From the first moments outside the womb, babies begin their understanding of the outside world. Each of your senses transmits direct data to the brain. Some of them, such as light and sound, are especially overwhelming for the newborn. Within the matrix, they existed only diffusely. Neuroscientists think that this early period of life is especially significant for neuronal development. However, there are not many studies on the subject.
Recent research from New York University sheds new light: it has revealed the overwhelming speed at which a baby’s brain creates new neural networks after its first sensory stimuli. The report states that babies experience something similar to an “explosion” of neural connectivity. Through the analysis of brain scans performed on fetuses and newborns, the New York scientists found that during the transition there is a sudden formation and reconfiguration of millions of neuronal connections. Sensory contact with the world transforms your brain, quickly leaving the fetal stage far behind.
The study looked at the brains of 140 individuals and evaluated both their fetal stage and their newborn stage. 126 prenatal (six months after conception) and 58 postnatal (three months after birth) examinations were included. Recordings were made while the babies were at rest. “With this first-of-its-kind longitudinal data set, we now, for the first time, have the opportunity to investigate brain changes throughout birth. Surprisingly, there is still a large gap in our understanding of how the human brain changes during this crucial phase of development,” Lanxin Ji, author of the study, explained to ScienceAlert.
Explosion and reconfiguration, but not everywhere
After birth, the brain tries hard to process and assimilate the new kind of information that a baby receives through all of its senses. Thanks to this, within the organ there is a wave of new neuronal connections. The explosion of neuronal activity is not uniform. Only the subcortical, sensorimotor and superior frontal networks, related to basic functions such as motor skills, breathing, blinking and digestion, recorded a drastic formation of connections after birth.
These networks are not “off” before birth. They are active while the fetus develops, but the connections formed are oriented toward matters strictly of survival. At birth, some of these networks reconfigure their architecture to adapt it to the baby’s new requirements. For example, the subcortical network, which comprises circuits beneath the cerebral cortex, prepares basic functions before birth such as temperature regulation, heart rate, and breathing. Later, when all these functions are registered, it is responsible for processing sensory information and regulating emotions.
Neuroscientists tend to investigate the development of the brain in its early moments by looking at its division between connections for local and global issues. While the baby is inside the uterus, the organ is busy growing as an organism. Hence the name “local”. When you are born, the brain needs to deal with global issues, such as integrating all the information that its information receptors receive. The New York University study seems to support that theory.
The database has the potential to change our notion of baby growth. The report suggests that birth is not just the continuation of prenatal brain growth. On the other hand, the first months outside the womb are a different stage, with very specific cognitive consequences..
As time passes and experiences accumulate, the brain develops other regions, such as those related to language and abstract thinking. At some point, with a solid formation of neural connections, you will begin to create engrams and, with them, memories.
The study highlights the need for more research on brain maturation in the first months after birth. A baby’s starting point will be essential for optimal development in the following years. In addition, databases like this one should be strengthened with studies that consider other factors such as sex, prematurity of birth and possible problems at birth.
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