Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows From Conception to College (48 page)

neocortex
(also known as
cerebral cortex
)
:
The largest part of the human brain, occupying the great majority of the forebrain and three fourths of total brain volume.

nerve:
A bundle of axons that lead to the brain, spinal cord, a muscle, or another organ or tissue.

neurodegeneration:
A general term referring to progressive loss of structure and function of neurons.

neuron:
Cells of the brain that process information and send it over long distances, including out to the body.

neuropeptide:
A peptide used as a neurotransmitter.

neurotransmitter:
A chemical or peptide used by neurons for signaling.

neurotrophins:
A family of proteins that induces the survival, development, and function of neurons, for instance, by fostering the growth of dendrites.

norepinephrine
(also known as
noradrenaline
)
:
A neurotransmitter secreted by neurons of the locus coeruleus and used to send sudden signals to the rest of the brain concerning alerting to important events.

nucleus:
(1) An organized cluster of neurons with clear boundaries inside the brain; such a cluster outside the brain is called a
ganglion
. (2) The center of a cell, where DNA is found.

occipital lobe:
A major part of the neocortex, located to the back.

olfactory:
Having to do with the sense of smell.

optic chiasm:
A location underneath the brain and behind the eyes, where the two optic nerves meet and partially cross.

orbitofrontal cortex:
A frontal part of the brain surrounding the eye socket (orbit).

parietal lobe:
A major part of the neocortex, located slightly back from the top of the head on both sides.

peptide:
A short chainlike molecule containing two to fifty amino acids; often used as a signaling molecule in the brain and body. Proteins are composed of longer chains (and sometimes lengths in this range as well).

plasticity:
The capacity of neural tissue to change; synaptic plasticity is a change in the properties of synapses, such as the strength of their connection.

pons:
A part of the brainstem found at a similar level as the cerebellum; bracketed by the midbrain above and the medulla below.

prefrontal cortex:
The forwardmost part of the frontal lobe of the neocortex.

premotor cortex:
A part of the neocortex in the frontal lobe, near the top of the head, just forward of the motor cortex; both are structures for planning and carrying out movement.

protein:
A category of molecules found in all living organisms; a chain of amino acids strung together with a specific sequence encoded by a corresponding sequence of DNA. Proteins act in many roles, including as receptors, enzymes, and other vital cell components.

receptor:
A protein that binds to other molecules, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, or other signals.

retina:
A thin sheet of neural tissue found at the back of the eye.

rostral:
Toward the front of the brain or spinal cord along an imaginary axis running from the forehead, bending at the base of the skull, and toward the tailbone. Its opposite is caudal.

sensitive period:
A time in development when experience has a particularly strong or long-lasting effect on the construction of a particular aspect of brain circuitry and the behavior that it controls.

serotonin:
A neurotransmitter secreted by neurons of the raphé nuclei of the brainstem and involved in mood, movement, and sleep.

somatosensory:
Having to do with body surface sensation.

standard deviation:
A statistical measure of the amount of variability in a population. For many common measurements, about two thirds of the measurements are within one standard deviation of the average, and 95 percent are within two standard deviations. For instance, if the average height of twenty-four-month-olds is thirty-four inches with a standard deviation of two inches, then about two thirds of these children are between thirty-two and thirty-six inches in height.

striatum:
A subcortical region that receives input from the neocortex and provides input to the basal ganglia.

subcortical:
A general term referring to most brain structures other than the neocortex.

substantia nigra:
A component of the basal ganglia, containing neurons that synthesize dopamine.

sulcus:
A groove in the neocortical surface between lobes or gyri. See
gyrus
.

superior colliculus:
A brainstem region that is a major target for visual information; the superior colliculus is called the
optic tectum
in nonmammalian vertebrates.

suprachiasmatic nucleus:
A nucleus located above the optic chiasm, and the master clock driving the circadian rhythm.

synapse:
A junction between neurons where communication occurs, most often by the release of neurotransmitter from the axon of one neuron onto receptors in the dendrite of another neuron.

temporal lobe:
A major part of the neocortex, located to the sides near the temples.

testosterone:
A steroid sex hormone made in testes and ovaries; found in larger quantities in males than in females.

thalamus:
A football-shaped structure at the brain’s core, found under the neocortex and containing most pathways to the neocortex.

theory of mind:
The understanding that other individuals have different knowledge and thoughts than you.

ventral:
In the brain, the direction toward the bottom of the head; in the spinal cord, toward the chest. The opposite of dorsal.

ventral tegmental area:
A group of midbrain neurons that secrete dopamine and that send axons throughout many regions of the brain; thought to serve functions relating to reward, motivation, and cognitive function. Near the substantia nigra, where dopaminergic neurons are also found.

white matter:
A type of brain tissue composed entirely of axons, blood vessels, and glia, and whose myelin confers a white appearance.

