PSY BEH 110D Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Neural Darwinism, Neural Tube Defect, Synaptic Pruning
8 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
A lot of brain development occurs after birth. Brain weight is approx 25% of adult values at birth and approx 75% of adult weight at two years. Most neurons are present at birth, due to neural proliferation during gestation. Neural migration ensures that all parts of the brain are served by neurons. The formation of new synapses known synaptogenesis causes neural death. Synaptic pruning frees up space and creates a more efficient processor. Neural plasticity - the ability of the brain to be modified by experience. Brain development begins at 20 days after conception (formation of neural tubes) That"s why folic acid is so important (neural tube defects) Axon gets wrapped with myelin to make things move faster. Most aspects of postnatal development is from experience. Extremes of behavior and brain function from kids who lacked exposure to experience (institutionalized kids)
