Supportive mothers could boost children's brain power Professor Joan Luby, who led the study, said: "The importance of this effect is underscored by the fact the hippocampus is a brain region central to memory, emotion regulation and stress modulation, all areas key to healthy social adaptation. We believe these findings have potentially profound public health implications and suggest greater public health emphasis on early parenting could be a very fruitful social investment. Dr Andrea Danese, clinical lecturer in child & adolescent psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, added: In the same way as a balanced diet provides children with ingredients for healthy physical growth, supportive parental care may provide them with key building blocks for positive psychological development. Future research will need to clarify whether children of more supportive parents inherit better brains, or whether parenting practices can indeed modify the way the brain changes and develops over time.