Brain Development Quiz

1. Brain Development Quiz www.zerotothree.org

2. True or false?? • Basic brain connections are laid down before birth. 2. Babies are born with the ability to learn all the languages in the world. 3. A baby’s brain has the greatest density of cell connectors (synapses) by age 3.

3. True or False?? 4. Because the brain is making so many connections pre-birth to age 3, the first three years of life are the most critical for brain development. After age 3, the "window of opportunity" closes. 5. Good nutrition is one of the best ways we know to help healthy brain development.

4. True or false?? • Reading to a newborn infant is the best way to help a child learn to read in the future. • Living in an orphanage as a baby will likely result in negative, longlasting effects on the brain. • There are times when a negative experience or the absence of appropriate stimulation is more likely to have serious, sustained effects on the child.

5. True or false?? 9. Most of what we have learned about the brain comes from research done on animals rather than humans. 10. Brain research has been misunderstood and misapplied in many contexts.

6. Answers • True • True • True • False • True • False • False • True • True • True

7. And more questions to consider … • How does early experience get ‘under the skin’? • What is ‘experience-based brain development’? Genetic expression? The new research on epigenesis? • Why is this research important to early childhood practitioners and to society as a whole? • How does what we know about early brain development inform our work in early childhood care and education?