1. What Brain Science Tells Us about Why the Early Years are So Important
Silvia A. Bunge, Ph.D.
Professor in Psychology & Neuroscience
University of California at Berkeley

2. Three Core Concepts of Development1
Brain Architecture Is Established Early in Life and Supports Lifelong Learning, Behavior, and Health
Stable, Caring Relationships and “Serve and Return” Interaction Shape Brain Architecture 2
Toxic Stress in the Early Years of Life Can Derail Healthy Development 3
Coming up next are three very short videos from the Center on the Developing Child. Each video shows the science behind one of these three core concepts in early childhood development. Together, they explain how we know that early experiences become built into our bodies and brains, for better or worse.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011).
Healthy Child Development

3. Brain architecture
Early experiences build the ”foundation” of the maturing brain
Fixing the foundation is harder once the house is built
The early years of life matter because early experiences affect the architecture of the maturing brain.
As it emerges, the quality of that architecture establishes either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the development and behavior that follows –
(Adapted)

4. What affects child outcomes?
Wrong question!
“Nature” or “Nurture?”
What we experience & what we do profoundly influence who we are & what we can achieve
Of course, genes are important, but the environment regulates which genes are expressed & when
Nature and Nurture
Gene x environment interactions
It’s nature and nurture.

5. Prenatal brain development
Unfolds according to a master plan (regulated by genes)
as long as there are no major threats to the fetus

6. Negative influences on prenatal brain development
CHILD Research Center
Negative influences on prenatal brain development
Counterintuitive effects: e.g. alcohol vs. cocaine ----
Alcohol and other substances of abuse
Severity of effects in adults may not predict effects on fetal development (Welch-Carre, 2005)
Exposure to toxins
Severe maternal stress
Higher rates of ADHD and autism
(Bevesdorf et al., 2005; Ronald et al., 2010)
Nutrition
Iron
Folate
Choline – may counter effects of alcohol exposure and improve cognitive outcomes in Down’s Syndrome

7. Brain development after birth
The key structures are in place
Very few neurons are created after around age 1
But the brain keeps growing... So, what changes?

8. A closer look at the brain

9. Synapses: points of communication between neurons
The brain has trillions of synapses – and a 1-year-old has far more than an adult!
Babies form new brain connections very rapidly, & have a remarkable capacity to learn from their surroundings (for better and for worse)

10. Brain plasticity Plasticity (noun):
The quality of being easily shaped or molded
The adaptability of an organism to changes in its environment
Sculpture is called a ‘plastic art’
The developing brain is remarkably plastic; this is the source of both its power & its vulnerability

11. Environmental influences on child brain development
Some are strongly related to income

12. Brain structure is related to socioeconomic status
Experiences of higher vs. lower SES children differ along many dimensions
Multiple studies show brain differences - on average
Gray matter volume at age 3
Adapted from Hanson et al., PLoS One, 2013

13. White matter pathways are strengthened over childhood, building brain networks
Blue: language-related pathway
Yellow: motor pathway

14. Windows of maximal brain plasticity
A cognitive system is most sensitive to experience while the underlying brain circuitry is developing
Higher Cognitive Functions
(Self-regulation, memory, reasoning, decision-making)
Language
Sensory Pathways
Basic Emotions
Critical or Sensitive periods
This conceptual graph shows how different sets of skills develop at different times in the brain, and how more complex skills build on the more basic skills that came before. Circuits build on circuits, and skills beget skills.
Note that the prenatal period and first year of life are extended in this graph to show more clearly how much growth occurs in this time frame. Note that the rapid proliferation of neural connections is followed by a drop-off – that’s the natural process of pruning, which helps the brain become more efficient by eliminating connections that are not being used.
This is critical when we consider the timing of our public investments—the brain is doing its formative building and even pruning at a very young age, even before public school begins. It’s critical for those circuits that are supposed to be built at each stage to be used well and frequently for them to provide a strong foundation for the more complex circuits that come later.
Source: Nelson, C.A. (2000). Change and continuity in neurobehavioral development. Infant Behavior and Development, 22, 415–429.
Birth
(Months)
(Years)
Adapted from Nelson, 2000

15. A critical period for visual development
Children born with cataracts in both eyes are heavily visually impaired or blind… UNLESS the cataracts are operated on right away
They should be removed by 8 weeks of age to achieve the best visual outcomes (American Academy of Opthalmology)
As science & medicine continue to advance, it may become possible to restore vision later… BUT it will be more effortful & have a lower chance of success than if the problem is addressed early

