Posted on 11/13/2019 6:00:47 PM PST by daniel1212
Your brain is not just produced by your genes; it’s sculpted by a lifetime of experiences. Experience alters brain activity, which changes gene expression. Any behavioural changes you see reflect alterations in the brain. The opposite is also true: behaviour can change the brain. When we first learn a new motor skill, it seems impossible until practice – repetition – changes the brain.
The brain remains ‘plastic’ throughout life, but trajectories are set during the prenatal period and early childhood. Brain development is very rapid in the womb and continues at an accelerated rate in the first two to three years in particular. Although the sculpting of the brain actively continues for the next 20 years or more, early life experiences will affect your responses throughout life. Many health and behavioural disorders are related to how the brain developed in its earliest period...
The developing cortex is altered by many pre- and postnatal events, including sensory and motor experience, parent-child relationships, play, stress, hormones and psychoactive drugs.
Healthy, engaged parents are the best brain supports a child can have. There is a connection between touch, the skin and brain development. Tactile stimulation by caregivers, and even expectant mothers rubbing their abdomens, aids brain development. The caregiver’s behaviour is transferred to the child epigenetically and affects the lifelong health of the infant via later stress reactivity. The trajectory is set very early on....
There is pretty compelling information now that if your father was an alcoholic, even if you never met him, your brain is different from someone whose father was not.
The speed at which the matured social brain comes on line is biased by early experiences. For some people, it never comes because of high stress or other factors in early childhood. Play behaviour profoundly changes the social brain. Play mimics adult behaviour and helps establish social rules. The brains of animals that grow up with adults only are different than those exposed to many playmates. Peer relationships are critical.
Outcomes such as talking or toilet training are not possible until the brain is ready. Some behaviours take a long time to mature. As late as the mid-teens, children have a difficult time deciphering emotion; they’re not bad at recognizing happy things but don’t do well with sad or disgusting things. This partly relates to the relative immaturity of the brain and also to the differences between boys and girls.
There are big differences in gray volume that reflect the number of neurons in brain cells, with boys reaching their peak approximately two years after girls. This means that environments and experiences will have different effects in girls than in boys.
Hormones have huge influences on the brain, resulting in different sizes in different areas of the brain between the sexes. This should affect behaviour and, in fact, it does. But the effect of hormones is affected by the experience you have during each phase of life – from embryo through to adulthood. Males, for example, are more affected by prenatal experiences because of the presence of testosterone.
There is a huge difference in language ability. Young girls begin talking much sooner than boys, and this is reflected in girls having much more complex cells in the language areas of the brain. Males use more brain to talk because their cells are not as large. There are many more sexual differences in early development, but discrepancies in language development alone suggest that preschool environments and expectations should adapt to these differences.
Cognitive function is also influenced by early experience. We know that more educated people have more complex language centres. But language is found everywhere in the brain and is related to talking, understanding, reading, writing, thinking and emotion. When children are read to, the experience does different things to different parts of the brain. We don’t know yet what types of early experiences give us the biggest effect on brain capacity or IQ, but we know that early reading does have an impact...
The presence of family violence, sexual abuse, drug or alcohol abuse, growing up in a family where someone is in jail, or where a parent suffers from chronic depression or other mental illness, has the effect of turning gold into lead in terms of the future prospects of children.
The presence of any one of these circumstances compromises adult health. The presence of two or more increases the likelihood of being addicted to drugs or attempting suicide by 50 times...
Drugs given prenatally, as well as in early development and adolescence, can alter later response to sensory experiences, learning and memory. The developing cortex is altered by psychoactive drugs as well as by ‘heavy’ drugs, and most of us were exposed to some drugs in utero – nicotine, caffeine, antidepressants, etc.
All drugs leave a footprint on the brain. Something about them changes the brain structure. The likelihood of becoming an addict depends on prenatal and early childhood experiences. Tactile stimulation has a reducing effect, whereas pre- and postnatal stress heighten the likelihood of addictions.
Ping
You a Scientologist?
