The Development of the Brain

At birth the average newborn brain weighs just 400 grams and is 1.7 times smaller than the average adult brain. The more basic cognitive functions mature first it seems followed by areas involved in top down control of cognition and behaviour. There are maturation changes that continue through late childhood adolescence and even into adulthood. People can create internal schemas about how they expect people to treat them from their early life experiences and often form maladaptive beliefs and behaviours.