In the last two decades, researchinto the workings of the humanbrain has expanded enormously,aided particularly by newscanning technologies such as

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)which allow medical professionals andresearchers to see a living brain ‘atwork’. Such images, together withmore traditional methods of examiningbrain function and development haveprovided great insights into brainfunction and development. They havealso provided the neurological/physiological underpinning for whatmany theorists working to understandhuman behaviour have suspected andsuggested for many years, which is thathuman development is profoundlyinfluenced by the quality of earlyexperience.

But, how does this happen and whatare the implications? To answer this, weneed to not only broadly know howthe brain works but also toacknowledge that it grows anddevelops within an interactive, socialenvironment. Cozolino (2006), forexample, notes that the brain “dependson social interactions with others for itssurvival and acts as an interfacebetween experience and genetics”.

In the newborn baby, the brain hasits basic structure with much of theolder, more primitive parts of the brainformed and fully functioning withearly connections between the 100billion neurons already in existence.Then, during these early years, millionsof connections are made between

neurons, ‘pruned’ and then reformeddependent on sensory and emotionalexperience. Patterns of activity are laiddown becoming more established viathe consistency, predictability andquality of those experiences. This lastsentence presents a clue to theimportance of interactions betweenparent and infant because these willform the pathways between the moreinstinctive and emotional areas of thebrain and the frontal lobes(Sunderland, 2006).

Parents are the child’s first contactwith the world and the veryhelplessness of the infant together withtheir brain being ‘on alert’ for

experience means that the way inwhich parents interact with their childsets the scene for the emergence of thechild’s own unique personality.Particularly important are face to faceinteractions. At only a few hours old,babies will respond differently tohappy, sad or surprised faces and areable to display facial, vocal and bodilysigns of general contentment anddistress which over the first yearbecome more differentiated into joy,sadness, anger, fear and disgust

(Soussigan & Schaal, 2005; Cozolino,2006).

Babies, of course, are not passiverecipients but their responses alsoinfluence the parents’ responses. Forexample, Messinger (2002)demonstrated how the width of ababy’s smile influenced parentalreactions and such reactions/interpretations of an infant’sexpressions have very real implicationsin the life of the baby. This is becausethe quality of interactions is based onthis understanding and interpretationof the child’s facial and bodily signalsby the adult. Such interpretationbecomes the mechanism by whichrelationships are formed and cruciallythe ‘correctness’ or otherwise of theinterpretation will also influence thefurther response from the child andthis synchrony or disharmony willcontribute over time to the child’songoing emotional state andburgeoning sense of self.

‘Nature’ or evolution plays its parttoo as parents talk to babies in a veryspecial ‘sing song’ way with extendedvowels, exaggerated facial expressionsand mouth movements. Not only is

brain and behaviour

10 Montessori International JANUARY - MARCH 2008

Beginning the journeyMaria Robinson explains how daily interactions between ababy and its main carer have a direct impact on the way thebrain develops.

‘‘“At only a few hours old, babies willrespond differently to happy, sad orsurprised faces and are able to displayfacial, vocal and bodily signs ofgeneral contentment and distress...

A healthy humanbrain. Each fibre inthe imagerepresentshundreds tothousands ofindividual neuralfibres in the brain.

