The infant brain: Nuture vs. Neglect

The growth of the baby’s brain “literally requires positive interaction between mother and infant. The development of cerebral circuits depends on it.”

Prof Schore points out that if a baby is not treated properly in the first two years of life, the genes for various aspects of brain function, including intelligence, cannot operate, and may not even come into existence. Nature and nurture cannot be disentangled: the genes a baby has will be profoundly affected by the way it is treated.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/two-brains-belong-three-year-olds-one-much-bigger/

Take a careful look at the image of two brains on this page. The picture is of the brains of two three-year-old children. It’s obvious that the brain on the left is much bigger than the one on the right. The image on the left also has fewer spots, and far fewer dark “fuzzy” areas.

To neurologists who study the brain, and who have worked out how to interpret the images, the difference between these two brains is both remarkable and shocking. The brain on the right lacks some of the most fundamental areas present in the image on the left.

Those deficits make it impossible for that child to develop capacities that the child on the left will have: the child on the right will grow into an adult who is less intelligent, less able to empathise with others, more likely to become addicted to drugs and involved in violent crime than the child on the left. The child on the right is much more likely to be unemployed and to be dependent on welfare, and to develop mental and other serious health problems.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
While I am sure there's more to the story than this - this is consistent with what we've seen with children from Eastern Europe orphanages, where the children are cared for, but do not experience much - if any - tender care from their caregivers. Rooms full of infants are eerily *quiet* - because the babies have long learned that if they cry, no one will come. They take care of them, feed them, teach them to walk, sometimes to read and play - but there's very little personal interaction, because they're understaffed and there's a societal attitude that says orphans are inferior.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Kids born to mothers addicted to drugs really have a rough start in life.
 

lucky_bee

RBF expert
I'd be interested to see a detailed list of the exact "nurturing" the child on the left received. Everyone has different definitions of a well-cared for child. I'm talking things like, crying it out sometimes, breastfeeding, adult interaction, other child interaction - daycare/SAHM, older and/or younger siblings, diet, etc. All of those factors. Everyone obsesses over these things and become very opinionated over what they think is best for someone else's kid. I'm a firm believer of doing what you feels right for you and your child/ren (obviously until up to the point of neglect/abuse), but I'd still be curious to research the brain patterns of children in vastly different environments that are both still considered nurturing.
 
Top