Why is a child’s early experience so important to the development of brain architecture?
Early childhood provides a unique window of opportunity that allows complex sets of experiences to shape a child’s brain architecture. The brain’s neural circuits are enabled by experience to adapt to the full range of challenges an individual will deal with throughout life. Can stressful early experiences derail the development of the brain’s architecture? Absolutely. The early period of development is one of both opportunity and vulnerability. During this time, the brain is very receptive and very malleable, and has the capacity to shape itself dramatically. This is the time when a child’s brain architecture responds to experiences with the environment. When those experiences are healthy, brain architecture develops in a way that anticipates living in a healthy environment, and subsequently the child is able to meet successfully the expected challenges in life. However, if the early environment is in some way impoverished or adverse, the brain will come to expect that this is the wor
