Slides on brain development
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Transcript Slides on brain development
Brain Development
Psyc of Violence
Jen Wright
There are a lot of physical changes that
happen during the first years of life,
The most important (and dramatic) of
which is brain development.
One of the last organs to fully develop…
brain development
Largest brain/body mass of any animal.
Encephalization Quotient (EQ) = 7.4
• Dolphin = 5.3
• Chimp = 2.5
• Elephant = 1.9
• Whale = 1.8
Most development happens outside (instead of
inside) the womb
• Monkey newborn 70% adult size
• Human newborn 25% adult size
Most growth occurs in first 3 yrs
• 3 yr old 80% adult size
brain development
Neurogenesis – proliferation of neurons
through cell division
• At peak, 250,000 cells “born” every minute
Synaptognesis – formation of connections
• Each neuron forms thousands of connections
• Axons elongate towards specific targets
• Dendritic “tree” increases in size and complexity
• 6 mos have 2 x more synaptic connections
Synaptic pruning – elimination of
excess synapses
• Streamlines neural processing
• Without synaptic pruning, children wouldn't
be able to walk, talk, or even see properly.
Myelination – insulating sheath
• Happens at different rates into adolescence
• Certain areas are myelinated first
importance of experience
Plasticity – brain’s ability to change w/
experience
Experience-expectant plasticity
(experiences present throughout
evolution)
• Economizes on material encoded in genes
• Development will occur within a normal
range of environments
• Level of vulnerability in timing
•Critical periods
importance of experience
Experience-dependent plasticity
(experiences of individual)
• Brain sculpted by idiosyncratic experiences
• Brain responsive to richness of stimuli
• Important in development of expertise
•More brain resources dedicated to processing
•E.g. musicians’ cortical representation of hands
• Timing may be less important
•Sensitive periods
Why are abusive environments so
damaging for children?
There are many reasons
Effect of deprivation
REM sleep – critical for neural development
in brain, esp. for activity-dependent
development
• E.g. visual system
• Facilitates learning/memory
Sleep deprivation linked with later problems
Babies most at risk of disruption
• E.g. ADHD, behavior-problems
• Premature infants in IC units
• Erratic, abusive environment
What is attachment?
Attachment refers to the close,
emotional bond between an infant and
his/her primary caregiver.
Orbital-frontal cortex: connects
processing of incoming sensory
stimulation with internal emotional
experiences
Early views of attachment
Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
Behaviorist Perspective
• Driven by oral needs during the first year
• Emphasized early experiences on later outcomes
• Driven by the need for food
• Learns to associate contact with mother with food
• Mother’s closeness continually reinforced
Ethology
Rooted in Darwin’s
Evolutionary Theory
Focused on the
adaptive value of
behavior
Bond necessary for
survival
Lorenz (1952) Imprinting
Primary criticism of these early
perspectives
Love (i.e., attachment) seen as
secondary to instinctive or survival
needs
Harlow believed that the love and
affection were central to attachment
• necessary for survival
Harlow’s Monkeys (1958)
Early work with monkeys
Cloth & wire mother
Both groups preferred cloth mother
• Only one equipped with feeding apparatus
• Monkeys randomly assigned
• Observed for 5 months
24
Mean
hours
per
day
18
.
.
.
.
. .
.
12
.
.
6
0
Infant monkey fed on
cloth mother
Infant monkey fed on
wire mother
Hours per day spent
with cloth mother
Contact Time with
Wire and Cloth
Surrogate Mothers
.
.. . .. .. . Hours
per day spent with
wire mother
.
.
1-5
11-15
21-25
6-10
16-20
Age (in days)
Violence papers:
• Incorporate my comments
• Expand to begin providing explanations
(using the frameworks we’ve discussed so
far)
•3-4 pages (double-spaced)
• Bring 2 copies (printed and stapled/clipped)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsA
5Sec6dAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caM
4-f6ZZBE&feature=related
mirror neurons
Found in the frontal and parietal lobes
Fire when you
• engage in an activity (reaching out one’s hand)
• observe someone else engaging in the same activity.
Fire more strongly when action has some
purpose or content
• reaching out one’s hand for a cup.
MN’s play a clear role in learning/imitation.
May also play a role in “mind-reading”
• grasping intentions, goals, desires.
crying
Crying – infant form of communication
• Response to distress
•Development of emotional self-regulation
•Mastery of environment – agency
•Biofeedback loop
When an infant’s needs are met, they
are able to turn their focus to the world
around them and explore.
• Their brains take in and adapt to stimulation
from the external world.
When they aren’t met, they become
fixated on trying to get their needs met
• They stop exploring and shut out other
stimulation from the external world.
Prolonged crying expose the brain to high levels
of cortisol, adrenaline, and other damaging
chemicals.
• Damage to hippocampus
• Reduced levels of vasopressin and serotonin
• Reduced levels of emotional regulation
• Impaired memory
• Increased levels of aggression/violence/bullying
• Increased levels of anxiety disorders
stress and brain development
Exposure to excessive stress hormones is bad for
brain development.
Early symptoms of PTSD
The brain can become incapable of producing
normal stress responses.
• Hyper-vigilance (Ghosts in the Nursery)
• Emotional flatness
Physical/emotional abuse and neglect can be
equally damaging.
emotions and cognition: bi-directional
Emotional reactions
Limbic system
o
o
amygdala/hippocampus link
Lead to learning that is essential
for survival
Influence how a situation is
perceived, interpreted, and
remembered.
o Improve memory of event
o Highlight issues of importance
o Make things personally relevant
o
Create life-long positive/
negative associations
emotional self-regulation
Strategies learned for adjusting emotional state to a
comfortable (adaptive) level of intensity in order to
accomplish goals.
Sympathetic:
child more easily soothed,
more interested
more self-regulated
Non-responsive (wait to intervene):
child enters into rapid, intense distress
harder to soothe
doesn’t develop self-regulation
temperament
Constitutionally based individual
differences in
• Emotion
• Motor function
• Attentional reactivity
• Self-regulation
Influences the way that children develop,
display, and control emotions
Foundation for later personality
Temperament styles
Types
Differences in punishment/reward
Differences in sociability
Bi-directional issues
• Easy
• Difficult
• “Slow to warm up”
• Gender
• Cultural differences
• Goodness of fit (with parents/environment)
Neurotransmitters
Hormones
Adrenaline/Cortisol
• Serotonin
• Noradrenaline
• Testosterone
Gene/Environment Interaction
Two levels of environmental influence:
Environment
Genes: Genotype
Genes: Phenotype
Gene/environment interactions
Passive genotype-environment correlation.
Evocative genotype-environment correlation.
Each child’s genes elicit other people’s responses,
and these responses shape development.
•
In other words, a child’s environment is partly the result
of his or her genes.
Active genotype-environment correlation.
Children, adolescents, and especially adults
choose environments that are compatible with
their genes (called niche-picking),
•
thus genetic influences in adulthood increase.