Cognitive Development and Childhood Learning

The development of the human brain experiences significant growth in the first 2 years of life, laying the foundations for its structural and connective development through childhood, adolescence as well as adulthood. These foundations are dependent upon and shaped by the characteristics as well as the features of the family into which the child is born, but also the characteristics and features of the wider environment in which the family itself exists. In the case of the family, the child may have to compete with siblings for the limited material and psychological resources which the parents may have to offer. For example, the level of the parents’ income may only allow them access to food sources of varying quality and nutritional content. Moreover, the level of parental income will also dictate the frequency with which the children will eat—although the nutritional value of the food that is eaten may have a greater positive impact on brain development than the frequency with which meals are eaten. However, while the nutritional content of food gives the potential for the physiological structures of the brain to develop, it is the infants pre- and post-natal environment which will provide the stimuli to alter the infant’s genes through epigenetic mechanisms to various levels depending on the nature of the stimuli. These altered genes will then determine the quality of the brain structures as well as the quality of neuronal connections within the brain. The altered genes may produce diverse types of proteins, changing the genes themselves, which form the building blocks of all living tissue, including those required to form the structures of the brain. A poor childhood experience may inhibit and constrain gene expression in later life. The result of this may be that the proteins produced later in life may not be of optimal quality and may not be of the correct type. Proteins may also be produced which ‘switch on’ genes which emphasise character weaknesses rather than character strengths. Brain development is optimised when the number of neural connections increases exponentially. This only occurs when the quality of proteins produced is both optimal and high in number. This in turn will affect the level of development of cognitive capacity of the brain development of the infant. It is also at this stage of development that the brain is at its most malleable to change in the external environment; the resulting stimuli allows the infant to acquire new skills and abilities. Furthermore, in late infancy, at the toddler stage, the infant also develops emotional regulation mechanisms because of the amygdala forming connections with other parts of the brain. The development by the infant of mechanisms to emotionally regulate itself is also central to the development of its cognitive ability. However, key to cognitive advancement is the acquisition of language by the infant. As vocabulary expands, the infant’s cognitive capacity develops even further because it can physically construct its thoughts in words through vocal expression. Furthermore, as the infant grows through childhood and adolescence into an adult the parts of the brain may become increasingly specialised in function. It would therefore seem that the first 24 months of life of a human being contribute most towards its lifelong accomplishments. Therefore, the implication is that governments should foster economic and social policies which allow for the development of a conducive environment for an infant to optimally develop its cognitive capacity. Moreover, such economic and social policies should be promoted throughout society on a universal basis regardless of either parental or household income. Such policies may include the provision of either free or subsidised nutritional meals, milk and childcare by the state.