During pregnancy, maternal brain neuroplasticity indicates vast neurofunctional and neuroanatomical changes. Recent findings documented a similarly massive readjustment after pregnancy. Currently, these brain changes are interpreted as preparation for and adjustment of the maternal brain to motherhood. Yet, this perspective leaves many questions unsolved. Neuroscientific studies have not yet been conducted to determine the brain areas that function during natural childbirth even though physiological birth is the natural process of women who have reproduced successfully throughout two million years of evolution of the genus Homo. It is rational to believe that the female brain is an active and crucial actor during birth and that birth, itself, is a process that requires brain neuroplasticity. Lack of studies of the birthing brain and brain preparation for birth is a significant lacuna in neuroscience research. I demonstrate theoretically that a new hypothesis for complementary interpretation of maternal brain neuroplasticity is reasonable: Certain maternal brain changes during pregnancy can be interpreted as brain preparation for birth and certain maternal brain changes after birth can be interpreted as brain recovery after the tremendous event of birth. This essay can be a starting point for new directions in neuroscience studies.

在怀孕期间，产妇的大脑神经可塑性表明神经功能和神经解剖结构发生了巨大变化。最近的研究结果表明，怀孕后进行了类似的大规模调整。当前，这些脑部变化被解释为母体脑为母体的准备和调整。但是，这种观点仍未解决许多问题。尚未进行神经科学研究，以确定在自然分娩过程中起作用的大脑区域，即使生理分娩是在人类两百万年的进化过程中成功繁殖的妇女的自然过程。有理由相信，女性大脑在分娩过程中是活跃而关键的角色，而分娩本身就是需要大脑神经可塑性的过程。缺乏对分娩大脑的研究以及为分娩做好大脑准备工作是神经科学研究中的重要缺陷。我从理论上证明，对孕产妇大脑神经可塑性进行补充解释的新假设是合理的：怀孕期间某些孕产妇大脑变化可以解释为 为出生做好大脑准备，以及产后某些母亲的大脑发生变化，可以解释为 发生巨大事件后的大脑恢复。本文可以作为神经科学研究新方向的起点。