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Where brainpower is concerned, the old edict of 'use it, or lose it' holds true from the start. Babies who receive love and encouragement from their parents develop the neural connections they need to get on in life. But what happens to those who fail to get this support? Do they grow up to be less bright than their nurtured peers? It would be comforting to believe that deprived children escape long-term damage by being too young to speak, or know any different, but the evidence suggests otherwise. At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine, medics were shown slides taken with a powerful scanner comparing the brains of 'normal' three-year-olds with those who had been raised in deprivation or in orphanages. The work was done by Dr Bruce Perry of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas. The scans showed that the frontal-temporal areas of the brain, those responsible for personality and enabling a person to display and regulate emotions, showed little activity. For years, scientists have known that animals reared in enriched environments have larger and more complex brains than animals that grow up in deprivation, so experts like Perry anticipated that the same would hold true for humans. However, it is only now, thanks to powerful scanners that allow this theory to be put to the test, that the damage is clearly visible. Perry explains the reason for the abnormality is that the brain develops in a 'use-dependent' way, growing, organising and working according to experience. With the right stimulation, the brain makes the connections it needs. Without it, synapses, junctions between the neurons used to transport the brain's messages, literally dissolve. “Adverse experiences play a vital role in organising the neural system in the developing brain,” says Perry; in other words, ill- treatment in infancy leads to faulty wiring in the brain. Significantly, the rate at which new synapses form is greatest in the first eight months of life. Fortunately, different parts of the brain develop at different rates, so the damage may be confined to the parts that were actively organising at the time of stress or neglect. Perry describes these times as “windows of opportunity” that exist for different brain functions. If the connections between neurons are not developed at the critical period, they may not develop at all. Synapses associated with vision are most active when a child to eight months. A baby born with cataracts, removed at the age of two, will remain blind, as the window of opportunity has passed. Interaction between the child and its carers is vital to teach the brain to function normally. By playing with and talking to her child, the mother distracts the infant from a bombardment of competing noises. This communication trains a section of the brain to regulate emotions so the child is able to function day- to-day without being a hostage to impulses and feelings. Yet, despite the damage caused by stress and trauma in childhood, Perry, like most clinicians, is optimistic that intervention can help, as the cortex, the grey matter responsible for high level brain function, is malleable and capable of changing. He is supported in this belief by child psychiatrist Dr Dora Black, founder of the Traumatic Stress Clinic in London, who works with severely traumatized children. She claims neurological evidence is available that shows that, although trauma can affect the speech area in the brain, this function can return if the child receives help early enough. “Unfortunately,” admits Perry, “what we don’t know is how much deprivation is needed to prevent the recovery of normal expression of various emotional, cognitive or social skills.
2. The word “dissolve” in paragraph 2 mostly means ________
