This book discusses the main milestones of early brain development and the emergence of consciousness, within and outside the mother's environment, with a particular focus on the preterm infant. These insights offer new perspectives on issues concerning fetal pain, awareness in newborns, and the effects of current digital media on the developing infant brain.
Among the topics covered:
- Brain patterning, neural proliferation, and migration.
- The stress of being born and first breaths.
- The stream of consciousness.
- Parenting and stimulating the brain of the child.
- The moral status of the fetus and the infant.
Infant Brain Development is an excellent resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students across a variety of disciplines including developmental psychology, pediatrics, neurobiology, neuroscience, obstetrics, nursing and medical ethics. It is written with historic and philosophical remarks of interest for a broad readership.
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"This book is a joy to read for anyone interested in understanding where biology is heading in the 21st century, and it is essential for those who work in child development."
Eric Kandel, University Professor, Columbia University, Co-Director, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Nobel Laureate in Medicine 2000
"With the precision of a scientist, the depth of a philosopher, and the heart and sensitivity of a pediatrician, Hugo Lagercrantz weaves a story as readable and engrossing as any mystery novel, linking brain, genes, the environment, and behavior to explain the development of the mind of a newborn. A tour de force!"
Patricia K. Kuhl, The Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning, Co-Director, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington
"This book is a noble and valiant effort by Dr. Lagercrantz to explain the immensely complex issue of normal and pathological development of the human brain in simple terms that are accessible to the general public."
Pasko Rakic, Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine
About the Author: Hugo Lagercrantz, M.D., Ph.D. Drhc, is Senior Professor of Pediatrics at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and Editor-in-chief of Acta Paediatrica. He is also a honorary member of the American Pediatric Society. He was formerly the Director of the Neonatal Programme at the Astrid Lindgren Children´s Hospital. He has been a member of the Nobel Assembly, Chairman of the Swedish Pediatric Society and European Society for Pediatric Research. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and edited 7 books on topics such as respiratory physiology and neonatal neurology. He discovered the remarkably high levels of stress hormones in babies at birth (i.e. the stress of being born). Together with collaborators, he demonstrated high spontaneous brain activity in newborns, possibly corresponding to the "stream of consciousness".
