HC 5 Development
Chapter 8
Today we talk about development and brain development and we start really at the start of
vertilization and we end somewhere at the adolescent period.
If we talk about development and brain
structure, there are different ways to approach
it and in the book they mention three main
approaches. The first is the idea that behavior
arises as a function of brain development. So
there is, there needs to be some brain
development until children, babies can show
some behavior. The other way to look at it is
that the behavior is there first and the brain
develops parallel or the brain develops
together. This is quite hard to imagine because
in the end the brain is guiding our behavior. But it is interesting for research that in a certain time
certain behavior develops, like motor development or language. And that is at least an indication that
it would be interesting to look at the brain at that moment in time. And very importantly, there is also
this interaction again with the environment, so we will talk about that as well. That the brain
development and the development of behavior is not standing on its own but it’s always influenced by
the environment. So that’s what we are going to do today. The first, development of brain structure
resulting in behavior, is actually the largest part of the lecture because it also involves the very basic
brain development during pregnancy.
Development of brain structure -> Behaviour
So this idea suggest that there is brain
development and the brain development
predicts behavioral development. An example
is the frontal lobes, we know that they are
involved in social development and we also
know that social development is going on for
a long time, also during adolescent and we
also know that the frontal lobes develop over
a very long time span. So the development of
social behavior may be the consequent of the ongoing development of the frontal lobe. This is a
perspective that many researchers take.
1
, So we really start at the beginning, very
early development. And I want to stress here
that in early development really all
vertebrates look alike. So here you see a
salamander embryo and a chick and a
human and its hard to see the differences.
But then during the pregnancy when they
are still developing you see that they
develop into different species. That is
important to notice because this learns us
that the brain of these fetuses and children are not mini adults. Its not that they are mini adults and
they just have to learn the adult rules. That is not how it is. This shows us that the brain of children,
babies, young children, they are fundamentally different than the brain of adults. They may look like
adults brains at a certain moment but the wiring and everything is still very much developing. So as a
fetus, a fetus looks more like a salamander for example than his or her parents in the early stages.
This is what you can see in very early
pregnancy, this is at about 28 days. You can
see the different parts of the nervous
system that you learned in the first lecture.
You can see the forebrain, the hindbrain,
the midbrain and this is the neural tube and
the spinal cord. This still doesn’t look very
much like the adult brain of course but it is
there already very early in pregnancy.
2
, Here you can see how that visually develops into the adult brain. So it starts here at 25 days of
pregnancy and the last picture is when baby’s are born approximately. You can see how the different
brain structures visually develop over time.
This slide is a picture taken from the book that you also saw in the first lecture when we studied the
brain anatomy. This is again to show you that the different parts of the brain like the spinal cord, the
3
Chapter 8
Today we talk about development and brain development and we start really at the start of
vertilization and we end somewhere at the adolescent period.
If we talk about development and brain
structure, there are different ways to approach
it and in the book they mention three main
approaches. The first is the idea that behavior
arises as a function of brain development. So
there is, there needs to be some brain
development until children, babies can show
some behavior. The other way to look at it is
that the behavior is there first and the brain
develops parallel or the brain develops
together. This is quite hard to imagine because
in the end the brain is guiding our behavior. But it is interesting for research that in a certain time
certain behavior develops, like motor development or language. And that is at least an indication that
it would be interesting to look at the brain at that moment in time. And very importantly, there is also
this interaction again with the environment, so we will talk about that as well. That the brain
development and the development of behavior is not standing on its own but it’s always influenced by
the environment. So that’s what we are going to do today. The first, development of brain structure
resulting in behavior, is actually the largest part of the lecture because it also involves the very basic
brain development during pregnancy.
Development of brain structure -> Behaviour
So this idea suggest that there is brain
development and the brain development
predicts behavioral development. An example
is the frontal lobes, we know that they are
involved in social development and we also
know that social development is going on for
a long time, also during adolescent and we
also know that the frontal lobes develop over
a very long time span. So the development of
social behavior may be the consequent of the ongoing development of the frontal lobe. This is a
perspective that many researchers take.
1
, So we really start at the beginning, very
early development. And I want to stress here
that in early development really all
vertebrates look alike. So here you see a
salamander embryo and a chick and a
human and its hard to see the differences.
But then during the pregnancy when they
are still developing you see that they
develop into different species. That is
important to notice because this learns us
that the brain of these fetuses and children are not mini adults. Its not that they are mini adults and
they just have to learn the adult rules. That is not how it is. This shows us that the brain of children,
babies, young children, they are fundamentally different than the brain of adults. They may look like
adults brains at a certain moment but the wiring and everything is still very much developing. So as a
fetus, a fetus looks more like a salamander for example than his or her parents in the early stages.
This is what you can see in very early
pregnancy, this is at about 28 days. You can
see the different parts of the nervous
system that you learned in the first lecture.
You can see the forebrain, the hindbrain,
the midbrain and this is the neural tube and
the spinal cord. This still doesn’t look very
much like the adult brain of course but it is
there already very early in pregnancy.
2
, Here you can see how that visually develops into the adult brain. So it starts here at 25 days of
pregnancy and the last picture is when baby’s are born approximately. You can see how the different
brain structures visually develop over time.
This slide is a picture taken from the book that you also saw in the first lecture when we studied the
brain anatomy. This is again to show you that the different parts of the brain like the spinal cord, the
3
