Epigenesis Brain Development

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Epigenesis is the process of new structures and functions developing during the course of human development (Gottlieb, 1996). New neural systems change the way in which an individual behaves. As a result, new behaviors create the opportunity for new stimuli in the environment. Through the process of experiential canalization, development is shaped by biology and environment acting together to promote certain abilities over others (Blair & Raver, 2012). Therefore, a new environment with novel stimuli affects the way in which the brain develops from that point onward. During infancy, the brain is rapidly developing, and new patterns of individual functioning emerge (Magnusson & Cairns, 1996). For example, during infancy locomotion emerges as …show more content…
Children, who are mobile, now have a more efficient and wider reaching method for exploring their environment. Therefore, the change in environment and type of stimuli continues to change their genetic expression through the process of experiential canalization (Blair & Raver, 2012). For example, children start crawling first and begin to explore their world. Experiential canalization works not just because of the absence of stimulation, but also because of the presence of alternative forms of stimulation (Blair & Raver, 2012). This exploration of their surroundings promotes the rewiring of more efficient locomotion. Therefore, the ability to walk emerges later due to the organization of a more sophisticated neural network. The emergence of neural patterns allow for locomotion. The ability of locomotion creates a new and wider environment for the child to explore. A feedback loop of genes and behavior is created such that the child’s new environment encourages rewiring to make movement easier and more …show more content…
This model helps to stress importance of early life events as predictors of health in later stages of life (Meaney, 2010). Early life events alter development of neural responses to stress (Meaney, 2010). Low quality of parenting and the experience of poverty lead to an increase emotional, autonomic, and endocrine responses to stress (Meaney, 2010). The experience outside of the child’s control shapes the way in which stress responses are wired in the brain. Due to these changes now, the child will have more adverse responses to stress.
The influence of the child’s experience begins as early as the environment creates in the mother’s womb. For example, in rats whose prenatal conditions were highly stressful, there were structural changes in connectivity of neural connections which changed physiological responses to stress (Blair & Raver, 2012). Therefore, the rat pups stressful experience in the womb created changes in biological processes that lasted though later stages in
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