Brain Development
The Neuron
• Neurons (or nerve cells):
• Building blocks of the nervous system
• Allows information to travel throughout the body
• Via chemical messages and electrical signals
The Neuron
• Sensory Neurons:
• Receive information from the body's sense organs and transmit it as nerve
impulses toward the CNS (brain and spinal cord)
• Example: when you touch a hot stove, sensory neurons detect the heat and send
signals to your brain.
• Motor Neurons:
• Carry impulses from the brain and spinal cord to muscles, glands, and organs,
triggering a response such as muscle movement
• Interneurons:
• Link between sensory and motor neurons
• Allow for complex processes (e.g., learning, memory) and reflex actions
The Neuron
Cell body: contains basic biological material that keeps neuron functioning
• Manufactures proteins, enzymes, and neurotransmitters
The Neuron
Dendrites: neural fibers that receive input from other cells and conduct
it toward the cell body as electrical impulses
The Neuron
Axon: neural fibers that conduct electrical signals away from the cell
body in order to communicate with another neuron
The Neuron
Synapse:
• Junction between the axon
terminal of one neuron
and the dendrite of
another
• Allows for intercellular
communication
Glial Cells and Myelin Sheath
• Glial cells
• Cells in the brain providing critical supportive functions
• Some form myelin sheath around axons
• Oligodendrocytes in the CNS (brain and spinal cord)
• Schwann cells in the PNS (nerves outside the brain and spinal
cord)
• Myelin sheath: fatty sheath that forms around certain axons in the body
• Increases speed and efficiency of neuronal information transmission
How Neurons Communicate
• [Link]
The Cortex
• Cerebral cortex constitutes
80% of human brain
• Gray matter
The Cortex
The Cortex
• Lobes: major areas of the cortex associated with general categories of
behavior; divided by fissures (deep grooves)
The Cortex
• Occipital lobe: processes visual
information
• Temporal lobe: memory, emotions,
auditory processing
• Parietal lobe: sensation, spatial
awareness
• Frontal lobe: organizing behavior;
planning ahead
The Cortex
• Projection areas (major areas): responsible for primary processing of
information (e.g., visual, auditory, motor, somatosensory)
• Association areas:
• “Higher-order integrative cortical areas”
• Make up most of the cerebral cortex
• Information from multiple sensory areas is processed and integrated
• Lie between major sensory and motor areas
Developmental Processes
Developmental Processes
• Neurogenesis: proliferation of neurons through cell division
• Begins 42 days after conception
• Process mostly completes prior to birth
• Born with ~100 billion neurons
• Some continue to form in hippocampus
Developmental Processes
• Neurogenesis:
• After birth, neurons migrate to ultimate destinations
• From center to outer brain
Developmental Processes
Once neurons reach their destination:
• axons elongate
• dendrites grow
Developmental Processes
• Arborization: formation of new dendritic trees and branches
• Increases significantly in first months and years of postnatal life
• Increases capacity to form neuronal connections
• Allows neurons to grow in complexity
• Cortex grows in surface area and thickens as a result
Developmental Processes
• Arborization:
• Spines: formations on dendrites of neurons that increase capacity of dendrites to
form connections with other neurons
Developmental Processes
• Myelination: formation of myelin around axons of neurons
• Speeds and increases information-processing abilities
• Begins prenatally and continues into early adulthood
• Begins deep in brain
• Moves upward and outward
• Cortical areas become myelinated at different rates
• Maturation differences
Brain Maturation
• Parts of the cortex associated with more basic functions
• Sensory and motor areas
• Mature earlier
• Parts involved in higher functions (i.e., attention and executive
functioning)
• Frontal areas
• Mature later in early adulthood
Developmental Processes
• Synaptogenesis
• Process by which neurons form synapses with other neurons
• Results in trillions of connections
• Begins before birth and continues rapidly for several years
• Occurs at different rates for different cortical areas
• Myelination occurs alongside
Developmental Processes
• Synapse pruning
• Synapses rarely activated get eliminated
• A normal developmental process
• Brain undergoes waves of pruning at different times
• Abnormal pruning patterns
• Autism
• Schizophrenia
The Importance of Experience
• Plasticity: capacity of brain to be modeled or changed by experience
The Importance of Experience
• Experience-expectant plasticity: describes the role of general human
experience in shaping brain development
• Process through which the normal wiring of the brain occurs in part as
a result of species typical experiences.
The Importance of Experience
• Experience-dependent plasticity: occurs when neural connections
are created and reorganized throughout life as a result of
experiences
The Body: Physical Growth and
Development
Growth and Maturation
• Variability
• Secular trends: changes in physical development that have occurred over
generations
• Changes in height in contemporary industrialized nations
• Average earlier start of menstruation
Nutritional Behavior
Infant Feeding
• Advantages of breast milk: infant
• Naturally free of bacteria; breast-feeding parent’s antibodies against
infectious agents
• Fatty acids in breast milk and positive effect on cognitive development
• Advantages of breast milk: breast-feeding parent
• Decreases parent’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer
• Deterrent when weighed against the financial cost of formula
Food Preference Development
• Infant responses
• Positive: sweet and umami
• Negative: bitter
• Mixed: sour
• Little reaction: salty
Food Preference Development
• Food neophobia
• Most children demonstrate an unwillingness to eat unfamiliar foods
• Children learn about food by observing others.
• Accepted more likely from caregiver or others similar along key social
dimensions
• Associative learning
Nutrition Related Issues
• Obesity
• Increasing worldwide
• Environmental factors:
• Increased adoption of Western diet; high fat, high sugar
foods, low fiber
• Increased screen time, less physical activity
• Genetic factors: polygenic
• Increased risk; heart disease, diabetes, mental health
Undernutrition
• Undernutrition: not getting enough to eat
• Contributes to nearly half of all deaths of children under the age of 5
worldwide (UNICEF)
• Undernutrition and malnutrition associated with poverty
• Adversely affects all aspects of development
• Brain development
• Physical growth
• Cognition
• Social development
• Intervention programs helpful
Vaccines
• Vaccines
• Important factor in healthy physical development
• Based on herd immunity
• Recent refusals
• Parents refuse MMR and other vaccines for children based on risk belief; not
substantiated by research
• Contributed to recent measles outbreak in the United States