Understanding the Science of Development
How early experience has a powerful and lasting influence on how the brain develops. This Q&A with Council Member Eric Knudsen, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University, explains that the physical and chemical conditions that encourage the building of a strong, adaptive brain architecture are present early in life. As brains age, a number of changes lock in the ways information is processed, making it more difficult for the brain to change to other ways of dealing with information. Maintaining plasticity -- keeping the brain open to change -- takes energy, and this energy is finite. The right kinds of early experiences make the best use of this energy for the benefit of both individuals and society.
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Council Member Pat Levitt, Director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and Professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, and his colleagues are especially interested in how early experience can change brain neurochemicals, which can, in turn, affect the way the brain functions. Their work offers new insights into autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety and attention disorders. Such research, Dr. Levitt explains, reveals "how early negative events actually get built into the growing brain."
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Council Member Betsy Lozoff, Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School, discusses the link between iron deficiency in children and their long-term health and development. "It's important to remember that this problem doesn't affect the developing world alone. Even in the United States, iron deficiency remains a major public-health problem for infants." The body needs the right levels of iron, particularly in early childhood, for healthy brain development. And, according to Dr. Lozoff, by failing to solve this problem for millions of children around the globe "there's a great deal at stake."
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Council member William Greenough discusses the need for rich, complex experiences combined with physical activity in early childhood to help build a strong foundation for learning.
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A Q&A with Council Member Judy Cameron, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, Senior Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, and Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, and Obstetrics & Gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University. Research indicates some early life stresses can have a profound impact, resulting in changes in brain function and behavior, and even differences in the ways some genes express their particular genetic code signature. At various times during early development, different neural systems appear to have an increased sensitivity to stress and can influence long-term social behavior in a number of ways. A stable, nurturing environment is an important element in normalizing the development of a child experiencing stress.
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Examines how stress impacts a child's developing brain – for good and ill. Among the findings: Exposure to frequent “toxic stress” causes the release of harmful chemicals in a child's developing brain that can impair its physical growth and make it harder for neurons to form connections with each other. The weakening of the brain's architecture, in turn, impacts a child's ability to respond positively to future stresses, including normal life obstacles, and can increase a child's vulnerability to later problems, ranging from anxiety and depression to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke.
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Council Member Megan Gunnar, Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, discusses the ramifications and public-policy implications of toxic stress in young children. "Toxic stress … can shift the brain into surviving in a way that's more rigid and less adaptive -- indeed, maladaptive," Dr. Gunnar explains. For example, as a result of biologically altered brain processing, children who have suffered physical abuse may be predisposed to imagine anger in otherwise ambiguous faces. "What we're demonstrating with the science is that (such) influences really do have the capacity to affect brain architecture."
For information about commonly used terms in Council publications, see Definitions.
