The brain and development of function

Journal/Book: Develop Rev. 1998; 18: 525 B St, Ste 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495, USA. Academic Press Inc Jnl-Comp Subscriptions. 504-526.

Abstract: Neurobiological and functional development are discontinuous. The interrelationships between identifiable morphological processes and the developmental course of functional display are astonishingly weak. One of the first persons who tried to find a solution for this problem was McGraw. This paper takes up some of her ideas and develops them in the light of present knowledge. A plea is mode for variability as the basic characteristic of normal development. Variability results from the fact that the normal brain is an active organ system which handles stimulations voluntarily. The brain's action/reaction ratio determines its functional integrity. During development variability has two aspects. One denotes the ability to construct pluriform strategies-primary variability-and the second the ability to select the proper strategy in any particular situation-adaptive variability. A damaged nervous system is characterized by a shift of the action/reaction ratio to the reactive side resulting in a decrease of variability and an inability to deal adequately with environmental changes. Issues like variations between and within individual infants and regressions of functional ability as features of normal-neurobiological-development were already recognized by McGraw as signs of nature/nurture interaction at a time in which neurobehavioral development was still considered to be a strictly maturational process. Her interpretation of behavioral development in terms of neurobiological processes stands at the cradle of modern insight.

Note: Article Touwen BCL, Univ Groningen, Inst Dev Neurol, Martinikerkhof 18, NL-9712 JH Groningen, NETHERLANDS

Keyword(s): HEART-RATE VARIATION; FETAL BEHAVIOR; GENERAL MOVEMENTS; MOTOR DEVELOPMENT; EMERGENCE; FETUSES; GROWTH; PATTERNS; INFANTS; WOMEN

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