> Charlie Bell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > Testing and observation is only rational in the > modern sense. It's > totally unconscious normally, and it's how we make > sense of the world > at the most basic interactive level.
This very long article (which I have mostly scanned) focuses on early brain development 'as a Myth:' (I should note that I don't know what this Foundation's philosophical POV is, but from the article's conclusion, it certainly has an unscientific agenda. <snort> Ah - they fund the 21st Century Science Initiative...) While he presents a lot of data and correctly points out the limitations of our current knowlege, and the near-hysteria of some parents to junp-start their babies' intellectual development, the twist at the end is dishonest: http://www.jsmf.org/about/j/neural_connections.htm "...The hundreds of thousands of measurements that neuroscientists have made that document a pattern of change in synaptic density in our brains over our lifetimes allow them to generate and support general hypotheses about how synapses support behavior. However, there is still much work to be done before we can move from general hypotheses to formulating and establishing specific relationships between particular changes in the brain and the appearance, acquisition, or learning of specific skills and behaviors. We have every reason to believe that behavior and intellect do ultimately depend, somehow, on how brain cells are connected. We are far from knowing exactly how the capacity for specific behaviors - such as negotiating a busy street, recognizing a familiar face, understanding a voice-mail message, reading TV Guide - or even the development of representational memory depends on specific neural connections... ...This is what has happened with the little that we know about early synapse formation and modification. This time around, uncritical acceptance and misinterpretation of what neuroscientists do know about these processes taking them as the neural basis of behavior -- have given us the first strand in the Myth of the First Three Years. The neuroscience and its interpretations that I have reviewed here are the basis for a cautionary statement by Carla Shatz: "Much research remains to be done before anyone can conclusively determine the types of sensory input that encourage the formation of particular neural connections in newborns."44 Parents and caretakers should take some solace from this. Brainpower does not depend on the number of synapses formed before age 3. Environmental input, including stimulation provided by parents, neither initiates early synapse formation nor influences when or at what level synaptic densities peak.*** If the development of representational memory is a suitable example, the brain develops, synaptic densities peak, and elementary behaviors first appear. Rather than this marking the end of the time we have to "build better brains," it seems more likely to mark only the beginning of along developmental and maturational period during which environmental stimulation and experience do matter." ***Thread crossover, re logic and disproving. From "If" to "seems more likely" --indeed! While I personally think that trying to cram information into babies is a waste of time and effort, from what we do know of primate infant development, early experiences and environment _are_ crucial to later life. He's picked out one example - representational memory development - as the gold standard, yet criticized others for picking their own (like visual processing) that support the 'early' view. Of course, we know that there are robust individuals who will function or even shine despite terrible early childhood conditions, but also evident are those whose lives are permanently impaired (e.g. the Romanian 'experiment'). [Incidentally, this might partially explain that 'first 8 weeks to attach to humans' WRT kittens that I've mentioned previously: "...In 1975, Brian Cragg first documented a phase of rapid increase in synapses, followed by a phase of synapse-elimination in the visual area of the cat brains.8 In the cat, some synapse formation occurs before birth, but Cragg saw that there was a period of rapid synapse formation from eight to 37 days following birth. He observed peak synaptic densities at around the age of seven weeks in kittens. There followed a protracted "pruning" phase, during which synaptic densities and related neural measures decreased to adult levels..." Ok, this is more balanced (based on a Surgeon General report), but still isn't what I was looking for. <sigh> Later, I guess. http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/comprehensivesites/l/blsgc3s1.htm "Chapter 3 - Children and Mental Health Spanning roughly 20 years, childhood and adolescence are marked by dramatic changes in physical, cognitive, and social-emotional skills and capacities. Mental health in childhood and adolescence is defined by the achievement of expected developmental cognitive, social, and emotional milestones and by secure attachments, satisfying social relationships, and effective coping skills..." Mentions several theories of development. Chapter 2 is more detailed on the neuroscience. http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/comprehensivesites/l/blsgc2s1.htm#neuroscience Bob Z., do you have a preferred on-line article WRT early brain development to recommend? Debbi who is quite annoyed b/c she was searching for readable science-based articles, not those projecting an agenda __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
