.  This exciting study is the first to investigate brain patterns in gay fathers.

To read a summary of the paper, click here. To read the entire paper, click here: Abraham et al 2013 (subscription required).