brain development

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Growing up in poverty or experiencing any adversity, such as abuse or neglect, during early childhood can put a person at risk for poor health, including mental disorders, later in life. Although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, some studies have shown that adverse early childhood experience leaves persisting (and possibly irreversible) traces in brain structure. As neuroscientists who are investigating sensitive periods of human brain development, we agree: safe and nurturing environments are a…

There are, of course, caveats. A recent review of more than a decade’s worth of gaming studies found that adolescent and young adult gamers outperformed nongamers in a number of cognitive functions. They were better able to switch between visual tasks, divide their attention between different moving objects and remember the location of hidden objects. Some studies also found gamers to have a higher volume of gray matter, the outer layer of the brain that processes information. Other…