Environmental Influences on Cortical Development


 

Early sensory experience has a significant influence on brain development.  Numerous studies have documented the neuroanatomical benefits of an enriched environment.  The effects of enrichment appear to have an especially profound effect on responses in auditory cortex.  We have documented that evoked potentials of enriched rats (red) are more than twice the size of rats raised in standard laboratory conditions (blue). 

 

·        Enriched versus Standard Housing Conditions

·        Brain Lesions and Experience-Dependent Plasticity

·        Implications for Autism Remediation