Just like Christine Crazy Ford testified
People like you said the earth was flat, that flying in the air was demonic, anti science all the way.
I am a scientist who understands science as the process of learning how God works. Miracles exist, but they are merely science that people don’t understand.
People said that flying was demonic when they didn’t understand aeronautics.
I’m merely stating that what Jesus did and taught is scientific if you take a moment to learn the science supporting it. This does not discount Him in any way. In fact the complete opposite is true.
Even Jesus stated that the things that He does and even more you too shall do in His name. You worship Him rather than communing and becoming one with Him. Are you refuting the same scripture you profess to follow.
“Just like Christine Crazy Ford testified”
No. She was an emotional, irrational nut.
People who lack the intelligence to understand their environment embrace fear of it.
Religion(s) are merely theories and philosophies of the anatomy and physiology of the human soul and how it interacts with its environment. For the most part, they are correct. They purposely left out higher understanding to protect people and others from themselves. Knowledge is more power than you can imagine. Anyone with the ability to heal, also has the ability to kill, just as Jesus did the fig tree.
As long as you remain judgemental and fear others ideas, you block yourself from learning more knowledge.
“You a Scientologist?”
No. I actually presented at an academic conference with Hubbard’s closest aid who spent 14 years with him in France, hiding in NYC, and on his yacht. I have studied his internal workings and classify him as a cult.
Protect me from myself right.
Well, tactile expression was not part of the Irish culture of my good honest and honorable parents (of 5 kids), whom I never even saw hug each other, but it is so with the Latino culture that i am in the midst of, which is good.
My apologies.. my thoughts from another post flowed into the response to you.
My apologies as I used the word “you” when I meant to say “people” in a general sense.
I thought you were a CPA (according to your other posts)? What's your science-related degree? Just curious.
The cultural differences regarding touch are incredible, aren’t they? My mom purposed to hug us because her parents (of Norwegian descent) didn’t much. I remember my grandpa working up the courage to pat me on the shoulder and tell me he was proud of me. That was a huge open display of affection for him.
I always thought it was just Scandinavians who were like that.
While I maintain my CPA license, I am retired. Was a tax law professor for years. Also a CMA, CIA, CTP, but never use them.
After the death experience I got a degree in psychology, which was really a joke it was so easy, and then went on to study neuroscience. Although retired, I still perform research and maintain my status as a perpetual student as long as I can. I enjoy the academic environment and learning.
I especially enjoy medical research and attend grand rounds and neuroscience lectures and symposiums at the med school regularly. To stay current, I attend the American Psychiatric Ass’n annual conferences every year and many clinical conferences.
The anatomy & physiology of the human body and consciousness are far more interesting and more stimulating to the brain than boring tax law. Life is a puzzle and I enjoy enjoy working to solve it. It’s very humbling as each answer yields 20 more unanswered questions.
I’ve rarely seen anyone on FR display the kind of arrogance, condescension, and judgmentalism that you do, or who can spin such a tall tale as you do.
I’ve never met anyone as perfect as you and so I don’t believe any of it.
You are absolutely right.
That’s ok... I’m old enough that my identity does not depend upon what others think of me.
I share here to help others and to learn from the very intelligent Freepers who participate in discussions. If you don’t believe what I say, don’t read it. Calling everyone who disagrees with you demonic sounds like a Democrat emotional response.
I enjoy intellectual discussion with other people who seek greater understanding.
Why waste all your energy attacking me if you dislike me?
I hold no offense. Prayers headed your direction.
If you feel so strong against me, pray for me. The more the better. Pray that I gain better understanding. I welcome prayers.
Once again, science "discovers" what has long ago been written.
But you do not have an advanced psychology/psychiatry degree and license to practice psychological treatments as you describe in your post #7?
He is a nutcase, alright. Wonder what formed all those weird ideas and fantastic “abilities” in HIS life. What he is describing, if true, which I doubt, while some of it is valid (the need to forgive), it’s wrapped up in what sounds more like demonic forces.
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