The affection and bonding of a mother can work wonders for a child and his overall development, and there’s no introduction needed to it. However, a recently conducted research, which was carried out by researchers from the St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine, has claimed that early maternal nurturing, affection and support has a very high and effective influence on young children, especially for their effective brain development.

In a longitudinal study conducted to explore the same, the researchers discovered that providing effective and supportive care during the phase of preschool is accountable for enhanced hippocampal volume during the school age of children, and the effects were found to be far higher when monitored in non-depressed kids.

While expressing his opinion regarding the findings of the study, the Director of University’s Early Emotional Development Program and professor of child psychiatry, Dr. Joan Luby, said that, “This particular publication is unique in that it combines observational data of parent-child interaction at preschool with structural brain outcomes at school age”.

The findings of the study, which was led by Dr. Luby, have been made available in the recent Jan. 30 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

“It's the first finding in humans of a clear link between early nurturance and hippocampal volume”, he further added. During the course of study, the researchers analyzed in excess of 92 children, all aged between 3 and 6 years, of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri’s daycare centers and preschools.

The sample consisted of 51 healthy and non-depressed kids, while as many as 41 kids had early-onset of depression.

The researchers claimed that between 4 and 7 years of age, the kids were monitored narrowly and various sessions of videotaped interactions were conducted frequently with a parent, mostly a mother, right through the immensely demanding and meekly stressful process.