Adult Brain Development

As we age our brain inevitably grows, changes, and adapts to our bodies and environments. The brain starts to make an appearance as early as eighteen days prenatal, its physical appearance starts out as a flat tadpole shape on the upper surface of the embryo. (Ashwell, 2012) At birth the brain is only a quarter of the size of the adult brain, and many neurons and patterning processes are complete at birth. (Krishnan & Carey, 2013) The postnatal nerve cells often grow many axon branches, some of which reach parts of the brain the adult brain normally does not have contact with. (Ashwell, 2012) This makes it relatively easy for infants to start the learning process on how to manipulate objects and acquire language. Within the first two years

To assess these developmental changes parents and pediatricians use a milestone charting process, which is divided into four areas: Vision and manipulation, hearing and speech, posture and movement, and social behaviors. For instance, a five year old child should be able to speak fluently, draw a human figure, skip, and get dressed independently. (Ashwell, 2012) We learn such knowledge and behaviors through our environment and experiences, this starts from the day we are born and continues throughout

There is a decrease in mental flexibility and acquisition of skills and information. After the age of twenty-five there may be a thirty percent reduction in brain processes due to a loss of axons and dendrites. (Ashwell, 2012) As we enter into adulthood many of our motor and intellectual actions have become so repetitive and automated over the years they are usually resistant to the gradual loss of brain volume. This does not mean we are not able to obtain new information or skills, our learning process changes as we age and may be unnoticeably more difficult. For instance research suggests there is a change in the way we learn a foreign language somewhere between childhood and adulthood. Krishnan and Carey (2013) suggest “the earlier a second language is learned, the higher is the gray matter density in the left inferior parietal region.” This region is associated with language, mathematics, and perception. (Ashwell,