Journal
CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 17, Issue 2, Pages 136-141Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00563.x
Keywords
plasticity; epigenesis; mothering; executive functions; animal models; molecular genetics; memory
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Funding
- NIDA NIH HHS [R01 DA019685, R01 DA019685-16A2] Funding Source: Medline
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One major contribution of neuroscience to understanding cognitive development has been in demonstrating that biology is not destiny-that is, demonstrating the remarkable role of experience in shaping the mind, brain, and body. Only rarely has neuroscience provided wholly new insights into cognitive development, but often it has provided evidence of mechanisms by which observations of developmental psychologists could be explained. Behavioral findings have often remained controversial until an underlying biological mechanism for them was offered. Neuroscience has demonstrated promise for detecting cognitive problems before they are behaviorally observable-and, hence, promise for early intervention. In this article, we discuss examples drawn from imitation and mirror neurons, phenylketonuria (PKU) and prefrontal dopamine, maternal touch and stress reactivity, and nongenetic (behavioral) intergenerational transmission of biological characteristics.
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