Research References on Early Brain Development and Related Topics

The following are research articles, books, and other sources that have been used as sources for Better Brains for Babies training, website content, and other materials. This is not a complete or exhaustive list of all research related to early brain development, nor of all research that has informed Better Brains for Babies. For links to more recent studies, check out the Recent Research page.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, April 6). Fast facts: Preventing adverse childhood experiences |violence prevention|injury Center|CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html

Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Adverse childhood experiences (aces) & childhood trauma. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24875-adverse-childhood-experiences-ace

What are aces and how do they relate to toxic stress? Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2020, October 30).https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/aces-and-toxic-stress-frequently-asked-questions/

Brain Anatomy

Amaral, D.G., Bauman, M.D., Capitanio, J.P., Lavenex, P., Mason, W.A., Mauldin-Jourdain, M.L., & Mendoza, S.P. (2003). The amygdala: is it an essential component of the neural network for social cognition? Neuropsychologia, 41, 517-522.

Berger, K. S. (2018). The developing person through childhood (8th ed.). New York: Worth.

Center for Functional MRI. (2016). What is fMRI? University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from fmri.ucsd.edu/Research/whatisfmri.html.

Green, T., Heinemann, S. F., & Gusella, J. F. (1998). Molecular neurobiology and genetics: Investigation of neural function and dysfunction. Neuron, 20(3), 427 – 444.

Haines, D. E. (2012). Fundamental Neuroscience (4th Ed.). New York: Churchill Livingstone.

Hamalainen, M. (2007). Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. Retrieved April 25, 2022

from www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/research/imaging-technologies/meg.

Joseph, R. (2011). Brain E-Books: Clinical Neuroscience Neuropsychology, Neuropsychiatry, Behavioral Neurology. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from brainmind.com/ParietalLobe.html.

Kandel, E., Schwartz, J., & Jessell, T. (2012). Principles of neural science (5th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kolb, B. (1999). Neuroanatomy and development overview. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 5–14). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Kuffler, S. W. (1956). Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina. Journal of Neurophysiology 16, 37-68.

Pakkenberg B, Gundersen H. J. (1997). Neocortical neuron number in humans: Effect of sex and age. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 384(2), 312-20.

Ratey, J. J. (2002). A user’s guide to the brain: Perception, attention, and the four theaters of the brain. New York: Pantheon.

Society for Neuroscience (2008). Brain facts: A primer on the brain and nervous system. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from bit.ly/SFNBrainFacts.

Sprenger, M. (1999). Learning and Memory: The Brain in Action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

University of Utah (2016). Brain imaging technologies. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/brainimaging.

Woolsey, T. A., Hanaway, J., & Gado, M. H., (2007). The brain atlas: A visual guide to the human central nervous system (3rd Ed.) Wilmington, DE: Wiley-Liss.

Brain Development

Bonnier, C. (2008). Evaluation of early stimulation programs for enhancing brain development. Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway: 1992), 97(7), 853-858.

de Haan, M. & Gunnar, M. R. (2009). Handbook of developmental neuroscience. New York: The Guilford Press.

de Haan, M. & Johnson, M. H. (Eds.) (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of development. New York: Psychology Press.

deSchoenen, S. (1999). About functional brain specialization: The development of face recognition. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 191–208). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Galinsky, E. (2010). Mind in the making. New York: HarperCollins.

Ghashghaei, H. T., Lai, C., & Anton, E. S. (2007). Neuronal migration in the adult brain: Are we there yet? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(2), 141-151.

Joseph, R. (2011). Infant and child brain development: Cognition, consciousness, behavior, language, gender, and emotion. University Press.

Kolb, B. (1999). Neuroanatomy and development overview. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 5–14). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Marshall, P.J., Fox, N.A., & the BEIP Core Group. (2004). A comparison of the electroencephalogram between institutionalized and community children in Romania. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1327–1338.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2010). Early experiences can alter gene expression and affect long-term development. Working Paper No. 10. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2011). Building the brain’s “air traffic control” system: How early experiences shape the development of executive function. Working Paper No. 11. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

Nelson, C. A., de Haan, M., & Thomas, K. M. (2006). Neuroscience of cognitive development: The role of experience and the developing brain. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nelson, C. A. & Luciana, M. (2008). Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

Shonkoff, J. P, & Phillips, D. A. (Eds.) (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Shonkoff, J. P. (2003). From neurons to neighborhoods: Old and new challenges for developmental and behavioral pediatrics. Journal of Developmental And Behavioral Pediatrics: JDBP, 24(1), 70-76.

Supekar, K., Musen, M., & Menon, V. (2009). Development of large-scale functional brain networks in children. PLoS Biology, 7(7), 1-15.

