The brain’s capacity for change decreases with age.
In the absence of such responses-or if the responses are unreliable or inappropriate-the brain’s architecture does not form as expected, which can lead to disparities in learning and behavior. Young children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures, and adults respond with the same kind of vocalizing and gesturing back at them. Scientists now know a major ingredient in this developmental process is the “ serve and return” relationship between children and their parents and other caregivers in the family or community. The interactive influences of genes and experience shape the developing brain.The timing is genetic, but early experiences determine whether the circuits are strong or weak. In the proliferation and pruning process, simpler neural connections form first, followed by more complex circuits. Connections proliferate and prune in a prescribed order, with later, more complex brain circuits built upon earlier, simpler circuits. Sensory pathways like those for basic vision and hearing are the first to develop, followed by early language skills and higher cognitive functions. After this period of rapid proliferation, connections are reduced through a process called pruning, so that brain circuits become more efficient. In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second. Early experiences affect the quality of that architecture by establishing either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health and behavior that follow. The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood. Brains are built over time, from the bottom up.
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