Early years study 2 : Putting science into action

In addition, Petr Varmuza, from the City of Toronto, sup- she is the Chair of the Council’s Expert Advisors, a ported the work of the book through the production of group that provided input through the writing process. [...] Recently scientists have found the produc- of neurons are the Everything in the infant tion of a small number of new neurons in the hippoc- same as at birth, environment contributes ampus and in the olfactory cortex, but this does not but connections to brain development— add significantly to the size of the brain.3 amongst the noise, light, and changes neurons are far Connecting Neurons – Synapto [...] THE LONG REACH OF EARLY CHILDHOOD • 19 The massive over-production of synapses in the early years of development is the result of the rapid growth THE KEY PHASES OF BRAIN of axons and dendrites. [...] The touch neural pathways exist throughout the Sensory stimulation from the surrounding envi- body as neurons receive stimulation through the skin ronment triggers the neurons to differentiate and form and carry the signals to the brain. [...] When signals from the primary visual stimulation builds the neural circuit that trans- sensing pathways reach the cortex and perhaps the fers signals from the thalamus in the limbic system to amygdala, they are interpreted and integrated with the visual cortex.14 In animal experiments, they found other neural pathways.19 that if signals did not pass from the retina to the visual cortex of the brai