3 Brain development – important influence, Nature vs. Nurture

K Arockia Maraichelvi

It is a well – established fact that the first six years of one’s life is the most significant period of brain development. The growing interest in research in brain development had facilitated us to learn more about the brain and its working, milestones of brain development and the importance of critical periods of development. This module along with the aspects mentioned above of brain development would also deal with how you can as a preschool educator can create a simulative enriched environment for a child to make the brain work to its maximum.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, you will be able to

• Comprehend the structure and working of the brain
• Realize the importance of critical periods of brain development
• Get an insight of the ‘windows of learning’ and
• Strategies to create a simulative enriched environment for a child during his early years for effective brain development.

STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN

The most complex and of course the important organ of a human body is the brain. It is the brain which controls and maintains every sense and functions of the body. Collecting information from various parts of the body, interpreting it and generating an appropriate response are the major tasks of the brain.

Based on the position in the front, middle or back of the skull, the human brain is divided into three major parts namely

• Forebrain
• Midbrain
• Hindbrain

    Forebrain – It is referred to the centre for processing sensory information. It has got two sub components called diencephalon and telencephalon. Diencephalon has thalamus and hypothalamus to control sensory and autonomic process. Telencephalon contains the major part of the brain called cerebrum.

   Midbrain – It is the part that mediates Hindbrain and Forebrain by acting as a bridge in transmitting signals between them. The top of the midbrain is known as Optic tectum that integrates the visionary and auditory data.

Hindbrain – It is said to be the control centre for visceral functions and has three sub parts – Medulla oblongata, pons and cerebellum.

BRAIN AND ITS WORKING

Before attempting to realize and provide an enriched environment for the child’s developing brain, it is rudimentary to understand the working of the human brain. This section of the module defines particular vocabulary or terms related to brain science and its structure.

1. Neurons – They are referred as brain cells and are the main components of the brain and spinal cord. Its function is to transmit messages to and fro from the brain through electrical signals across the structures called synapses
2. Synapses – These are structures that connect one neuron head to another neuron’s tail called axon
3. Myelination – It is the process of covering axons with a fatty substance called myelin. This covering allows the signals to travel faster through the neuron.

Hierarchy of brain development

The three parts of the brain namely hind brain (alarm centre), midbrain (Emotional centre) and forebrain (Executive centre) grows sequentially from bottom to top, (ie.) from least complicated part (brain stem in the hind brain) to more complex area called cortex in the forebrain. In between the hind brain and the forebrain is the limbic region called mid brain.

The functions carried by these three parts of the brain are vividly portrayed in the figure below.

Brain lateralization

There are two hemispheres of the brain – Right and left Hemispheres. Both the hemispheres carry different functions. For example, the Left hemisphere is responsible for verbal abilities (spoken and written language). The right hemisphere is in charge of the emotional reaction and spatial abilities (judging distances, recognizing geometric shapes etc.). However, this pattern is reversed for left handed people.

Thus the two hemispheres undergo a process of specialization to perform its function in that person. This process of specialization of two hemispheres is called lateralization.

Functions of the various parts of brain

Different areas of the brain handle different functions, and these areas get established for its core functions at birth itself. However higher brain functions become possible as and when the brain grows. The different areas of the brain and its function are illustrated in the figure.

STAGES OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

At birth, the brain has already grown to 25 percent of the adult size. However, by the age of three, the brain should reach 80 percent of its adult size. This part of the module explains the two primary stages of brain development under the heads

1. Brain development during pregnancy
2. Brain development from 0 to 6 years.

  Brain development during pregnancy

Brain cells or neurons forms in the first month of the foetal growth. A new born is said to have 100 billion brain cells, which is large enough to learn just about anything in this world. An important fact is that no more brain cells are to develop after birth.

A glance at the Figure will show the development of brain during pregnancy. The prenatal brain development gets initiated in the third week with the formation of a neural plate. This neural plate curves into the neural tube that closes and segments out into four different sections namely forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain and spinal cord. The last part of the brain to mature is the cerebral cortex which gets developed within few years of a child life.

It is this rapid development of the brain that allows the foetus to move, suck, swallow, breathe, stretch and even suck their thumb even in womb.

How can pregnant women support healthy brain development?

