Human Behavior Learning And The Developing Brain

Synthesizing the breadth of current knowledge on brain behavior relationships in atypically developing children, this important volume integrates theories and data from multiple disciplines. Leading authorities present their latest research on specific clinical problems, including autism, Williams syndrome, learning and language disabilities, ADHD, and issues facing infants of diabetic mothers. In addition, the effects of social stress and maltreatment on brain development and behavior are thoroughly reviewed. Demonstrating the uses of cuttingedge methods from developmental neuroscience, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, the contributors emphasize the implications of their findings for real-world educational and clinical practices.

Thoroughly examining brain-behavior relationships in atypically developing children, this important volume integrates theories and data from multiple disciplines. Leading authorities present research on specific clinical problems, including autism, Williams syndrome, learning and language disabilities, ADHD, and issues facing infants of diabetic mothers. In addition, the effects of social stress and maltreatment on brain development and behavior are reviewed. Demonstrating the uses of cutting-edge methods from developmental neuroscience, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, the contributors emphasize the implications of their findings for real-world educational and clinical practices. Illustrations include eight pages in full color.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

This volume explores the scientific frontiers and leading edges of research across the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, history, business, education, geography, law, and psychiatry, as well as the newer, more specialized areas of artificial intelligence, child development, cognitive science, communications, demography, linguistics, and management and decision science. It includes recommendations concerning new resources, facilities, and programs that may be needed over the next several years to ensure rapid progress and provide a high level of returns to basic research.

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition was published and its influence has been wide and deep. The report summarized insights on the nature of learning in school-aged children; described principles for the design of effective learning environments; and provided examples of how that could be implemented in the classroom. Since then, researchers have continued to investigate the nature of learning and have generated new findings related to the neurological processes involved in learning, individual and cultural variability related to learning, and educational technologies. In addition to expanding scientific understanding of the mechanisms of learning and how the brain adapts throughout the lifespan, there have been important discoveries about influences on learning, particularly sociocultural factors and the structure of learning environments. How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures provides a much-needed update incorporating insights gained from this research over the past decade. The book expands on the foundation laid out in the 2000 report and takes an in-depth look at the constellation of influences that affect individual learning. How People Learn II will become an indispensable resource to understand learning throughout the lifespan for educators of students and adults.

Over the past few decades, innovative, noninvasive techniques for studying the activity of the brain have provided new insights into brain-behavior relations. Now, developmental scientists are using these techniques with young infants and children to shed light on the neural underpinnings of the developmental process. This highly enlightening text brings together a group of world-renowned scientists who believe, and demonstrate, that understanding brain-behavior relations from a developmental standpoint will yield fresh and unique insights into human nature. This volume--one of a limited number of texts that provide a voice for a growing new generation of developmentalists interested in the brain--is distinguished by its breadth of topics, which include the development of memory, cognition, and emotions, and individual differences in these domains. The editors have divided the book into four sections. Section I provides a historical review and broad theoretical framework for considering brain-behavior relations from a developmental perspective. The role of electrophysiology (EEG) in developmental research is also examined. Chapters in Section II focus on developmental changes in the brain, as indexed by changes in synaptic connections, glucose metabolism, and EEG power and coherence. Using changes in neural activity as indicators of important developmental transitions, a biological perspective on human psychological development is offered. Section III addresses concepts of developing brain behavior relations. Neural correlates of developmental processes pertaining to memory, emotional expression and emotion regulation, spatial representation, and language are discussed. Finally, Section IV examines brain activity as a predictor of individual differences in behavior. Authors explore the use of electrophysiological measures in early infancy to explain individual differences in temperament, affective style, language, and attentional abilities. While accessible to those with little background in the neurosciences, this book adequately portrays the complexity and depth of brain-behavior relations in development. An important resource for investigators in the fields of developmental psychology, neuropsychology, behavioral neuroscience, clinical psychology, and education, it also serves as a textbook for graduate students, especially advanced students of human psychological development.

Technology Play and Brain Development brings together current research on play development, learning technology, and brain development. The authors first navigate the play technology and brain development interface, highlighting the interactive qualities that make up each component. Next, they survey the changes in play materials and the variations in time periods for play that have occurred over the past 15-20 years, and then explain how these changes have had the potential to affect this play/brain developmental interaction. The authors also cover various types of technology-augmented play materials used by children at age levels from infancy to adolescence, and describe the particular qualities that may enhance or change brain development. In so doing, they present information on previous and current studies of the play and technology interface, in addition to providing behavioral data collected from parents and children of varied ages related to their play with different types of play materials. Significantly, they discuss how such play may affect social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development, and review futurist predictions about the potential qualities of human behavior needed by generations to come. The authors conclude with advice to toy and game designers, parents, educators, and the wider community on ways to enhance the quality of technology-augmented play experiences so that play will continue to promote the development of human characteristics needed in the future.

Contemporary social workers continue to face growing challenges of complex and diverse issues such as child maltreatment, poverty, unemployment, oppression, violence, mental illness, and end-of-life care across varied contexts. Wendy L. Haight and Edward H. Taylor present their book Human Behavior for Social Work Practice, Second Edition as a core text that will help students implement a consistent framework through which to approach multifaceted social issues in any environment, whether it be in inner city schools or rural nursing homes with individuals of different ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status. Human Behavior for Social Work Practice, Second Edition uses the developmental, ecological-systems perspective as an analytic tool to show students how social scientific evidence helps us understand human development and enhances social work practice. Students will learn that by effectively connecting theory to practice, they can develop successful strategies to use as they encounter complex issues currently facing social workers. The authors have reorganized and expanded this new edition to better illustrate developmental thinking in social work practice throughout the lifespan. This book also now includes special topic chapters on human brain development and the increasing relevance of neuroscience to social work practice as well as important social justice issues specific to race and gender that occur throughout the lifespan. Also new to this edition, Haight and Taylor have developed instructor's materials that can be tailored to include the social work experience of the instructor. It is comprehensive so that no additional resources are needed, and it is dynamically structured so information can be added where relevant to the course material.