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Chap 4 Brain Development

The document outlines brain development stages before and after birth, emphasizing the role of environmental influences such as learning experiences and parental interaction. It discusses the impact of factors like maltreatment on brain development and highlights the importance of neural plasticity and traits like grit and growth mindset in shaping intelligence. Additionally, it explores how socioeconomic status affects cognitive abilities and brain structure.

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Michelle li
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21 views34 pages

Chap 4 Brain Development

The document outlines brain development stages before and after birth, emphasizing the role of environmental influences such as learning experiences and parental interaction. It discusses the impact of factors like maltreatment on brain development and highlights the importance of neural plasticity and traits like grit and growth mindset in shaping intelligence. Additionally, it explores how socioeconomic status affects cognitive abilities and brain structure.

Uploaded by

Michelle li
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Brain development

Outline
• Brain development before birth
• Brain development after birth
• Environmental influences on brain development
• Growth mindset, grit
• Learning experiences
• Parent-child interaction
• Maltreatment
Brain and intelligence
• total number of neurons
Neural tube closure during the fourth week:
Primary neurulation

Three layers in the embryo:


ectoderm, mesoderm,
endoderm
囊泡
3 Primary vesicles at the end of 4th week:
Prosencepjalon (forebrain)
Mesencephalon (midbrain)
Rhombencephalon (hindbrain)
5 Secondary vesicles at the end of 6th week
Secondary vesicles

• Telencephalon becomes the cerebral


hemispheres
• Diencephalon becomes the thalamus and
hypothalamus, retina, and others
• Mesencephalon: becomes the midbrain
• Metencephalon becomes the pons and the
cerebellum
• Myelencephalon becomes the medulla
Second month Third month

Adults
Cortical convolutions and increasing brain volume
in the neonatal brain
Summary-Cortical development before
birth
• Neural tube closure
• Neuronal generation
• Neuronal migration Neuronal migration occurs between 3 and 5 months' gestation. In early brain development, n
erve cells migrate to their final anatomic destinations to populate and form the six layers of the
cerebral cortex. When the brain first forms, neurons are generated in a region of the ventricular
zone and “crawl” to the cortical surface. There are two modes of cell migration: tangential migration
and radial migration
Cortical development after birth
• Brain development
• 400 g at birth
• 800 g at 3, due to the addition of myelin and growth of
neuron processes rather than the addition of neurons
• 1400 g from 11-50 years
• Modest correlation between brain size and mental
ability
• The key difference between human brain and animals
brain is the complex neuronal interconnection and
selective increase in the size of certain areas.
Cortical development after birth

• Dendrites of the neuron begin to develop a few months


before birth and are primitive at birth
• During the 1st year of life, dendritic processes develop
on each cortical neuron to establish the amazing
number of connections each neuron makes with other
neurons (1000-10,000)
• White matter develops until adulthood.
Cortical development

Conel (1963). Postnatal Development of the Human Cerebral Cortex.


Different developmental trajectories for
different regions

myelination happens before birth


Myelination after birth
Developmental patterns in different tissues

• WM development continues well into one’s 30s

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear,


gray matter volume peak at 6 year's old colorless transcellular body fluid found
within the meningeal tissue that surrounds
the vertebrate brain and spinal cord

(Sowell et al., 2003)


Environmental factors
• Due to the life-long development of the brain, environment
factors play important roles.
• Learning
• SES: home income and parental education, parent-child interaction
• Mal-treatment and abuse have tremendous damage to brain
development.
Neural plasticity – IQ changes

Ramsden, et al., 2011, Nature


Neural plasticity – IQ changes
• Ranged from -20 to +23 for VIQ, -18 to +17 for
PIQ and -18 to +21 for FSIQ.
• 39% of the sample showed a clear change in VIQ,
21% in PIQ and 33% in FSIQ.
• 21% of the sample showed a shift of at least one
standard deviation (15) in the VIQ measure, and
18% in the PIQ measure.
• absence of a significant correlation between the
change in VIQ and the change in PIQ.

Ramsden, et al., 2011, Nature


IQ change-related brain changes

GMD: Grey
matter density

Ramsden, et al., 2011, Nature


Growth mindset
• The view of intelligence and abilities
• Growth mindset: our abilities can be developed through hard
work and dedication. more resilient in the face of challenges
• Fixed mindset: abilities are innate and cannot be changed. a fear
of failure and a reluctance to take on new challenges
Marshmallow test
• Walter Mischel (1970) placed children in a room with one
marshmallow and told them that if they could wait 15 minutes
without eating the marshmallow they would earn an additional
marshmallow.
• the children who displayed the most self-control performed
better academically, avoided substance abuse, and were more
likely to be a healthy weight into adulthood.
Self-control
• Self-control is a better predictor of academic success than an
IQ test (Duckworth, et al., 2013).
• Intervention works to improve self-control
• Situation selection
• Situation modification
• Selective attention
• Cognitive-reappraisal
Grit
• Grit: a positive, non-cognitive trait based on a person's
perseverance of effort combined with their passion for a particular
long-term goal or end state. This perseverance of effort helps
people overcome obstacles or challenges to accomplishment and
drives people to achieve.
• Sub-component: Consistency of interest
• Sub-component: Perseverance of effort
Neural correlates of grit

Bai, et al., 2024, Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry


Spatial Navigation: London Taxi-drivers study

• A redistribution of
gray matter in the
hippocampus
PNA
• The posterior
hippocampus is
involved in spatial
navigation.

Maguire, et al., 2000, PNAS


Instrument learning
Musically trained>nontrained

• bilateral insular
cortex showed a
greater
• right inferior
longitudinal
fasciculus

Choi, et al., 2021, Cerebral Cortex


Bilingualism
• Greater gray matter
density in the left Inferior
Parietal Lobe in bilinguals
than monolinguals, with a
greater effect in early
bilinguals (before 5 years)
than in late bilinguals (10-
15 years)
• Function with proficiency
and aoa
The inferior parietal lobe (IPL) is a key neural substrate underlying diverse
mental processes, from basic attention to language and social cognition,
that define human interactions.

Mechelli et al., 2004 Nature Neuroscience


SES influences brain development

Lawson, et al., 2013, Developmental Science


Five networks in the brain
Executive function and language
• Infants from lower SES families are, on average, less advanced in
the working memory and inhibitory control abilities, as well as
language.
The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) is a section of the prefrontal
cortex located on the inferior frontal gyrus, bounded superiorly by the inferior
frontal sulcus and inferiorly by the lateral sulcus.
Neuroimaging studies employing various cognitive tasks have shown that

Maltreatment and abuse the right VLPFC region is a critical substrate of control.

• Reduced grey matter volume in ventrolateral prefrontal, and


limbic-temporal regions

(Lim, et al., 2014, Am J Psychiatry)


Maltreatment and abuse
• The most consistent gray matter abnormalities in individuals
exposed to childhood maltreatment are in relatively late-
developing ventrolateral prefrontal limbic-temporal regions that
are known to mediate late-developing functions of affect and
cognitive control, which are typically compromised in this
population.

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