The early development of the human brain is extremely important for setting the table, if you will, for potential future accomplishment.
The idea that the brain is not fully formed until you are almost 30 years old has already been introduced, and the Supreme Court already has based two rulings on it.
As the brain matures, one thing that happens is the pruning of the synapses. Synaptic pruning does not occur willy-nilly; it depends largely on how any one brain pathway is used.
There's a science to brain development. The brains of teenage boys are crowded with impulse and adrenaline. By the time they hit their 20s, their brains are dominated by conscience and reason.
We'd be really screwed if we had to start our life over again as children with our brains right now, because I think we lose the plasticity and flexibility.
The limbic system explodes during puberty, but the prefrontal cortex keeps maturing for another 10 years.
The period from conception to two is about the development of a baby's emotional capacities. Mum saying, 'Oh, darling, I love you,' and singing baby songs and pulling faces literally stimulates the synapses in the brain.
In the early Sixties, having begun to describe the physiology of cells in the adult cat visual cortex, David Hubel and I decided to investigate how the highly specific response properties of cortical cells emerged during postnatal development.
I think the growth of the brain is a slow process. But you do change and the more you accept change and embrace change, the better.
The human brain is by no means fully formed at birth. It continues to shape itself through life, with the most intense growth occurring during childhood.
What adolescence is about is by trial and error, honing a frontal cortex that is going to be more optimal by the time you're 25.
