Essay on The Importance of Early Childhood Cognitive Development

Cognitive changes in infants, consists in the ability to think, learn, and remember. The brain of a newborn develops rapidly. The brain of an infant is made up uniquely with neurons. Neurons controls the brain as well as the nervous system (Feldman, 2014, p.129). Infants are born with between 100 to 200 billion neurons (Feldman, 2014, p.129). Infants are capable of learning early through classical conditioning. However, classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism responds in a way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not bring about that type of response. Classical conditioning begins from the early operation from the time of birth (Feldman, 2014, p.115). For example, A hungry baby stops crying when her mother picks

Christina J. Groark, Stephanie K. McCarthy, Afton R. Kirk. (2014). Early Child Development: From Theory to Practice. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

My philosophy of Early childhood education is based on research that indicates that a child’s growth is developmental. Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program that provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process

& Li, 2001). With the brain developing at its fastest rate in childhood, it is especially

Between the age of two and six years, the brain experiences a rapid growth. By the age of six, the brain is 90% developed as compared to that of the adult. However, the child lacks experience and knowledge. The brain becomes a trainee of what happens around them and imitates what is

The article “Your Child’s Brain” by Sharon Begley focuses on defining the key factors in the development of a child’s brain. Our brains consist of millions of neurons and at birth some neurons have predetermined roles, and the rest of the neurons in our brain are saved for assignment and are used later in development. Shaping and molding your brain and the connections it makes are extremely vital to a human’s development, and all begins at the fetus stage of pregnancy and is extremely important from child birth and throughout infancy. Every interaction an individual receives can affect that individual forever. Once the brain begins to develop in an individual, a timer in the brain commences.

The author invites the reader on his own journey to understanding how the developing brain works. He learns that to facilitate recovery, the loss of

Chapter five of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition explains the two basic procedures in which synaptic connections are added to the brain. One method is synapse overproduction and loss. This method incorporates information from experience at an early age. A second method is synapse addition. This method adds synapses together throughout the entire lifespan, and adds on to create connections between information learned early in one’s life to form complete memories and ideas (nap.edu). Similarly, Donald J. Ford explains in an article titled How the Brain Learns, that through synapses, sensory information gets conveyed through a network of neurons for storing in short-term memory. Then, Ford writes that the information is carried to long-term memory where the information is compared to existing memories to compare and contrast the newly observed information

Infant learning and brain development is fragile and contingent upon numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The most critical time frame for infant brain development is from the second trimester to the first three months of life (Marshall, 2011). During this time, neural pathways are forming, areas of the brain are maturing, and brain development is rapid. From infancy until the age of 3 years, neural pathways are still being formed in response to stimulation and for this reason, it is extremely important for caregivers and parents to be aware of the many factors that can influence brain development in infants (Marshall, 2011).

Part 1: Explain what is meant by plasticity in the context of neural development and briefly describe how it occurs as a lifelong process.

This paper is going to carry out a literature review on cognitive development in infants. The paper will review cognitive development in infants at different stages. Effects of early experience on mental development in infants will also be discussed. The research question and the hypothesis of the research will also be given.

Successful levels and stages of development are majorly associated with the increasing efficiency and memory capacity. These explain a progression to higher stages and individual differences which increases by same age persons and cognitive performance. Research indicates that the performance of children at a given age is changeable from domain to domain such as the understanding of social, mathematical, and spatial concepts that it is impossible to place the child in a single stage. This level involves processes that define the volume and kind of information that the individual child can process. For example, reflexes arise before birth and are still present in newborns. Sometimes, prenatal development and birth complications may also be connected to neurodevelopmental disorders. Young children react to various motivations in various ways (Damon & Lerner, 2006). For example infants’ sight blurry in early stages improves over time.

Once a new stage is reached the learning from the previous stages is not discarded, it is used as a base for the new learning, like a scaffold to build from. It has been found that some children pass through the stages at different rates (Crain 1992), but all the stages are believed to be passed through in the same order and unless there is a medical problem to prevent the progression all the stages will be passed through before the adult brain is formed.

“Blooming and pruning” help the brain to learn and adapt.Different synaptic connections are made during different times during a person’s life. So therefore the brain is constantly changing for several years after birth.Synaptic pruning does not result in a permanent loss of an opportunity to develop a particular ability, such as a certain language, music, or athletics in childhood. In most cases as long as the child wants to play a sport or instrument then if they put forth the effort and try their hardest then they should be able to learn to play even if they do not grow up to be famous athletes or musicians. Through “blooming and pruning” and the will to practice and put forth the effort to want success, then anything is possible. According to Santrock, the brain can rewire and learn to adapt to different connections when necessary (2009). The brain can only handle a few items at once; the average human can “hold” seven items in their brain at a time. More than seven and the brain is in overload. Learning also occurs at different places in the brain. There are several regions in the brain including the cerebral cortex, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, and frontal lobe. The cerebral cortex is the location that many human functions occur. Learning by hearing information occurs in the temporal lobe, learning by vision occurs in the occipital lobe, and

“As the brain develops, synaptic connections are formed between the neurons, or brain cells, based on sensory experiences, learning experiences, and the genetic code that sets up systems in the brain (Joseph, 2000). The synaptic connections in the brain that are strengthened during this time through repeated behaviours, such as word repetition and other language skills, are made permanent.” (Thomas, 2016)