Brain Development Stages

The prefrontal cortex, which is the anterior part of the frontal lobes, controls understanding consequences, impulse control, abstract thinking, long range planning, and mental flexibility (Ortiz 93-94). Researchers at UCLA, Harvard Medical School, and the National Institute of Health have been working together to understand brain development. Their research has shown that at a young age the brain overproduces gray matter, which is the overall thinking part of the brain. After this comes the pruning process in which gray matter is removed. Paul Thompson from UCLA describes this time as a "massive loss of brain tissue" (as quoted in Ortiz 94). The average amount of tissue lost per year is one to two percent (Ortiz 94). While this pruning process is taking place the myelination is occurring simultaneously. Myelination is when white matter, what insulates the brain, makes brain process more efficient. This process is also thought to shape brains neural connections for adulthood (Ortiz 95). With age, the brain becomes denser and more organized which makes it better at processing and understanding information. Changes in the brain also can happen late into the twenty's (Beckman 3). A member of the UCLA research team reported that "[The] frontal lobe undergoes the most change during adolescence-by far. It is also the last part of the brain development" (as quoted in Ortiz 94). For most, full brain development is reached during the ages

During each stage of the life cycle, different physical, emotional, cognitive, social and cultural developments occur; In infancy, physical changes include learning to sit up, crawl and walk independently. At this stage, the infant will begin to look for attention from others

In this life stage an average child will start developing writing skills, throwing and skipping also permanent teeth will begin to grow. Also children will become stronger and taller and baby fat will be lost. Intellectual:

At age two, most of the child's brain is not fully developed, it is seventy-five percent of adult weight. At age five the brain is ninety-five percent of adult weight. Based on solid scientific evidence, the brain is not a completed organ at birth. Post mortem studies reveal that myelination - one of the five basic processes that make up brain development begins in the brain stem and cerebellum before birth but is not completed in the frontal cortex of the brain until late adolescence period. Myelination process begins before birth, that is during the prenatal period - it is the first process to occur in brain development. Myelin, a fatty layer accumulates around nerve cells to allow nerve impulses to move more quickly - protecting the neuron and acting like an insulation for the human brain. The cerebral hemispheres are the first myelinated. By the second year, the cerebrum is completed. During the process of brain development, there is an increase in the axonal connection which contributes to the growth of the brain. According to neuroscientists, the brain is divided into two- the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. The left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere, while the left side of the brain which is the dominant part controls the right side of the

Whereas, all bodily functions depends on the neurotransmissions of the nerve cells and synapse connections, when these cells and connections die, removal is the only option to assure the functions such as memory and cognition continue. The frontal cortex is responsible for cognitive functions such as planning, action execution, and impulse control. By the time a child reaches the age of puberty his or her brain resembles an adult brain in context of weight, size, areas of the brain specific to certain functions, and folding. However, the development of the brain is incomplete (Powell, 2006).

The prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain that is fully developed. Historically, scientists thought that brain growth and development ceased at age three. Current research indicates that the brain goes through extreme growth and development during the adolescent period. Only 80% of the brain is developed at this adolescent stage, and it is not fully developed until age 25-30

Babies grow very fast with rapid weight gain. Birthweight typically doubles by 4 month and triples in a year. Babies will grow more than a foot in height and reaches about 34 inches by the age of 2. This is half of the height of their adult age height.

In the 21st century, the enforcement of gender roles are not only between man and women, but also women and women. Long story short, my husband is ten years older than me and grew up in a privileged environment. In contrast, I grew up in a low income family, and I don 't make a six figure salary. Hence, I felt that every time I hang out with my husband’s friends or family, I don’t fit in, or don 't have much talk about. For example, one incident, one of his friend’s wife, Doan Vu said to me, “ you are pathetic, lazy girl can 't even speak English. You need to go take some ESL classes to learn some English because I can 't understand a thing you said.” because I was so mad the fact that all the other boys were having fun and are getting a little loud, and she said it to my husband “ you getting loud”. Doan is working at Stanford as financial analyst, I was just a housewife. She judged me as a housewife doesn 't pay the bills. Does working women have more respect than housewives. Unfortunately yes, working women do get more respect than housewives. Many people think it 's easy to stay at home all day and watch the children and take care of all the things around the house, however, being housewife just like any typical job. People assume that because a stay at home mom isn 't contributing to the family 's. As a result, Doan felt more superior to talk to me that way which felt condescended to me. “I am thankful for all difficult people in my life, they have shown me exactly who

Growth is speedy during the first two years of life. The child 's mass, form, senses, and organs undergo change. As each physical change occurs, the child gains new abilities. Physical development during the first year of the child’s life, mainly involves the infant coordinating motor skills. The infant builds physical strength and motor coordination by repeating several motor actions.

Two characters that I choose for this assignment are John Bender and Brian Johnson. In reference to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, I categorized Bender and Brian in formal operational stage because of their age. Besides, both of them also shows characteristic of adolescent egocentrism. As for Bender, we can see that he had developed the sense of invulnerability because he had taken many physical risks and do not think about the negative consequences of his actions. Brian shows personal fable when he overestimate his own abilities, he believes that he can “handle” the subject, but when he failed, this personal fable had lead him to depression and had attempted suicide as a solution for his problem.

The next stage of life that I passed through can be categorized as the Preschool period and lasts for the ages of 3-6 years old. Throughout these years, I continued to refine my motor skills and was very interactive with my environment because of my further advanced mobility. The physical development of children in this stage is known to taper off but still be quite apparent, which aligns quite similarly to what was described to

In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor seeks revenge on Fortunato because he made fun of his family name. For years Montresor claims that Fortunato had, “hurt him”, so Montresor gets Fortunato drunk and tricks him into going to his house. When Fortunato arrives, they both go into Montresor’s basement and Montresor locks Fortunato up in addition to leaving him there to die. Montresor commits a crime by killing Fortunato in his own basement. Some people may argue that Montresor was a madman who only wanted to kill Fortunato because he made fun of Montresor’s family name; nevertheless, it is easy to see why one would believe that Montresor wasn’t a madman and that he had more motives rather than just that one reason to have killed Fortunato. What motivated Montresor to seek revenge on Fortunato was that he had made fun of Montresor’s Family name, had a drinking problem which causes him to lash out and say mean things to Montresor, and because Fortunato thought he knew more about fine wines than Montresor did. Theses motivations were also Fortunato’s weaknesses.

Throughout the semester of participating in KN 248, my lifestyle has changed in many ways. At the beginning of the semester, I was recovering from a hip surgery and partaking in physical therapy. I was also easing into the college experience after recently graduating high school. I became aware of many different aspects that contribute to my wellness other than just exercise. The list could continue to go on but, these are just a few specific examples.

By age two the brain has developed to two-thirds of what it will weigh by adulthood and has increased to five times the density it was at birth.

Brain development in the first two years is the most important and critical. Maria Montessori referred to this time as of the "absorbent mind" Early brain development is the frame work for the road ahead. When and how the brain develops in the first two years will play a critical role into adulthood. At birth, the brain is the only incomplete organ. The brain will continue to grow through childhood and adolescents.