Environmental Experience and Plasticity of the Developing Brain

Environmental Experience and Plasticity of the Developing Brain goes beyond the genetic basis of neurodevelopment. Chapters illuminate the external factors that can dramatically impact the brain early in life and, consequently, the eventual accomplishment of developmental milestones and the construction of adult behavior and personality. Authored and edited by leaders in this rapidly growing field, Environmental Experience and Plasticity of the Developing Brain not only surveys preexisting literature on the effects of environment versus genetics, but also discusses more recent studies on the impacts of neurodevelopment in terms of maternal stimulation, environmental enrichment and sensory deprivation. The book also includes key examples of environmental impacts on preexisting genetic syndromes leading to developmental disabilities. Focus is also given to the consequences of early adverse experience in primates, as well as neurobiological and behavioral consequences in institutionalized human children and the reversibility of such consequences. Environmental Experience and Plasticity of the Developing Brain encompasses a broad area of research in the field of developmental neurobiology and offers a unique combination of different examples of environmental factors affecting brain development and behavior.

List of contributors, vii 1 Environmental enrichment and brain development, 1 Alessandro Sale, Nicoletta Berardi, and Lamberto Maffei 2 Epigenetic control of visual cortex development and plasticity, 27 Paola Tognini, Elena Putignano, and Tommaso Pizzorusso 3 Gene–environment interactions in the etiology of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, 47 Mari A. Kondo and Anthony J. Hannan 4 Critical periods and neurodevelopmental brain disorders, 73 Rhiannon M. Meredith 5 Maternal care and DNA methylation, 99 Moshe Szyf 6 Neurobiology and programming capacity of attachment learning to nurturing and abusive caregivers, 117 Tania L. Roth, Gordon A. Barr, Michael J. Lewis, and Regina M. Sullivan 7 Early environmental manipulations and long-term effects on brain neurotrophin levels, 139 Francesca Cirulli and Enrico Alleva 8 Effects of genes and early experience on the development of primate behavior and stress reactivity, 161 Sean P. Coyne and Dario Maestripieri 9 Institutional deprivation and neurobehavioral development in infancy, 185 Jenalee R. Doom and Megan R. Gunnar 10 Impact of infantile massage on brain development, 215 Andrea Guzzetta and Giovanni Cioni Index, 225