In 2021, brain imaging pinpointed the neural wellspring of the extraordinary bond grandmothers share with their grandchildren.

It’s emotional empathy.

As grandmothers took turns in a specialized MRI scanner at the Facility for Research and Education in Neuroscience at Emory University, lead scientist James K. Rilling and his team showed them pictures of their grandchild and others.

The brain of every single grandmother lit up in areas linked with emotional empathy.

Simplified illustration based on Rilling et al., “The Neural Correlates of Grandmaternal Caregiving” (2021).

The illustration above is a simplified, hand-drawn interpretation of the brain maps produced through this research. The yellow areas represent increased brain activity, while the pale blue areas represent decreased activity; the labels identify several of the regions highlighted in the published figure. It is not intended to function as a literal medical scan, but as a visual translation of what the researchers observed: when grandmothers viewed photographs of their grandchildren, their patterns of brain activity engaged systems associated with emotional empathy, showing how deeply a grandchild’s feelings register in a grandmother’s own brain.

Their brains did not light up in these areas when the grandmothers saw photos of their own children. Rather, those photos activated brain areas linked with cognitive empathy. This means that whereas the grandmothers want to understand their children’s feelings, they actually feel their grandchildren’s feelings.

“If their grandchild is smiling, they’re feeling the child’s joy,” Professor Rilling explained. “And if their grandchild is crying, they’re feeling the child’s pain and distress.”

We are profoundly, inextricably bound to our grandchildren.

No one loves a grandchild like a grandmother does.

No one has the same power to transform their lives.

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This study was only the beginning. Further neuroscientific research, along with groundbreaking research in many other disciplines, continues to prove and illuminate grandmother superpower.

If having this superpower weren’t enough on its own, science shows that it brings grandmothers the same astonishing benefits it brings their grandchildren.

If this discovery surprised you, you’re not alone. It’s just one piece of a much larger scientific story. I’ll be sharing more of the research behind grandmother superpower, along with what it means for how we can intentionally make the most of this remarkable role.