From tea leaves to crystal balls, the possibility of seeing a person’s future is a timeless fascination. But now, using technological advances that reveal details of a person’s brain structure and function, neuroscientists can do what fortune-telling mystics could not—tell a parent what their child’s temperament will be when they grow up. What’s more, these scientific advances can pinpoint the factors shaping a person’s individual psychological and cognitive attributes, illuminating the mystery of how our individuality develops at a biological level, and opening pathways to alter its course.
Predicting Emotional Regulation Ability
Recent examples come from two scientific studies just published. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh announced this week that by using noninvasive brain imaging, they can scan an infant’s brain at 3 months of age and predict how well the child will be able to regulate their emotions when they reach 9 months of age.
The researchers imaged the brains of 95 infants at 3 months of age and again at 9 months and found differences in development of brain structure between 3 and 9 months that predicted how well the child could regulate emotion. This was based on the parents’ assessment of how much their child improved or weakened control over their emotions. The questionnaire that caregivers filled out for the infants at 3 months, and again at 9 months of age, included measures of sadness, levels of distress to limitations, fear, smiling and laughter, soothability, and other aspects of emotional behavior. The findings were then independently replicated in a second set of experiments involving 44 infants.
The brain imaging technique the researchers used reveals the communication pathways (white matter tracts) connecting different regions of the brain. Several large-scale communication networks have been identified in the brain, each of which carries out a different set of mental and psychological functions. One of these networks, called the default mode network (DMN), supports rumination, whereas another network, the salience network (SN), guides attention toward a stimulus in the environment. A third network, the central executive network (CEN), exerts higher-level control over the emotional brain and guides decision making.
The researchers found that the structure of key pathways in these three brain networks predicted how well an infant will be able to self-regulate their emotions when they are older. The results show that stronger pathways providing greater integration within the CEN increase strength of emotional regulation, whereas stronger integration of information among the three networks weakens emotional regulation. This makes sense, because stronger DMN connectivity would reduce the capacity for emotional regulation by internalizing emotional distress, whereas the greater anatomical connectivity interconnecting the CEN would increase control over emotions.
This finding raises profound questions of what influences the development of a person’s brain networks that underlie their psychological and cognitive abilities. If these factors can be identified, early intervention could alter the course of brain development to maximize success in later life. In general, those factors are genes, environment, and chance.
While genes are the foundation of brain development, as every parent knows, their own children can differ greatly in their ability to self-regulate their emotions. Clearly, a person’s experiences guide the development of the brain for maximum success in the environment experienced in early life.
Effects of Early-Life Experiences
The second study provides interesting new evidence for how early-life experiences sculpt brain development and personality. In this case, the study reveals that even a mother’s traumatic experiences while she is pregnant can influence development of her baby’s brain in ways that will influence their child’s psychological and cognitive function.
You no doubt remember the devastating Hurricane Sandy that slammed into the New York area in October 2012. It was one of the most catastrophic storms in U.S. history. The levels of fear and stress that survivors of that storm experienced were enormous. In this new study, researchers at City University of New York used brain imaging to investigate if the severe stress mothers experienced in the hurricane while they were pregnant left marks on their child’s brain development in the wake of the storm.
The results of their study on 8-year-old children, published this week, found structural brain differences in kids whose mothers experienced Superstorm Sandy while they were pregnant. The study involved 34 children, 11 of whom were in gestation while the storm hit, compared to a like set of children who were not affected by the storm. The findings revealed that a part of the brain, the basal ganglia, was larger in the children of moms who were pregnant at the time of the storm. This suggests one way that stress can affect development of the brain, even in a fetus, that will persist into later life.
The study did not assess cognitive or psychological differences in these children, but in addition to the basal ganglia’s function in controlling movement, more recent research also shows it is involved in emotional regulation. People with this brain region enlarged tend to have increased incidence of autism spectrum disorder and difficulty with impulse control. There is a wealth of other data on how stress during pregnancy and in early life can have persistent effects on a child’s brain development that lead to behavioral problems later in life. This includes previous studies on the effects of prenatal maternal stress from environmental disasters on a child’s brain development.
It would be a mistake, however, for moms to feel a sense of guilt from the effects of stress they experienced while pregnant on their child’s development. Most major life stresses are beyond a person’s control. At the same time, some tragic stresses that many mothers suffer in the world from war and famine can be alleviated by compassionate people and societies who care to help.
No need for palm reading. Advances in neuroscience are giving answers to every parent’s wonder and worry about how their new baby will turn out. Differences in brain circuitry in early life can now foretell their child’s future psychological problems and cognitive abilities. The factors responsible for directing a child’s brain development are being identified, including, among others, their mom’s stress during pregnancy. Spotted early, children at risk could be helped by early intervention to achieve their maximal potential in life.