Brain and Behavior - Brain Development
15 important questions on Brain and Behavior - Brain Development
When did human beings evolve from early hominids?
The Australopithecus genus was one of the earliest forms of hominids. The homo genus followed, with several species, such as Homo habilis, Home erectus, and Homo sapien neanderthalensis preceding or even overlapping with modern humans.
Modern humans (Homo sapien sapiens) evolved between 100.000 to 300.000 years ago.
How do we compare our brain with those of extinct species?
Therefore, paleontologists must work with skeletal remains, using skulls and other bone fragments to draw inferences about the biology and behavior of early hominids.
However, tools, animal bones, fossilized seeds, and even cave paintings have been found alongside hominid skeletal remains, providing intriguing clues about the mental capacity of our predecessors.
How has brain size changed from early homonids?
Concurrent with the increase of brain size, paleontologists find an increase in the complexity of tools found with hominid remains. Larger brains apparently translated into more sophisticated tool use. Additionally, larger brained hominids were adapted to more varied and/or harsher climates.
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Has the frontal lobe increased?
Australopithecine skulls do not look much different from ape skulls. There is a prominent jaw, a small sloping forehead and a relatively small brain casing. Modern humans, in contrast, have flatter faces, very steep foreheads, and small jaws.
Our foreheads, which lie just in front of the frontal lobe, cover about 50 percent of our faces. Likewise our brain casing is greatly enlarged to the rest of our skull.
Is there evidence of language in hominid skulls?
While we cannot know if this area was connected to speech in Homo habilis brains, we can suggest that at least a precursor to modern language regions of the brain was present at a very early point in hominid evolution.
What impact does brain injury have during fetal development?
For example, spina bifida is linked to defects in the neural tube. In fact, serious problems in the first trimester of pregnancy often lead to miscarriage, such that 80 percent of miscarriages occur in the first trimester.
When we consider the enormous lengths the brain must travel in its journey to maturity, it is indeed remarkable that so many human beings are born without brain damage.
What does it mean to say that the brain is plastic?
In fact, brain development in humans is more experience-dependent than in any other species, reflecting the central role our capacity to learn has played in human evolution.
How does the brain change across childhood?
How is our brain development dependent on our experience?
When our brain responds to its environment we are activating all the neurons in the relevant brain circuitry and causing them to fire. This activation then strengthens the synaptic connections between them.
As the saying goes:
"Neurons that fire together, wire together."
How are synapses formed or strengthened?
Additionally, an existing synaps can be strengthened by the creation of new receptor sites on the post synaptic neuron (the dendrite). These new receptor sites increase sensitivity to the neurotransmitters released into the synaptic cleft.
What happens if learning does not take place during the critical periods?
Consider how easy it is for children under ten to learn a new language and how comparatively difficult it is for their parents to do the same thing. This is often the case in immigrant families, where the children's ability to learn the new language far outstrips that of their parents.
What role does myelination play?
The myelination of axon fibers is not well developed at birth. Myelination continues throughout childhood and myelination of the frontal lobe is not complete until the third decade of life.
How does the frontal lobe change across development?
This is entirely consistent with our observations about the intellectual abilities and social judgment of children and adolescents. While many language abilities, are fully mature by adolescence, social judgment and abstract thought take considerably longer to mature.
How does the brain become more complex with development?
Although children have an advantage over adults in their ability to take in and retain new information, adults maintain a profound advantage over children in their ability to process complex information.
Thus, while children's brains may be 'little sponges', adult brains permit much greater understanding of the world around them.
How does the brain change across the life span of an individual?
As such, the 'use it or lose it' adage holds across the lifespan. Of course, core circuitry that is laid down in childhood is conservative and difficult to change. That is why early learning and early emotional experience have such a profound effect on adult functioning.
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