Attachment

Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., (Eds). (2005). Creating Capacity for Attachment. Bethany, OK: Wood ‘N’ Barnes.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. Vol 1 of Attachment and loss. New York: Basic Books.

Bowlby, J. (1973). Separation: Anxiety & Anger. Vol. 2 of Attachment and loss. New York: Basic Books.

Bowlby, J. (1980) Loss: Sadness & Depression. Vol. 3 of Attachment and loss. New York: Basic Books.

Bretherton, I. (1992). The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28, 759-775.

Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P., (Eds). (1999) Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications. New York: Guilford.

Cooke, J. E., Kochendorfer, L. B., Stuart-Parrigon, K. L., Koehn, A. J., & Kerns, K. A. (2019). Parent–child attachment and

children’s experience and regulation of emotion: A Meta-analytic review. Emotion, 19(6), 1103–1126. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000504.

Cozolino, L. (2006). The neuroscience of human relationships: Attachment and the developing social brain. New York: W. W. Norton.

Dinero, R. E., Conger, R. D., Shaver, P. R., Widaman, K. F., & Larsen-Rife, D. (2010). Influence of family of origin and adult romantic partners on romantic attachment security. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 1, 16-30.

Dubois-Comtois, K., Cyr, C., & Moss, E. (2011). Attachment behavior and mother-child conversations as predictors of attachment representations in middle childhood: A longitudinal study. Attachment and Human Development, 13(4), 335-357.

Fernandes, C., Monteiro, L., Santos, A. J., Fernandes, M., Antunes, M., Vaughn, B. E., & Veríssimo, M. (2019). Early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships: Contributions to preschoolers’ social competence. Attachment & Human Development, 22(6), 687–704. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1692045

Howe, D. (2011). Attachment across the lifecourse: A brief introduction. Palgrave Macmillan.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Young children develop in an environment of relationships. Working Paper No. 1. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

Perry, B. (2001) Bonding and Attachment in Maltreated Children: Consequences of emotional neglect in childhood. New York: Child Trauma Academy.

Stenger, B. (2011). An exploration of attachment theory: Links between relationships and emotionality. UMI Dissertation Publishing.

von der Lippe, A., Eilertsen, D. E., Hartmann, E., & Killen, K. (2010). The role of maternal attachment in children’s attachment and cognitive executive functioning: A preliminary study. Attachment & Human Development, 12(5), 429-444.

Child Development

Berger, K. S. (2018). The developing person through childhood (8th ed.). New York: Worth.

Berk, L. E. (2018). Exploring child development. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Williamson, G, G., & Anzalone, M.E. (2001). Sensory integration and self-regulation in infants and toddlers: Helping very young children interact with their environment. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.

Critical Periods

Bailey, D. B., Jr., Bruer, J. T., Symons, F. J., & Lichtman, J. W. (2001). Critical thinking about critical periods. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Greenough, W. T., & Black, J. E. (1999). Experience, neural plasticity, and psychological development. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 29–40). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Huttenlocher, P. (1999). Synaptogenesis in human cerebral cortex and the concept of critical periods. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 15–28). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Knudsen, E.I. (2004). Sensitive periods in the development of the brain and behavior. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1412–1425.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2008). The timing and quality of early experiences combine to shape brain aArchitecture. Working Paper No. 5. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/the-timing-and-quality-of-early-experiences-combine-to-shape-brain-architecture/.

Emotional Development

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Children’s emotional development is built into the architecture of their brains. Working Paper No. 2. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/childrens-emotional-development-is-built-into-the-architecture-of-their-brains/.

Pruett, K. D. (1999). Me, Myself, and I: How children build their sense of self - 18 to 36 months. New York: Goddard.

Williamson, G, G., & Anzalone, M.E. (2001). Sensory integration and self-regulation in infants and toddlers: Helping very young children interact with their environment. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.

Language Development

Fibla, L., Kosie, J. E., Kircher, R., Lew-Williams, C., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2022). Bilingual language development in infancy: What can we do to support bilingual families? Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9(1), 35–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/23727322211069312

Huttenlocher, J. (1999). Language input and language growth. In N. A. Fox, L. A. Leavitt, & J. G. Warhol (Eds.), The role of early experience in infant development (pp. 69–82). Calverton, NY: Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute.

Juczyk, P. W. (1995). Language acquisition: Speech sounds and phonological development. In J. L. Miller & P. D. Eimas (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition: Vol. 11. Speech, language, and communication (pp. 263–301). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

Kuhl, P.K. (2004). Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 831-843.

Matsuda, Y.-T., Ueno, K., Waggoner, R. A., Erickson, D., Shimura, Y., Tanaka, K., et al. (2011). Processing of infant-directed speech by adults. NeuroImage, 54(1), 611-621.