Development is profoundly influenced by the quality of early experience

being spoken to and responding sopleasurable in most situations, but themobile face attracts a baby’s attention.This supports all aspects ofdevelopment by helping babies tolocalise sound on the midline, matchsounds to mouth movements, helpingthe eyes to focus and the exaggeratedfacial expressions help the immaturebrain to link the movements of the facewith feelings. This is supported evenfurther by the almost instinctive way inwhich parents and carers will copy thebaby’s expression and also help tomodulate it. A potential neurologicalsupport to this process has been thediscovery, originally in primates ‘of theexistence of individual neurons in thecortex’, which responded to theobservation of an action using thehands acting on an object as if theprimate was carrying out the sameprocedure (Rizzolatti et al, 1996, 2002).This was a breakthrough in consideringthe neural basis for imitation and theseneurons were therefore termed ‘mirrorneurons’. Similar neurons have beenfound in the human cortex, whichrespond to both visual and motorsensory input. While it is not currentlyknown whether these are active atbirth, the findings by some researchers,particularly Meltzoff (2002), ofnewborns imitating some facialgestures is suggestive of, at the veryleast, a rudimentary innate capacity for‘mirroring’ observed actions. If this isthe case, when the baby is imitated,these immature mirror neurons mayalso activate so the child willexperience its feelings reflected back.Also, if the parent is ‘tuned in’, therewill also be a sense of these feelingsbeing ‘managed’ as the parent aims toraise or lower levels of mood. All thebasic emotions of happiness, sadness,anger, fear, disgust and surprise(Ekman, 2004) can be discovered andperhaps reflected by those around thebaby and so, dependent on the quality

of these responses, the baby will learnabout the overarching emotionalquality of their inner world. Theseinteractions, impacting on this rapidlygrowing brain, therefore set the coursefor a child who learns to trust or for achild who treads his path with warinessand a watchful eye for danger.

Sunderland (2006) provides a graphicpicture of the brain scan of a child froma Romanian orphanage where a lack ofaffection as well as physical care hasresulted in inactivity of those parts ofthe brain which deal with processing

and regulating emotions. While this isan extreme example, it should not bedismissed as irrelevant to ‘ordinary’situations because children feel realpain when their distress is notcomforted, resulting in a highlystressful state with raised levels of thestress hormone, cortisol. This normallyhas peaks and troughs throughout theday but consistently unmet distressneeds means that the child’s brainbecomes organised around fear andrigidity which also affects the child’s

ability to learn. On the other hand,being nurtured creates a chemicalbuffer against stressful challenges andso as Cozolino says, “good parentingtells the child he or she is lovedaccepted and valued; fortifies the bodyfor growth and strengthensimmunological functioning” (P.221).Children blossom when nurtured! !Maria Robinson is a qualified lecturer,counsellor, trainer and adviser in earlyyears’ development. She is the authorof From birth to one- the year ofopportunity, (2003) and ChildDevelopment 0-8 – A journey throughthe early years.

References/bibliographyCozolino, L., (2006) Attachment and theDeveloping Brain: New York, W.W. Nortonand Company

Ekman, P., (2004) Emotions Revealed –Understanding Faces and Feelings:London, Orion Books

Meltzoff, A. (2002) Elements of aDevelopmental Theory of Imitation inMetlzoff, A., Prinz, W., (Eds) The ImitativeMind pp.42-62 Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press

Messinger, D.S., (2002) Positive andNegative: Infant Facial Expressions andEmotions: Journal of Current Directions inPsychological Science; Vol 11,No.1,February

Rizzolatti, G.,Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L.,Gallese, V., (2002) From Mirror Neuronsto Imitation: Facts and Speculation: inMetlzoff, A., Prinz, W., (Eds) The imitativeMind pp.42-62 Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press

Soussignan R., Schaal, B., (2005)Emotional Processes in Human Newborns:a Functionalist Perspective in Nadel, J.,Muir, D., (Eds) Emotional Development:Oxford, Oxford University Press

Sunderland, M., (2006) The Science ofParenting: Dorling Kindersley, London.

Tronick, E., Als, H. Adamson L, et al(1978) The Infants Response toEntrapment Between ContradictoryMessages in Face to Face Interaction.Journal of the American Academy ofPsychiatry, 17 1-13

JANUARY - MARCH 2008 Montessori International 11

‘‘... a lack of affection as well asphysical care has resulted ininactivity of those parts of the brainwhich deal with processing andregulating emotions.

Babies are not passive recipients, their responses also influence the parents responses.

Images supplied bySiren Films. Takenfrom ‘The WonderYear – First YearDevelopment &Shaping the Brain’.The film is availableto buy fromwww.sirenfilms.co.uk