#THE BRAIN SERIES#

#THE BRAIN SERIES#

Critically, these very different levels and kinds of processes interact to support the ongoing series of events that define brain development.

The processes that contribute to brain development range from the molecular events of gene expression to environmental input. Human brain development is a protracted process that begins in the third gestational week (GW) with the differentiation of the neural progenitor cells and extends at least through late adolescence, arguably throughout the lifespan. This chapter is intended to provide an overview of some very basic principles of brain development, drawn from contemporary developmental neurobiology, that may be of use to investigators from a wide range of disciplines. The view of brain development that has emerged from the developmental neurobiology literature presents both challenges and opportunities to psychologists seeking to understand the fundamental processes that underlie social and cognitive development, and the neural systems that mediate them. Together this large body of work provides a picture of brain development as the product of a complex series of dynamic and adaptive processes operating within a highly constrained, genetically organized but constantly changing context.

Studies elucidating the neurobiology of brain development span the levels of neural organization from the macroanatomic, to the cellular, to the molecular. Over the past several decades, significant advances have been made in our understanding of the basic stages and mechanisms of mammalian brain development.

The brain