Zhang, Y., Kuhl, P.K., Imada, T., Kotani, M., and Tohkura, Y. (2005). Effects of language experience: Neural commitment to language-specific auditory patterns. NeuroImage, 26, 703-720.

Physical Well-Being

Brown, A., Raynor, P., & Lee, M. (2011). Healthcare professionals’ and mothers’ perceptions of factors that influence decisions to breastfeed or formula feed infants: A comparative study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(9), 1993-2003.

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2010). The foundations of lifelong health are built in early childhood. Retrieved April 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/the-foundations-of-lifelong-health-are-built-in-early-childhood/.

Gaines, J., & Schwebel, D. C. (2009). Recognition of home injury risks by novice parents of toddlers. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 41(5), 1070-1074.

Reading, R. (2011). Breast feeding and child behavior in the Millennium Cohort Study. Child: Care, health & development, 37(5), 754.

Shonkoff, J. P., Boyce, W. T., & McEwen, B. S. (2009). Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. JAMA: The Journal Of The American Medical Association, 301(21), 2252-2259.

Smith, J. D., Fu, E., & Kobayashi, M. A. (2020). Prevention and management of childhood obesity and its psychological and health comorbidities. Annual Review of Clinical

Psychology, 16(1), 351–378. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-100219-060201

Smithers, L. & McIntyre, E. (2010). The impact of breastfeeding: Translating recent evidence for practice. Australian Family Physician, 39(10), 757-760.

Play

Bergen, D. (Ed.) (1987). Play as a medium for learning and development: A handbook of theory and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Brown, S., & Vaughan, C. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. New York: Avery/Penguin.

Frost, J., Wortham, S., & Reifel, S. (2001). Play and child development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Hughes, F. P. (2010). Children, play, and development (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Klein, T.P., Wirth, D., & Linas, K. (2003). Play: Children’s context for development. Young Children, 58, 38-45.

Miller, E., & Almon, J. (2009). Crisis in the kindergarten: Why children need to play in school. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from http://bit.ly/crisisinkindergarten.

Pellegrini, A. D. (2010). The Oxford handbook of the development of play (1st Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., & Newcomb, R.L. (1997). Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning. Neurological Research, 19, 2-8.

Rubin, K. H., Fein, G. G., & Vandenberg, B. (1983). Play. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4 Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed., pp. 693–744). New York: Wiley.

Wood, E. (2007). New directions in play: Consensus or collision? Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 35(4), 309-320.

Stress and Trauma

Benner, A. D., & Mistry, R. S. (2020). Child development during the COVID‐19 pandemic through a life course theory lens. Child Development Perspectives, 14(4), 236–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12387

Cutuli, J. J., Wiik, K. L., Herbers, J. E., Gunnar, M. R., & Masten, A. S. (2010). Cortisol function among early school-aged homeless children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(6), 833-845.

Davies, C., Hendry, A., Gibson, S. P., Gliga, T., McGillion, M., & Gonzalez‐Gomez, N. (2021). Early childhood education and care during COVID‐19 boosts growth in

language and executive function. Infant and Child Development, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2241

Kishiyama, M. M., Boyce, W. T., Jimenez, A. M., Perry, L. M., & Knight, R. T. (2009). Socioeconomic disparities affect prefrontal function in children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(6), 1106-1115.

Majer, M., Nater, U. M., Lin, J. S., Capuron, L., & Reeves, W. (2010). Association of childhood trauma with cognitive function in health adults: A pilot study. BMC Neurology, 10, 61-70.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2005). Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the brain. Working Paper No. 3. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/wp3/

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2006). Early exposure to toxic substances damages brain Architecture. Working Paper No. 4. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/early-exposure-to-toxic-substances-damages-brain-architecture/.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.(2008). Establishing a level foundation for life: Mental health begins in early childhood. Working Paper No. 6. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/establishing-a-level-foundation-for-life-mental-health-begins-in-early-childhood/.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2009). Maternal depression can undermine the development of young children. Working Paper No. 8. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/maternal-depression-can-undermine-the-development-of-young-children/.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2009). Persistent fear and anxiety can affect young children’s learning and development. Working Paper No. 9. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2022 from developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/persistent-fear-and-anxiety-can-affect-young-childrens-learning-and-development/.

Perry. B. D. (2002). Childhood Experience and the Expression of Genetic Potential: What Childhood Neglect Tells Us about Nature and Nurture. Brain and Mind, 3, 79–100.

Ruth, L. A., Vermetten, E., & Pain, C. (2010). Impact of early life trauma on health and disease: The hidden epidemic. New York: Cambridge.

Young, A., Kenardy, J., & Cobham, V. (2011). Trauma in early childhood: A neglected population. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(3), 231-250.