Threats To Optimal Development

2	Synaptogenesis, Synapse Elimination, and Neural Plasticity in Human Cerebral Cortex

Peter R. Huttenlocher, M.D.

University of Chicago

This chapter deals with developmental events in the anatomy of cerebral cortex that occur postnatally during infancy and childhood, and their relation to the development of cortical function. An exiting aspect of human brain development is the fact that the brain continues to be shaped and molded throughout the childhood years, an observation that we have become more aware of in the last decade or so. Prior to that, we had little information that was helpful in relating cognitive development during the childhood years to changes in the anatomy of the brain. The brain seemed to be fully grown by age 2 ...