After understanding that healthy brain development starts from the first week of conception the expectant mother should take extra care in fostering the same. The following tips would help a pregnant woman to look after the growing foetus and its brain development

• Keep yourself healthy and well-nourished
• Take a prenatal vitamin tablet that contains folic acid and DHA as per doctor’s advice.
• Eat a variety of healthy fruits, vegetables, and proteins
• Keep up your prenatal appointments for the doctors to track your health.
• Express your love and care for the baby and engage their developing senses. For example, sing songs to your baby
• Maintain good hygienic practices to avoid common infections and diseases
• Take better care by relaxing yourself
• Avoid drugs, smoking, and alcohol
• Do not get stressed
• Do not consume raw eggs or cold meat during pregnancy as it may develop Salmonellosis or Listeriosis which can be devastating to a growing foetus
• Be careful with certain work place hazards and materials
• Do not self-medicate

  Brain development during 0-6 years

At birth, though the child is born with almost all the neuron that needs for the rest of his life, the size is only 25 percent of the adult brain. The brain made up of brain cells or neurons create connections called synapses, and every neuron has the potential of establishing 15,000 synaptic connections. The signals from one cell are sent to the other cell at a speed of more than 200mph through these synapses. But do remember that these links/synapses grow and change as a result of stimulation from the environment. Every new experience creates new connections in the brain.

It is during this period of a child’s life synapses starts to form at a faster rate than at any time in their lifespan. This is the reason behind the fact that children learn things more quickly in their early years. But all these synaptic connection are not carried over to the adulthood. Only the experiences that get repeated strengthen the link whereas the unused connection disappears at a particular stage. In other words, the more often a synapse is used, or more often a skill is practiced, or more often an idea is heard, the stronger the synapse gets. The other synapses get pruned off. Hence the early years are said t be the critical period of learning things as the baby’s brain rapidly creates and prunes out synapses.

The following illustration explains the formation of synapses and its pruning.

SYNAPSES FORMATION AND ITS PRUNING

The graph below shows the critical period in the brain development. The formation of new neurons and synapses is fastest at birth then slows down during childhood. The connections do grow at a rapid rate after birth and reach its peak in the mid of childhood, wherein after that elimination or pruning of synapses takes place

WINDOWS OF LEARNING

After understanding the critical periods of brain development, it becomes imperative to learn the windows of learning during the early years of a child as the quality of experience in the first three years has got deep and ever lasting impact on how the brain gets wired.

Windows of learning or opportunity is defined as the periods when particular experiences were particularly important or when some skills are more easily developed when compared to any other period of life span Several types of research that were done on the brain development and the optimal time to learn skills has concluded that every skill/idea is better learned at a particular period referred to as windows of learning. The period may extend from moderate to long duration. However, care should be taken to see if none of the windows do get missed as the opportunity to learn that skill/idea gets greatly diminished. The following figure provides the Windows of opportunity for children of 0-6 years.

STRATEGIES TO FOSTER BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Though the child is born with their personalities, brain development is something that is determined by more of external events. Though the genes happen to fuel the synapse formation, it is the environment that fine tunes the brain and fosters the synapses to decide on the type of connections to be maintained and that of the type of connections to be pruned. In other words, the synapse used more often gets stronger and stay ingrained in a child’s brain. So, how to create an enriched environment for a child to have an effective and healthy brain development?. This section of the module explains some of the ways to stimulate brain development.

Memory development

The research concludes that children have the potential to form a stable memory to interact with and learn about their environment. Before learning about the ways of aiding children towards memory development, it is rudimentary to know the different types of memory.

1.  Explicit memory (Declarative memory) – It has got two subtypes namely

a. Semantic memory – Recollection of facts

b. Episodic memory – Recollection of experiences

It is the explicit memory that a child starts to exhibit in the first three years of life and of course, it is present even in newborns

2.  Short – term memory – It is the memory stored for a while (app. 15-30 seconds)

3.   Working memory – This type of memory is like computer’s RAM. This is needed for behaviour regulation and problem-solving. Toddlers do have half of the working memory capacity as adults and it improves with age and practice.

4.  Long-term memory – It is the memory that is stored indefinitely.

A newborn’s memory starts relatively fuzzy but grows slowly over their preschool period. Babies show the preference for their mother’s voice shortly after birth is a good example of the presence of memory at birth. The process of memory development is slow in the early years, and it cannot be speeded up. However certain memory fostering strategies can help the child to improve his memory potential. They are

• By asking the child to say a story as it is a powerful tool for self-discovery, communication and of course memory.
• By repeating certain/idea or skill, the synapse gets strengthened in the brain
• Using associations, connections and acronyms make an idea more memorable.

  Development of logical reasoning

The normal part of early childhood development is to make decisions by incomplete or incorrect logic and reasoning. However, it is the responsibility of the teachers and parents to provide proper instruction and encouragement in making decisions with correct logic and reasoning. Some of the activities that do stimulate the child’s brain are listed below

• Counting

Counting objects is a sort of brain exercise for children of three years and older. Though the child has difficulty in understanding the concept of counting, it is imperative to provide the related learning opportunity for the young mind

• Spot the difference

Help children recognize patterns by providing them activities of identifying similarities and differences

• Sensory activity

Hands on activity that stimulate the sense are significant for the working of the little brain. By the rapid formation of synapses sending and receiving information happens at a faster rate. Hence small children have to be encouraged to use their senses with colours, music, foods, texture etc.

