Nature and Nurture
- Nature and nurture are closely intertwined during neural development.
- Of course language learning is robust, but it still requires
contact with language.
- Some key points about neural development:
- "Virtually every neuron in the nervous system is generated in the
first trimester" (Bates et al. 92)
- Infants get sensory stimuli in the womb. (Nurture doesn't start
at birth.)
- There is a great loss if neurons (and unassociated synapses) in
early infants.
- There is also substantial neural death in the prefrontal cortex
in late adolesence; this can lead to improved performance on tasks
(e.g. selective attention). (Neural death can actual improve
performance.)
- There is a switch in neural behaviour when mammals swich from
amniotic fluid to breathing air.
- Spontaneous activation is necessary for forming neural circuits
in neonates (Katz and Shatz).
- The whole system is incredibly robust dealing with new neurons and
synapses, stochastic processing, dying neurons and synapses,
a vast range of developmental inputs, and a vast range
of current inputs. (You've never seen that sentence before.)
