Taak 2 Brain development = Behavior
development?
1. What are critical stages in brain development?
Kolb & Whishaw
Stages of brain development
1. Cell birth
2. Cell migration
3. Cell differentiation
4. Cell maturation (dendrite and axon growth)
5. Synaptogenenis (formation of synapses)
6. Cell death and synaptic pruning
7. Myelogenesis (formation of myelin)
2. What happens if the development is disrupted early or later
in life?
Anderson, Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early
damage in human prefrontal cortex
The long-term consequences of early prefrontal
cortex lesions occurring before 16 months were
investigated in two adults. As is the case when such
damage occurs in adulthood, the two earlyonset
patients had severely impaired social behavior
despite normal basic cognitive abilities, and showed
insensitivity to future consequences of decisions,
defective autonomic responses to punishment
contingencies and failure to respond to behavioral
interventions. Unlike adult-onset patients, however,
the two patients had defective social and moral
reasoning, suggesting that the acquisition of complex
social conventions and moral rules had been
impaired. Thus early-onset prefrontal damage
resulted in a syndrome resembling psychopathy.
Neuropsychological evidence
As in the case of patients with adult-onset lesions,
the behavioral inadequacy of the two patients with
early-onset lesions cannot be explained by a failure
in basic mental abilities. They failed to show normal
learning of rules and strategies from repeated
experience and feedback. They also had significant
impairments of social-moral reasoning and verbal
generation of responses to social situations. The patients demonstrated limited
consideration of the social and emotional implications of decisions, failed to identify the
primary issues involved in social dilemmas and generated few response options for
interpersonal conflicts. Their performance was in stark contrast to that of patients with
adult-onset prefrontal damage, who can access the ‘facts’ of social knowledge in the
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development?
1. What are critical stages in brain development?
Kolb & Whishaw
Stages of brain development
1. Cell birth
2. Cell migration
3. Cell differentiation
4. Cell maturation (dendrite and axon growth)
5. Synaptogenenis (formation of synapses)
6. Cell death and synaptic pruning
7. Myelogenesis (formation of myelin)
2. What happens if the development is disrupted early or later
in life?
Anderson, Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early
damage in human prefrontal cortex
The long-term consequences of early prefrontal
cortex lesions occurring before 16 months were
investigated in two adults. As is the case when such
damage occurs in adulthood, the two earlyonset
patients had severely impaired social behavior
despite normal basic cognitive abilities, and showed
insensitivity to future consequences of decisions,
defective autonomic responses to punishment
contingencies and failure to respond to behavioral
interventions. Unlike adult-onset patients, however,
the two patients had defective social and moral
reasoning, suggesting that the acquisition of complex
social conventions and moral rules had been
impaired. Thus early-onset prefrontal damage
resulted in a syndrome resembling psychopathy.
Neuropsychological evidence
As in the case of patients with adult-onset lesions,
the behavioral inadequacy of the two patients with
early-onset lesions cannot be explained by a failure
in basic mental abilities. They failed to show normal
learning of rules and strategies from repeated
experience and feedback. They also had significant
impairments of social-moral reasoning and verbal
generation of responses to social situations. The patients demonstrated limited
consideration of the social and emotional implications of decisions, failed to identify the
primary issues involved in social dilemmas and generated few response options for
interpersonal conflicts. Their performance was in stark contrast to that of patients with
adult-onset prefrontal damage, who can access the ‘facts’ of social knowledge in the
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