This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Eisenberg, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Eisenberg, L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Premature & Newborn
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

PEDIATRICS Vol. 103 No. 5 May 1999, pp. 1031-1035

COMMENTARY:
Experience, Brain, and Behavior: The Importance of a Head Start

Received Oct 20, 1998; accepted Oct 26, 1998.

Leon Eisenberg

Harvard Medical School Boston, MA 02115-6019

Nature and nurture stand in reciprocity, not opposition. All children inherit---along with their parents' genes---their parents, their peers, and the communities they live in. Development unfolds in an ecologic and a social setting which, just like the genes, is decisive in shaping the organism. The social niche is a crucial link between parents and offspring, an envelope of life chances. It is high time to replace the false dichotomy between nature versus nurture by a more inclusive trio: nature, niche, and nurture.

Major brain pathways are specified in the genome, but the learned connections between brain and behavior are fashioned by social experience. The luxuriant overgrowth of neurons and their processes in embryonic and early life provides the substrate for environmentally induced structural change. Activity selects out the synapses that will persist; inactivity results in regression and apoptosis. Learning begins in utero and accelerates after birth. Responsive interactions between infants, their parents, and other caretakers is crucial to biological no less than psychosocial development. Comprehensive pediatric care can help provide a head start to enhance brain development and put the mind on the road to adaptive maturity.

.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 PediatricsHome page
K. L. Peters, R. J. Rosychuk, L. Hendson, J. J. Cote, C. McPherson, and J. M. Tyebkhan
Improvement of Short- and Long-Term Outcomes for Very Low Birth Weight Infants: Edmonton NIDCAP Trial
Pediatrics, October 1, 2009; 124(4): 1009 - 1020.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 FocusHome page
E. Parens and J. Johnston
Understanding the Agreements and Controversies Surrounding Childhood Psychopharmacology
Focus, July 1, 2008; 6(3): 322 - 330.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol.Home page
J. D. Soderholm, D. A. Yates, M. G. Gareau, P.-C. Yang, G. MacQueen, and M. H. Perdue
Neonatal maternal separation predisposes adult rats to colonic barrier dysfunction in response to mild stress
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol, December 1, 2002; 283(6): G1257 - G1263.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]