DEVELOPMENT OF THE

BRAIN
The brains grows at an astounding rate early in life, increasing from 25
percent of its eventual adult weight at birth to 75 percent of adult weight
by age 2. Indeed, the last 3 prenatal months and the first 2 years after birth
have been termed the period of the brain growth spurt because more than
half of one’s adult brain weight is gained at this time (Glaser, 2000)
 NEURAL DEVELOPMENT AND
PLASTICITY

The human brain and nervous system consist of more than a trillion
specialized cells that work together to transmit electrical and chemical
signals across many trillions of synapses, or connective spaces between the
cells (see Figure 6.6).
 NEURONS

• Neurons are the basic unit of the brain and nervous

system.
• The cells that receive and transmit neural impulses .
 NEURAL DEVELOPMENT: CELL DIFFERENTIATION
AND SYNAPTOGENESIS

Influence by the sites to which they migrate, neurons assume specialize

functions- as cell of the visual or auditory of the brain, for example. If a
neuron that would normally migrate to the visual area of the brain. Is instead
transplanted to the area that controls hearing, iit will change to become an
auditory neuron instead of a visual neuron( johnson,1998,2005).
 SYNAPTOGENESIS
• The formation of synaptic connections among neurons.
• Proceeds rapidly during the brain growth spurt.
• This brings us to an intriguing fact about the developing nervous
system;the average infant has far more neurons and neural connections
than adults do (Elkind,2001).
 NEURAL PLASTICITY: THE ROLE OF
EXPERIENCE

• How do know that early experience plays such a dramaticrole in the

development of the brain and control nervous system? the first clue came
from research by Austin Riesen and his colleagues( risen,1947; risen et
al.,1951).
BRAIN DIFFENTIATION AND GROWTH

• Not all parts of the brain develop at the same rate.at birth,the most highly
developed areas are the lower (subcortical) brain centers, which control
states of consciousness, inbron relexes,and vital biological functions such
as digestion,respiration, and elimination.
 MYELINIZATION

• As brain cells proliferate and grow, some of the glia begin to produce a
way substance called myelin, which forms a sheath around ndividual
neutrons. This myelin shearth cts as an insulator to speed up thr
transmission of neutral impulses. Allowing the brain tocommunicate more
efficiently with different parts of the body.
 CEREBRAL LATERALIZATION

• The highest brain center, the cerebu, consist of the two halves( or
hemispheres) connected by a band of fibers called the corpus callosum.
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAIN DURING
ADOLESCENCE

Through the ages, adults have noticed that when children reach the teenage
years, they suddenly begin to ask hypothetical, “what if” questions and to
ponder weighty abstractions such as truth and justice.