Childhood stimulation key to brain development, study finds

twenty years, research has shown that the most critical aspects of developing cortex stimulation in late adolescence was four years

a childhood surrounded by books and educational toys positive trace in the brain of a healthy person in their twenties, a research study for a period of two decades has shown.

Scientists have discovered that mental stimulation, but a child is about four years, the most developed regions of the brain dedicated to language and cognition will be in the coming decades.

is known that childhood experience affects brain development, but scientists have had evidence of what has usually come from the extreme cases, such as children who have been abused or trauma. Martha Farah, director of the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the latest study, wanted to know how a normal range of childhood experiences may influence brain development.

Farah

data from surveys of family life and brain scans of 64 people conducted over 20 years. Their findings, presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans, showed that cognitive stimulation parents at the age of four years has been the key factor in predicting the evolution of different parts of cortex - the layer of gray matter on the outside of the brain -. 15 years later

Participants were followed from the age of four. Investigators visited their homes and recorded a number of details about their lives to measure cognitive stimulation, details such as the number of children's books they had, they had toys that teach colors, numbers, letters, or whether you played with Real or toy musical instruments.

The researchers also noted the participants' parental rearing "- the amount of heat, support or care of the child has parents. The researchers conducted the same survey, when the children were eight years. When participants were aged between 17 and 19 years, had their brains scanned.

• Farah
results showed that the development of the cortex in adolescence strongly correlated with cognitive stimulation of a child at the age of four years. All other factors, including the parents of all ages and cognitive stimulation in eight years - had no effect. Farah said that his results are proof of the existence of a sensitive period early in the life of a person that determines the optimal development of the cerebral cortex. "It really supports the idea that the early years are particularly influential."

As the brain matures during childhood and adolescence, the brain cells in the cortex are cut and as useless cells are removed, the thin crust. Farah cognitive stimulation revealed that more than one participant had at the age of four years, thinner, and therefore more developed, its bark. "Almost anything that resembles the normal developmental process is either accelerated or increased more for children with cognitive stimulation better," he said.

The area most affected is the left temporal lateral cortex, which is on the surface of the brain, behind the ear. This region is involved in semantic memory, processing the meaning of words and general knowledge about the world.

When participants had their brains scanned in adolescence were also tested and language, Farah said, the finest of its bark, the better their understanding of the language .

Andrea Danese, a clinical professor of child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry at the Institute, Kings College London, said the study suggests that the experience of a family could have an effect on brain development, family affair, perhaps genetic predisposition, the best brains. Danese added that this type of research has highlighted the "important role" that parents and caregivers have to play that children develop their cognitive, social and emotional, providing secure personal interactions, predictable, stimulating and tailored to Children.

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