Australian National University researcher Helen Christensen has debunked the theory of being pregnant mean being brainless and said that being with child means being without a full

complement of brain power. Along with Canberra colleagues, she tested 1,241 women when they were aged 20-24 and again when they were four and eight years older.

Christensen said," We took measurements of the women before they were pregnant and compared them to when they were pregnant and also with women who had become new mothers and

we found no difference in their levels of functioning before pregnancy and during early motherhood."

Noting that previous studies compared pregnant women with women who weren't pregnant, she said," I wasn't surprised because I knew there were biases from the earlier research."

In the Canberra study, measurements were taken of the same women pregnant and not pregnant and so were more reliable.

Not that there aren't changes in mental functioning that might deceive some into thinking that brain power has been lost.

British Journal of Psychiatry published her study, Cognition in Pregnancy and Motherhood, which contradicts an earlier Australian analysis of the literature which said pregnancy impairs memory for most pregnant women.

Led by the University of New South Wales' Julie Henry, the 2003 research, said 80 per cent of pregnant and new mothers displayed cognitive deficits for up to a year after giving birth.

Considering the 14 studies in the field, Henry said pregnant women were "significantly impaired on some, but not all, measures of memory," and that "memory measures that place relatively high

demands on executive cognitive control may be selectively disrupted." (With Input from Agencies)