Competency 7

Examine the role of brain development in early learning (conception through age three)

The brain develops rapidly during infancy. An infant's head should always be protected and
babies should never be shaken. Shaken baby syndrome, which includes brand swelling and
hemorrhaging, affect hundreds of babies in the United States each year. Scientist analyze and
categorize areas of the brain in numerous ways. We are most concerned with the portion farthest
from the spinal cord, known as the forebrain, which includes the cerebral cortex and several
structures beneath it. The cerebral cortex has two hemispheres which scientist distinguish four
main areas, called lobes, in each hemisphere. Frontal lobes are involved in voluntary movement,
thinking, personality, emotion, memory, sustained attention, and intentionality or purpose.
Occipital lobes function in vision. Temporal lobes have an active role in hearing, language
processing, and memory. Parietal lobes play important roles in registering spatial location,
maintaining attention, and administering motor control. The type of information handled by
neurons depends on whether they are in the left or right hemisphere of the cortex. Speech and
grammar, for example, depend on activity in the left hemisphere in most people; humor and the
use of metaphors depend on activity in the right hemisphere. This specialization of function in
one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other is called lateralization. Labeling people as leftbrained because they are logical thinkers and right-brained because they are creative thinkers
does not correspond to the way the brains hemispheres work. Within the brain, the type of nerve
cells called neurons send electrical and chemical signals, communicating with each other. A
neuron is a nerve cell that handles information processing. Extending from the neurons cell body
are two types of fibers known as axons and dendrites. The axon carries signals away from the

cell body and dendrites carry signals toward it. The myelin sheath, which is a layer of fat cells,
incases many axons. Myelination also is involved in providing energy to neurons and in
facilitating communication. At the end of the axon are terminal buttons, which release chemicals
called neurotransmitters into synapses, tiny gaps between neurons fibers. Chemical interactions
and synopsis connect axons and dendrites, allowing information to pass from neuron to neuron.