• Teach children to ask questions

Once the child gets to explore and experiment things with his senses, it is very normal to ask questions starting with why?. Do encourage and help them in asking right questions.

• Encourage children to solve everyday problems

For any simple everyday problems to be faced by the child, stimulate their brain by asking an alternative for that particular situation, for which the child reacts better.

Emotional development

Emotional development regarding its intelligence or maturity is a crucial indicator for a well-adjusted member of the society. The reaction and response to emotion serve as an integral part of every developing brain. The child starts to react to other’s emotion shortly after birth. So create a loving and trustworthy atmosphere for the child by encouraging them to treat others in the way as they would like to be treated. The most important element to be emotionally intelligent for any human being is empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand the way that someone else feels.

Parents and teachers should remember an important fact that the development of emotional intelligence depends on the way that the child is being rewarded or punished. So it becomes significant for them to understand the important stages that the baby goes through and thereby parents and teachers could respond to the great events appropriately.

• By 2-3 months the baby starts to smile socially or even cry to grab your attention
• By 9-10 months the long term and the short term memory gets improved, and new synapses get formed which further leads to the feeling of ‘separation anxiety.’
• By 18 months – 2 years the child understands the concept of right and wrong and moreover the improvement in the language provides a better context for the child to explore his own emotions and relate to the emotion of others. It is at this time the foundation for emotional skills such as empathy, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence is laid.
•  By 3-4 years the child becomes social with other children. When rightly directed they learn to share toys and take turns in playing games with their peers.

By understanding the origin and emotionality in children, it is necessary to provide them a needed trustworthy environment to be emotionally intelligent. Also, teach the children to label and talk out their emotions.

Development of language

A very little assistance can have a quick progress in the speech and language development of a child. Board books and fun stories of early childhood literature can provide additional support to a young child’s growing brain towards the language domain. Also reading to the child can start early to foster language development.

By 18 months every child experiences a sudden growth spurt in the area of the brain that involves language. They rapidly expand their vocabulary during this period, and hence it is the responsibility of the parents to introduce their child to as many words as possible.

Also, it is at this period a child has to be exposed to bilingualism. The benefits of child learning more than one language at a time are

• Improves cognitive skills
• Facilitates effective communication with more people
• Delays the onset of dementia
• Provides a broader perspective to explore and express several ideas

Better social interaction

Human beings are social creatures. Hence social interactions have got a significant effect on the brain development. Once this reality is recognized every parent or a caregiver should provide activities wherein the children get actively engaged with other people around them. They need a lot of interaction as it stimulates their language centre in the brain.

Enrolment in preschool programmes

Though schooling for children in preschool programmes is not compulsory, several studies have observed that children who are enrolled in preschool are good in their cognitive skills, with improved readiness capacity. Also, the risk of developmental delays was at a minimal rate when compared to children who are not enrolled in preschools.

Proper diet

Diet takes up a prominent role in brain development because of two reasons. The first one is that brain requires more energy and balanced nutrients to develop and work properly. Secondly, the period of early childhood itself is considered to be a period of rapid development. A diet with supply of nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, and minerals like iron is much essential for a child. Some of the brain-building foods are

• Eggs for protein
• Leafy greens for vitamins
• Fish for Omega 3 fatty acids.

Physical exercise

The overall health of the body is highly correlated with the health of the brain. Exercise during early childhood period definitely could improve the cognitive function. Do encourage an active lifestyle for the child by engaging him in sports and other play activities.

Provide novel experiences

Expose children to a variety of new ideas, objects, and experiences that help them in stimulating their brains. Also, provide them with lots of interactive experiences appropriate for their age.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, this module would have made you realize the fact that human brain is an infinitely complex organ, undergoing rapid changes and forming new synaptic connections in the early years of life particularly during 0-6 years. Though the development of the brain is being influenced by many factors including a child’s relationships, experiences and environment, the parent and the preschool teacher can play a crucial role in fostering the activity of the brain by providing suitable stimulating and enriching activities appropriate for their age. Hence every parent and a facilitator should understand that the relationships and positive experiences given to a child shape his/her developing brain. The needs of the child should be met with empathy, guidance, and love.

                                   LOVE HELPS GROW A CHILD’S BRAIN

Web links

• https://www.zerotothree.org/espanol/brain-development
• www.urbanchildinstitute.org/why-0-3/baby-and-brain
• https://developingchild.harvard.edu › Science › Key Concepts