NOTES

CHAPTER 1 The Five Hidden Talents of Your Baby’s Brain

cats versus dogs: Quinn 2002

syllable boundaries: Saffran, Aslin, and Newport 1996

mobile and ribbon: Rovee-Collier and Barr 2001

properties of objects and agents: Spelke and Kinzler 2007

surprised the object was not solid: Baillargeon, Spelke, and Wasserman 1985

object permanence in three-and-a-half-month-olds: Baillargeon and Wang 2002

Freud discredited: Webster 1995

hands versus sticks: Woodward 1998

circle chasing circle: Gergely et al. 1995

male and female faces: Quinn 2002

early preference for faces: Johnson et al. 1991; Mondloch et al. 1999

early preference for voices: Fernald 1992

infant attention: Colombo 2001

adults influence baby’s attention: Hood, Willen, and Driver, 1998; Reid and Striano 2005

for more on psychology in babies: Bloom 2004; Gopnik 2009

CHAPTER 2 In the Beginning: Prenatal Development

prenatal development: Sanes, Reh, and Harris 2005

autism and hurricanes: Kinney et al. 2008

ice storm and IQ: LaPlante et al. 2008

stress and schizophrenia: Khashan et al. 2008

prenatal drug exposure: Thompson, Levitt, and Stanwood 2009

fish and pregnancy: Hibbeln et al. 2007; Oken et al. 2008; Jones et al. 2009

prescribed drugs and developmental problems: Witter et al. 2009; Gentile 2011

neurodevelopmental disabilities, Norwegian study: Moster, Lie, and Markestad 2008

increase in premature birth: Goldenberg et al. 2008

increased survival contributes to preterm birth statistics: Ananth et al. 2005

thirty-four to thirty-seven-week births, elective induction of labor: Fuchs and Wapner 2006; Engle and Kominiarek 2008

CHAPTER 3 Baby, You Were Born to Learn

characteristics of breast-feeding mothers: Der, Batty, and Deary 2006

higher-quality studies less likely to find an effect: Jain, Concato, and Leventhal 2002

sibling study of breast-feeding and intelligence: Der, Batty, and Deary 2006

another study of sibling pairs: Evenhouse and Reilly, 2005; the authors claim to have found an effect of breast-feeding on cognitive function, but they use an unusually lenient measure of statistical significance (
p
< 0.1). The effect is not significant at
p
< 0.05, the typical scientific standard.

mothers randomly assigned to breast-feeding support program: Kramer et al. 2008

cross-cultural motor development: Adolph, Karasik, and Tamis-LeMonda 2009

practice accelerates motor development: Adolph, Karasik, and Tamis-LeMonda 2009

American nouns versus Korean verbs: Gopnik and Choi 1990

imitation using head or hands: Gergely, Bekkering, and Király 2002

infant brain development: Tau and Peterson 2010

head-eye coordination: Goodkin 1980

infants learn about objects: Gopnik, Meltzoff, and Kuhl 1999

CHAPTER 4 Beyond Nature Versus Nurture

epigenetic modifications: Zhang and Meaney 2010

epigenetic modifications in twins: Wong et al. 2010

epigenetic modifications passed along to offspring: Jablonka and Raz 2009

enrichment and inherited learning ability in mice: Arai et al. 2009

lactose tolerance and milk drinking: Holden and Mace 1997

culture drives evolution: Laland, Odling-Smee, and Myles 2010

heritability of IQ in different environments: Turkheimer et al. 2003

gene-environment interactions: Maccoby 2000; Rutter 2007

Swedish adoptees and criminality: Bohman et al. 1982

CHAPTER 5 Once in a Lifetime: Sensitive Periods

sensitive periods and neural circuits: Knudsen 2004

synapse number in visual cortex: Huttenlocher 1990

synapse density in frontal cortex: Huttenlocher 1979; Huttenlocher and Dabholkar 1997

synapse development in monkeys: Rakic, Bourgeois, and Goldman-Rakic 1994

energy use in children’s brains: Chugani 1998

owl sound localization: Keuroghlian and Knudsen 2007

adult recovery from amblyopia: Levi 2005

CHAPTER 6 Born Linguists

language learning and the brain: Kuhl and Rivera-Gaxiola 2008; Gervain and Mehler 2010

sensitive periods in language learning: Johnson and Newport 1989; Newport, Bavelier, and Neville 2001

bilingual children: Werker and Byers-Heinlein 2008

children who hear more words learn language faster: Hart and Risley, 1995

CHAPTER 7 Beautiful Dreamer

suprachiasmatic nucleus and circadian rhythms: Welsh, Takahashi, and Kay 2010

development of sleep patterns: Roffwarg, Muzio, and Dement 1966; Dement 1974

sleep enhances neural plasticity: Frank, Issa, and Stryker 2001

sleep disorders: Garcia, Rosen, and Mahowald 2001

maternal drinking and sleep: Mennella and Gerrish 1998

getting your baby to sleep: Mennella and Gerrish 1998; Weissbluth 2003

what children dream about: Foulkes 1999; Nir and Tononi 2009

night terrors and tonsillectomy: Guilleminault et al. 2003

naps and learning: Mednick et al. 2002; Mednick and Ehrman 2006

CHAPTER 8 It’s a Girl! Gender Differences

a phase of intense adherence to a sex role: Best and Williams 1993

statistic called
d-prime
:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002182.htm

girls have more sensitive hearing: Kei et al. 1997, d' of 0.26 for infants on a measure of peripheral auditory responsiveness used to assess hearing loss; other reports found a variety of small gender differences or none at all. Note that many of the studies cited to support this idea in popular books were done in adults, not children.