EMOTIONAL DEPRIVATION AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
V. Gross-Tsur
Lecture Topics. Definition and description of brain plasticity. Emotion,
basic emotional components and damage to emotion. Measurement
of emotion. Development of emotion with emphasis on social
attachment and communication. Emotional deprivation. Adopted
children. Traumatized and emotionally deprived children. Trauma
associated with prematurity. Brain plasticity is defined as the ability of
the central nervous system to change as a result of: typical
development, acquisition of new skills in young children and adults,
secondary to damage of the nervous system, sensory deprivation.
Neurological plasticity transpires in two pathways: Experience
Expectant: A brain-based predetermined timetable for development of
sensory, motor and cognitive skills, critical to the mature and efficient
development of brain function. Experience Dependent: The brain
acquires new skills whenever exposed to them, i.e. learning to bike.
The brain changes and develops as a result of this exposure which is
not time dependent and occurs at virtually any age. Complex
emotional processes, objective and subjective, used to evaluate our
environment and control behavior will be discussed as well as
parameters involved in the development of social attachment as per
the “developmental affective neuroscience approach” developed by
Pollack. Emphasis will be placed on components of normal
development, including facial recognition, facial expression, in the
context of emotional deprivation on the developing brain. Treatment
options, particularly supportive ones, designed to enhance the child’s
emotional state will also be discussed.
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