Question

2. Discuss the concepts of emotional expressions and relationships in early development (1-2 paragraphs)

6. Discuss the process of brain development in early childhood. How ford the concept of nature v. Nurture relate to this issue? (1-2 paragraphs)

Answer 1

• 6.The early childhood years are a period of rapid change in the brain. During early and middle childhood, the brain forms and refines a complex network of connections in the brain through synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination.
  
• The process of forming connections is biologically driven, but experiences also promote synapse formation. The brain produces many more synapses than it will ultimately use. Researchers describe this process as synaptic overproduction. This rapid synapse formation continues throughout early childhood.
• The more novel and unusual the experience the more activity it will create in the brain and the more new synapses will be created to store that experience.
• This process called pruning is actually an important part of our brains ability to mold itself, and creating new synapses while letting go of old unused ones is an important part of how we each become unique people with distinct personalities.
• Take the example of language. Most babies will not start talking until between 12 and 18 months of age, and their vocabulary will continue to grow at an amazing speed quadrupling between 2 and 3 years of age – however important parts of the language areas found in the front and temporal lobe regions of the brain are consolidated already during the baby’s first year.
• The process of myelination also continues during early childhood and is the major cause of the increase in a child's brain size. In the first four years of life, the brain increases to 80% of its adult weight of 2.6 - 3.3 pounds (1200-1500 grams).
• Just about every aspect of the child’s brain development is governed by both nature and nurture. Nature refers to things like the genetic traits inherited from our parents and grandparents, while nurture refers to the different environmental factors that have influenced brain development over the years.
• Nature generally refers to the genetic traits that the child’s brain has acquired from both yourself and your ancestors. For example, if the entire family excelled in mathematics and science, the child may well possess the genetic makeup required to excel in this particular field. This does not necessarily mean that the child will develop these attributes, but he or she simply stands a chance of inheriting them.
• Nurture refers to how intelligence or brain development is cultivated by parents, teachers, and the child. For example, choosing to invest in a sound foundational education for the child at a top preschool can have a positive influence on the child’s brain development. Another way to nurture the child’s brain development is to incorporate a healthy, balanced diet at home, avoiding processed foods and sugars where possible.
• A nurturing environment allows children to flourish off of all the positive influences that are being presented in their lives. Although some children may be born with an extremely high academic capacity, however that potential could never be sustained without it being properly developed in a supportive environment.
  
• An example of a child that has not been able to develop correctly due to a harmful environment is feral children. A feral child is classified as a human that has grown up in the wild without a strong resource of human contact.
• These individuals do not know language or human customs; they are completely bizarre to what we know. They did not have a healthy environment with human contact to grow up in and unfortunately mental retardation has occurred.
• There was a lack of affection between caregiver and child and that impacted the child crucially. Family life is the single most important factor in development; environment affects a child deeply and permanently.
• In conclusion, nurture has a much deeper impact on children that nature does. Even though they are both important when it comes to cognitive, emotional and social ability; nurture ultimately trumps nature. A healthy and encouraging environment must be provided in order for a child to correctly develop.
• Due to time limit,remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation