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 The Baby Brain Research Project was founded in 2015 and is led by researchers Dr Melissa Hayden and Dr Sasha Davies (The Cairnmillar Institute, Boundless Learning, and in partnership with the University of Adelaide).

The aim of this project is to learn more about how pregnancy and parenthood shapes human cognition and parent-child wellbeing outcomes using a range of psychological investigative approaches.

Our first meta-analysis, published in 2018 in the Medical Journal of Australia, received extensive global media coverage. It showed that pregnancy was linked to significant changes in women’s general cognitive functioning, memory, and executive functioning. 

There is ongoing speculation about the extent, cause, and permanency of these changes, and our team continues to investigate these questions to better understand how significant the impact of pregnancy and parenthood is on human cognition.

For further information, please visit the “Projects” tab at the top of this page or click HERE.