16. A critical period for socioemotional development
CHILD Research Center
A critical period for socioemotional development
The early environment particularly affects early-developing functions. For example, basic emotional processing is carried out by early-developing structures deep in the brain, like the amygdala.
Neglectful or abusive caregiving in the first few years of life has profound, long-lasting effects because it perturbs the development of this system
Tottenham & Gabard-Durnham, Curr Op Psych, 2017
The brain network underlying attachment & socio-emotional functioning can be profoundly affected by neglectful or abusive caregiving in the first few years of life
(Nelson, Fox, and Zeaneh, Romania’s Abandoned Children, 2014)

17. Three Core Concepts of Development1
Brain Architecture Is Established Early in Life and Supports Lifelong Learning, Behavior, and Health 2
Stable, Caring Relationships and “Serve and Return” Interaction Shape Brain Architecture 3
Toxic Stress in the Early Years of Life Can Derail Healthy Development
Coming up next are three very short videos from the Center on the Developing Child. Each video shows the science behind one of these three core concepts in early childhood development. Together, they explain how we know that early experiences become built into our bodies and brains, for better or worse.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011).
Healthy Child Development

18. Relationships are profoundly important for shaping brain architecture
Young children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures, and adults respond in kind
These “serve and return" interactions are essential for healthy brain development
We need systems that support the quality of relationships in early care settings, communities, and homes
Coming up next are three very short videos from the Center on the Developing Child. Each video shows the science behind one of these three core concepts in early childhood development. Together, they explain how we know that early experiences become built into our bodies and brains, for better or worse.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011).

19. “Serve-and-return” shapes brain architecture
White matter pathways are shaped by language exposure at home
Recorded communication in the home for a weekend
4-6-year-olds who had more “conversational turns” with adults have stronger white matter integrity in language-related white matter pathways
parents recorded
two consecutive weekend days of audio from the child’s perspective
via the Language Environmental Analysis (LENA) Pro system
(Gilkerson et al., 2017). LENA software automatically processes the recordings
and estimates the number of words spoken by an adult in the
child’s vicinity (“adult words), the number of utterances the key child
made (“child utterances”), and the number of dyadic conversational
turns, defined as a discrete pair of consecutive adult and child utterances
in any order, with no more than 5 s of separation (“conversational
turns”). As such, conversational turns measure the contiguous, linguistic
interaction between children and adults. Running totals for each speech
category were calculated for each consecutive 60 min across the 2 d in 5
min increments (e.g., 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M., 7:05 A.M. to 8:05 A.M.,
etc.), and the per-participant highest hourly total of adult words, child
Romeo et al., J Neurosci, 2018

21. Three Core Concepts of Development1
Brain Architecture Is Established Early in Life and Supports Lifelong Learning, Behavior, and Health 2
Stable, Caring Relationships and “Serve and Return” Interaction Shape Brain Architecture
Toxic Stress in the Early Years of Life Can Derail Healthy Development 3
Coming up next are three very short videos from the Center on the Developing Child. Each video shows the science behind one of these three core concepts in early childhood development. Together, they explain how we know that early experiences become built into our bodies and brains, for better or worse.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011).
Healthy Child Development

23. Toxic stress affects the developing brain
Learning how to cope with moderate, short-lived stress can build a healthy stress response system
Toxic stress—when the body’s stress response system is activated excessively—can weaken developing brain architecture
Without caring adults to buffer children, toxic stress associated with extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, or severe maternal depression can have long-term consequences for learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health
Introduction: This final 90-second video shows what the biology of adversity can tell us now about how healthy development can be derailed, which can lead to lifelong consequences like those depicted in previous slides.
Key points: Learning how to cope with adversity is an important part of healthy development. While moderate, short-lived stress responses in the body can promote growth, toxic stress is the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system in the absence of protective adult support. Without caring adults to buffer children, the unrelenting stress caused by extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, or severe maternal depression can weaken the architecture of the developing brain, with long-term consequences for learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011).

24. Keys to Healthy Development
A balanced approach to emotional, social, cognitive, and language development, starting in the earliest years of life
Supportive relationships and positive learning experiences that begin with parents but are strengthened by others outside the home
Because the areas of the brain dedicated to language and other cognitive functions are interconnected with those devoted to emotions and behavioral control, so should our early learning and child development programs take a balanced approach to emotional, social, cognitive, and language development, rather than emphasizing just one area.
Because supportive relationships with adults and serve & return interaction build brain architecture, it’s critical that we support the ability of parents and other caregivers to provide those relationships and learning experiences for young children.
And because toxic stress can actually derail developing brain architecture, it’s especially important that we intervene early to ease possible sources of toxic stress and buffer children from it. 
Highly specialized interventions as early as possible for children and families experiencing significant adversity

25. And of course there is a lot more on both the science of development and interventions at the Center’s web site.