Major Constructs

Introduction: There are several different areas of the brain, and each have their own function, which you can explore here:

• This interactive web tool allows you to explore the brain in 3D, as well as explore different parts of the brain based on function, such as emotion, speech, and smell.
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/3d/index.html

The Developing Brain: Neurons:

• Key Words: Neuron and Synapses. See right hand column for definitions.
• Neurons: Neurons are “nerve cells that store and transfer information” (28). Most neurons are found in the cerebral cortex. Neurons have long fibers called axons and dendrites that are used to connect with other cells. In between the fiber ends are synapses, which are the tiny spaces between neurons.

Source of Image: http://www.apa.org/education/k12/brain-function.aspx#

Neurons By Age:

• Newborns: 100 to 200 billion neurons (each neuron has about 2500 synapses)
• Age 2-3: Each neuron has about 15,000 synapses, which is more than what adults have. Children at this age are “oversupplied with the neurons and synapses that they will need to adapt to their environments” (28). Of all the neurons, only used neurons will survive, and the rest of the unused neurons will be ‘pruned’, which “is necessary and supports cognitive development” (28).

Two kinds of overproduction and pruning processes:

• Experience-Expectant: “synapses are overproduced in certain parts of the brain during certain developmental periods, awaiting (expecting) stimulation)” (29).
• Experience-Dependent: “New synapses are formed in response to neural activity in very localized areas of the brain when the individual is not successful in processing information” (29). 

The Developing Brain: Cerebral Cortex:

• Key Words: Myelination, Lateralization, and Plasticity. See right hand column for definitions.
• The cerebral cortex develops slower than other parts of the brain, and parts of the cerebral cortex develop in the following order:
• Frontal Lobe: Physical motor movement
• Complex senses: vision, hearing
• Frontal Lobe: Higher-order thinking processes
• Temporal Lobe: Emotion and language creation
• Lateralization: each half of the brain controls the other side of the body. For example, “the left hemisphere of the brain is a major factor in language processing, and the right hemisphere handles much of the spatial-visual information and emotions” (30).
• Plasticity: Young children’s brains are not as lateralized as adults, and show more plasticity, or adaptability. Through development, different parts of the brain take over.