10/4/2026
Yesterday was Saturday. We went to Central Park in Manhattan with my son's family. It was the baby's first trip there.
That morning, I had read an article from Emory University about a study examining how grandmothers' brains respond to pictures of their grandchildren. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B in 2021, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe brain activity in 50 grandmothers.
Here are the main findings.
1. Grandmothers showed strong emotional responses to their grandchildren.
When the grandmothers looked at pictures of their grandchildren, brain regions associated with emotional empathy showed increased activity. The researchers suggested that grandmothers may be especially responsive to their grandchildren's emotions. When a grandchild smiles, a grandmother may share the child's joy; when the child cries, she may feel the child's distress.
2. Their responses to their adult children were somewhat different.
When the same grandmothers looked at pictures of their adult sons or daughters, brain regions associated with cognitive empathy showed stronger activation. This suggests a more analytical kind of response: trying to understand what an adult child is thinking or feeling, and why.
The researchers suggested that young children's “cute factor” may help explain the difference. A baby's face can evoke an immediate emotional response that an adult child's face may not trigger in the same way.
3. Grandmothers may be part of a broader human caregiving system.
The study adds to evidence that caregiving involves a network of brain processes that extends beyond biological parents. Throughout human history, children have often been cared for by other family members, including grandparents. In some societies, grandmothers play a particularly important role in helping raise the next generation.
There is a Chinese saying, 儿不嫌娘多 (ér bù xián niáng duō) which roughly means, “A child can never have too many mothers.” It expresses the idea that a child can benefit from the love and care of more than one mother figure. In this sense, a grandmother's love is adding another source of care, affection and support.
Perhaps this is one reason grandmothers have played such an important role in families across generations. Science may help us understand the brain activity behind caregiving, but the value of having more people love and care for a child has long been understood in family life.
Of course, the study has limitations. It involved only 50 participants, who were physically and mentally healthy and actively engaged as grandmothers. We cannot assume that every grandmother responds in the same way. The researchers also noted that further studies could examine grandfathers and explore differences across cultures.
What struck me most about this article was the connection between the scientific findings and my own experience. Perhaps the science is beginning to explain something many grandmothers have felt for generations: the joy of loving a child again, this time from a different place in life.
One reader asks, “好奇爷爷啥反应，与奶奶的又有啥量化上的区别?”
—wait for another research on grandpa!