Posner Michael I, Rothbart Mary K, Sheese Brad E, Voelker Pascale
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL 61701, USA.
Adv Neurosci (Hindawi). 2014 May 1;2014:405094. doi: 10.1155/2014/405094.
Brain networks underlying attention are present even during infancy and are critical for the developing ability of children to control their emotions and thoughts. For adults, individual differences in the efficiency of attentional networks have been related to neuromodulators and to genetic variations. We have examined the development of attentional networks and child temperament in a longitudinal study from infancy (7 months) to middle childhood (7 years). Early temperamental differences among infants, including smiling and laughter and vocal reactivity, are related to self-regulation abilities at 7 years. However, genetic variations related to adult executive attention, while present in childhood, are poor predictors of later control, in part because individual genetic variationmay have many small effects and in part because their influence occurs in interaction with caregiver behavior and other environmental influences. While brain areas involved in attention are present during infancy, their connectivity changes and leads to improvement in control of behavior. It is also possible to influence control mechanisms through training later in life. The relation between maturation and learning may allow advances in our understanding of human brain development.
即使在婴儿期，注意力背后的大脑网络就已存在，这对于儿童控制情绪和思想的发展能力至关重要。对于成年人来说，注意力网络效率的个体差异与神经调节剂和基因变异有关。我们在一项从婴儿期（7个月）到童年中期（7岁）的纵向研究中，研究了注意力网络和儿童气质的发展。婴儿早期的气质差异，包括微笑、大笑和声音反应性，与7岁时的自我调节能力有关。然而，与成人执行性注意力相关的基因变异，虽然在儿童期就已存在，但对后期控制的预测性较差，部分原因是个体基因变异可能有许多微小影响，部分原因是它们的影响是在与照顾者行为和其他环境影响的相互作用中发生的。虽然参与注意力的脑区在婴儿期就已存在，但其连接性会发生变化，并导致行为控制能力的提高。在生命后期通过训练也有可能影响控制机制。成熟与学习之间的关系可能会增进我们对人类大脑发育的理解。
