Brain Development

Brain Development

PSY221

Developmental Research Paper

The purpose of this paper is to cover brain development that occurs all through out our lifespan development. I will discuss the brain development in every stage, such as, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the elderly. Our brains start to develop when we our in womb, and does not stop until we die. It is so interesting to see how the brain works and affects our growth developmentally, cognitively, and physically.

Brain development begins while the fetus is in the mother’s womb and continues on throughout all the stages of our life’s developmental span. An infant can hear, feel, see, and touch, and from all of these senses the brain is stimulated. Brain stimulation in early infancy and baby stages, creates a healthy pallet for the brain to continue to develop. “Experimental studies of behavior of infants and young children have already begun to reveal some important properties of the development of attention control networks on distress and soothing. In one study and 6-month-old infants became distressed by presentation of sound and light stimuli” (Posner, Rothbart, Sheese, Voekler, 2012). Environment plays such a large key role in an infant’s brain development. A lullaby song to a baby can soothe their nerves, and calm them. In my opinion, infants need to be spoken to, and talked to as if in conversation. This leads to better language development skills as the child grows into a toddler.

Language development is so very important in the early childhood years. In early childhood the brain is continuing to develop and grow, however, at a slower rate than in infancy, it is still very crucial that a healthy growth is occurring during this time. Many neurological milestones are reached between 2 and 6 years of age. During these years of early childhood, the growth of the corpus callosum develops, which allows the cerebral cortex to function properly. At this stage, it develops more than any...