Previous studies claimed that pregnant women's brains decline in size and that they consistently perform worse than other women on tests for memory and verbal skills.

Now, an international research team, led by Australian National University, has found that the child bearing process may actually improve the brain and the improvement can well be permanent, the British media reported.

"Women often report problems with memory and reasoning after they become pregnant. But the latest finding has proven they do not.

"Our research suggests that although women, and their partners, think there may be a link between brain capacity and pregnancy and motherhood, there're certainly no permanent ones that we can find," team leader Prof Helen Christensen said.

The researchers came to the conclusion after tracking down 2,500 women over ten years – the study clearly found no difference between their brainpower before as well as during their pregnancies.

"We found women who were pregnant during the second or third batch of interviews performed the same on tests of logic and memory as they did before, and there was no difference between the pregnant women and the controls.

"It really leaves the question open as to why women – and often their partners – think they've poor memories, when the best evidence we have is that they don't.