It is widely known that the most critical time for human brain development
occurs within the first few months of life. One question that is
constantly asked is "Do early influences either good or bad effect the brain's
development process?". Scientists have shown results proving that the
following factors will affect the way the child's mind develops:
Recently, there have been more studies concentrating on the way that the
brain uses cortisol. Cortisol, along with other hormones are important in
the way that the brain handles extreme situations. The production of these
hormones increases during these situations, helping to create extra energy the
body may need. They also suppress the body's immune system response for a
short period of time, which helps heighten our attention span.
Research has shown that people who suffer from depression produce an excess of cortisol that stays in their body for an extended amount of time, which may
cause a negative impact on the person's health. This long excess of
cortisol has been known to shrink parts of the brain that help organize our
memory.
In studies conducted with baby rats, scientists show that by removing the
babies from their mothers for fifteen minutes, this causes the mother's maternal instinct of licking and grooming the baby upon return to occur every time the
baby was placed back with the mother. This grooming instinct from the
mother lead to somehow altering the brain's chemistry in the baby that had a
positive effect. It would make the baby act better in a stressful
situation. This study concluded that even though the babies could handle
the stressful situation properly, their reaction to the situation was not
extreme. This study also shows that the babies who were handled by humans
causing the mother to groom the rats more often, had the same reaction as the
babies whose mother cleaned them excessively.
When the baby rats were taken from their mother's side for three hours a day,
upon their return the mother's
instinct was to ignore the baby, at least for a short period of time.
This is in stark contrast to those babies who were only away from their mothers
for fifteen minutes. The rats that were removed from their mother for
three hours exhibited a more noticeable and excessive stress response. The
responses from this test appeared to last until the babies were full-grown.
Although the results of the study are not very reassuring, research continues to see if
the response from the babies who were away from their mother for three hours is
a reversible response. In one example, these neglected babies are placed
in a cage with a foster mother rat, who grooms the baby like the mother did to
the baby that was only gone fifteen minutes. So far, the theory that the
foster mother grooming the baby has proven to help reverse the effects of the
birth mother ignoring the baby. Other situations that helped reverse these
effects include:
Research has shown another form of long-term change that is linked to the
early stages of life, such as when the baby rat lived in a shoebox or a very
small cage, with little or no source of stimulation. In this study they
found that the rats raised in the shoebox or small cage, had differences in the
makeup of their brain from those rats who were brought up in an environment
that stimulated their mind. The rats that were brought up with a
stimulated mind, had a more dense network of nerve cells and a thicker cerebral
cortex.
Recently, a study was conducted on infant monkeys, who were raised by mothers
that had problems in obtaining food for their babies. It was found that
the babies whose mothers were having trouble obtaining food, produced extremely
high levels of cortiocotropin releasing factor (CRF). The CRF was found
in their cerebrospinal fluid. This same pattern occurs quite often in
humans who suffer from depression or post traumatic stress disorder. When
the mothers could not find food for their babies, the mother's behavior changed
and became inconsistent with what is considered normal and often led to neglect
of the babies. The babies from these mothers became abnormally anxious in a stressful situation or when placed in a strange environment. The babies
were also more anti-social as adults than normal monkeys.
Although there has been a lot of research in this field, researchers
say it is still too early to draw conclusions about the extent of how our early
lives effect our adult minds. They hope that future research and
interactive studies will help determine just how much early situations help to
develop our adult brain.
Sources:
http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu
http://www.nimh.nih.gov
http://www.unt.edu
http://www.mind.org.uk
http://www.uoregon.edu