Brain Development

Photogprah of a scared teen driving with an adult is in the passenger's seat

Shedding light on a period of chaos and character-building, neuroscientists are framing the teen brain to help support this critical period in development.

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Side-Dominant Science: Are You Left- or Right-Sided?

Are you left- or right-sided? In this activity you'll find out whether people generally do most activities with one side of their body.

Scientific American

The Brain's Green Thumb

Understanding how new neurons integrate into existing brain regions may hold the secret to restoring brain function after injury or disease.

BrainFacts/SfN

Directing Traffic

A gene controls neuronal traffic in the assembly of this electrical circuit.

BrainFacts/SfN

Brain-(not) Based Education: Dangers of Misunderstanding and Misapplication of Neuroscience Research

Let neuroscience help you in the classroom. This resource gives you a primer to brain-based education.

Illinois State University

How'd I Get a Brain?

A bedtime story about the process of brain development, as lovingly told to a baby.

BrainFacts/SfN
5 min

When are children’s brains viewed as “adult brains”?

There is no magical age at which brain development suddenly stops. The brain is constantly changing, even in adulthood and old age.

BrainFacts/SfN

Induction: The Making of a Neuron

Neuron formation begins in the earliest stages of human development. Signaling molecules “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others, beginning nerve cell induction.

BrainFacts/SfN

Plasticity

Plasticity itself is not unique to humans, but the degree to which our brains are able to adapt is.

BrainFacts/SfN

Critical Periods in Early Life

Genes and the environment converge powerfully during early sensitive windows of brain development to form the neural circuits underlying behavior. Although most neuronal cell death occurs in the embryo, the paring down of connections occurs in large part during critical periods in early postnatal life.

BrainFacts/SfN

Making Connections

Once the neurons reach their final location, they must make the proper connections so that a particular function, such as vision or hearing, can emerge.

BrainFacts/SfN

Migration: New Nerve Cells on the Move

Once the neural induction has occurred, the next step for new neurons is a journey to the proper position in the brain. This process is called migration, and it begins three to four weeks after a human baby is conceived.

BrainFacts/SfN

Hormones: Communication between the Brain and the Body

Hormones are important messages both within the brain and between the brain and the body.

BrainFacts/SfN

3D Brain

An interactive brain map that you can rotate in a three-dimensional space.

Interact with the Brain

Brain Development

3D Brain

An interactive brain map that you can rotate in a three-dimensional space.

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