Author : Lisa Wright
Publisher : Morgan & Claypool Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1615045279
Total Pages : 77 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (15 download)
Book Synopsis Stress and the Developing Brain by : Lisa Wright
Download or read book Stress and the Developing Brain written by Lisa Wright and published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers. This book was released on 2012-12 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human brain does not develop in a vacuum according to a set of predetermined blueprints--it is involved in a dynamic interplay with the environment that influences gene expression and ultimately structure and function. Some cortical regions, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) undergo structural changes throughout the adolescent period and into early adulthood, making their structure and functions particularly interesting to study with respect to gene-environment interactions. Repeated exposure to stress is a predisposing factor in the emergence of various mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, although this is by no means an absolute relationship. While some people appear to be vulnerable to the effects of repeated stressors, others are resilient, and this individual variability is partly due to developmental programming of brain regions involved in modulating stress responding, such as the PFC. In the present book, we will discuss features of adolescent brain development that may provide a basis for neural plasticity in stress responding: the highly protracted development of the PFC, the profound change in interconnectedness among cortical and subcortical brain regions, and the characteristic 'rise and fall' pattern for many of the late-developing aspects of neural architecture in PFC and other stress-related brain regions.