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Abstract:
During the first years after birth, infants face the enormous task of building a comprehensive and predictive internal model of the external world, allowing them to navigate and interact successfully with their environment. This chapter explores the frontiers involved in understanding the neural bases of this process and how such knowledge could be leveraged to treat and prevent neurodevelopmental disorders. It begins by describing how developing brains form dynamical networks that integrate genetic, epigenetic, and sensory information, emphasizing the interplay between molecules and neural activity.
Strategies are highlighted that the brain uses to tightly control the impact of sensory input onto its developing networks, which are manifest at the molecular, neural activity, and behavioral levels, and which appear pivotal as the brain strives to maintain a fine balance of flexible yet stable configuration. While suitable animal models have greatly contributed to our basic understanding of neural development, revealing the neural basis of cognitive development in humans remains a challenge. To overcome this barrier, new directions are discussed that combine animal and human studies. Finally, this chapter discusses implications of the complexity of the human brain and highlights the potential of data-driven formal models of neurodevelopmental trajectories to enable early detection and individualized treatment of developmental disorders.
