In the research article, "Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children's early academic skills", Martha Ann Bell and her colleagues investigated how the role of inhibitory control in early development impacts and correlates to overall cognitive processes. These processes are higher functioning skills that the prefrontal cortex and frontal lobe carry out. Bell discovered that it is in infancy that the necessary foundation must occur for a developing brain in order to have more skilled abilities. Environment plays a huge role in influencing how the inhibitory controls are developing in children. Therefore, each individual will have a different level of how these cognitive processes are working based on their unique and individual life experiences.
Determining representative patterns of change to learn more about atypical development, the CAP lab included participants from infancy to middle childhood. In doing so, there can be more data to see how executive functions can be measured using EEG. EEG measures attention, memory, emotion, and regulation. Due to development being a complex and dynamic process, Bell puts an emphasis on how important human behavior is and how specific behaviors influence the prefrontal cortex to have certain abilities. Behavior and environment are both crucial in understanding mental disorders and potential developmental delays within children and adults.
The CAP Lab included low risk children in their study so that the participants did not have any birth complications. These children were of typical weight, developmental diagnosis, and had no genetic disorders. However, in another research article, "Epigenetics of the developing and aging brain: Mechanisms that regulate onset and outcomes of brain reorganization", the topic of how epigenetics influences children's development and cognitive functions is explored. Eliza R. Bacon and Roberta Diaz Brinton explained that it was not jsut the critical period in the beginning of childhood development that can influence things like attention, memory, and other cognitive skills. Other life experiences post childhood development may affect the strength of these executive functions as well. In long term potentiation, it is crucial that gene transcription is fully functioning in order for the brain to complete memory formation. If specific genes are turned off due to epigenetic modifications, then the gene transcription and necessary proteins needed for memory formation and storage cannot occur. This influences the learning and memory process for individuals and ultimately will affect executive functioning in the prefrontal cortex.
Additionally, Bacon and Brinton describe that even the maternal and paternal environments that were experienced before conception of the child will influence the epigenetic modifications to the offspring. This can alter any executive functions through the retained epigenome from imprinted genes from the original egg and sperm. Although Bacon and Brinton focused on this factor, Bell and her colleagues did not report on this idea in their research. Therefore, it adds another layer to how a developing brain can be shaped by even the parent's experiences. Certain environmental factors, such as a parent being a smoker, may have an influence on the offspring's epigenome and, as a result, their cognitive development. Further, in the research by Bacon and Brinton, it is explained that DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that can regulate neuroplasticity and, as a result, also control important cognitive functions such as learning and memory. There are other impactful biological reasons that affect executive functioning. Bacon and Brinton provide more reasons for the nature behind understanding developing brains whereas Bell discusses the environmental influences, or the nurture experienced by the offspring.
Results in the CAP Lab revealed that both maternal caregiving and maternal cognition can predict how executive functions develop in children. Specifically, Bell found that maladaptive parenting can cause negative risks to children's cognitive outcomes. Whereas a nurturing maternal environment provided for the children has the opposite and more positive developmental effects. Another big discovery in the research performed by Bell was regarding the relationship between early signs of executive functioning in young children and any predictions in academic achievement. Bell determined that early infant attention was a foundation for self-regulation.
Bell and her colleagues were able to uncover a lot of patterns in behaviors and functions of brain development. However, because of how intense and multilayered brain development is, there are still aspects of the research that do not give a full picture of how all the dynamic processes work together in terms of cognition, emotion, and attention. Environmental factors, whether in the offspring's life or the parents', add even a more complex and dynamic layer to each individuals' growth which makes it more difficult to fully understand how the executive functions are developed. By understanding the offspring's epigenome, more can be uncovered in regards to learning and memory executive functions.
Works Cited
Bacon ER, Brinton RD. Epigenetics of the developing and aging brain: Mechanisms that regulate onset and outcomes of brain reorganization. NeurosciBiobehav Rev. 2021 Jun;125:503-516. doi: 100.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.040. Epub 2021 Feb 28. PMID: 33657435; PMCID: PMC8989071.
Whedon, Margaret, et al. "Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of Children's early academic skills." Brain and Cognition, vol. 146, Dec. 2020, p. 105636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636.
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