The Correlation Between Brain Development, LanguageAcquisition, and Cognition

Leslie Haley Wasserman1,2,3

There continues to be a debate whether educators should use brain research to their advantagein the classroom. This debate should not prevent educators from using their new found

knowledge toward enhancing their students’ learning. By understanding how the brain learns,educators are able to determine what developmental level the child is physically, mentally,socially, and cognitively. The more knowledge an educator has and applies, the better the

children will learn, and our future leaders will be better educated.

KEY WORDS: brain research; cognition; neuroscience; language acquisition; early childhood education.

INTRODUCTION

Brain research began as far back with theEgyptians in 1700 BC. With each century, brain re-search was improved with thinking, observation, andtesting. Since the 19th and 20th centuries, theadvancement of technology has caused scientists andeducators to rethink and redefine brain research. The21st century has brought about many new techno-logical advances that help to pinpoint specific areas ofthe brain that have difficulty and need to be improvedto aid the education of the children within ourclassrooms. These difficulties in cognition and learn-ing can be diagnosed early on in the child’s life. It ishoped that eventually these discoveries can lead to adecrease of disabilities in students with use of earlyintervention and improved technology. This newinformation that is being gathered about brain re-search can really have an impact on education andlearning as more facts are uncovered with each fur-ther testing.

BRAIN CIRCUITRY

Everything a child sees, hears, thinks, and tou-ches transfers into an electrical activity that is storedinto the synapses within the brain. Each time thebrain is stimulated, the experience rewires the brain.Information is carried to the brain in synapses. Eachday thousands of synapses die off. Information thatis not important or relevant will die off while otherinformation that is relevant will be stored in the brain(Siegler, 2000). The brain has many synapses. Somewill be preserved and others will be eliminated(Sousa, 2006). Children can lose over 20 billionsynapses per day from early childhood throughmiddle childhood and adolescence (Eliot, 2001). Thebrain is a complex, interconnected system that isconnected to everything in the body. Due to itscomplexity, neuroscience has been able to delve fur-ther into the functions on the brain with the use oftechnology.

TECHNOLOGY AND THE BRAIN

Imaging technologies fall into two different cat-egories: those that look at the structure of the brainand those that look at the function of the brain(Sousa, 2006). Many of these technologies weredeveloped for medical usage such as detectingtumors. There are several different imaging technol-ogies that can be used for diagnostic tools for

1C & I Studies, University of Akron, 132 Zook Hall, Akron,

OH 44235, USA.21204 Farmcote Circle, Medina, OH 44235, USA.3Correspondence should be directed to Leslie Haley Wasserman,

C & I Studies, University of Akron, 132 Zook Hall, Akron,

OH 44235, USA; e-mail: lesliewass@aol.com

Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6, June 2007 (� 2007)DOI: 10.1007/s10643-007-0155-x

4151082-3301/07/0600-0415/0 � 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

educators. One of the imaging machines used forseeing how quickly something occurs in the brain isthe EEG (electroencephalography) where electrodesare attached to the scalp and electronic signals fromthe brain are recorded (Sousa, 2006). Another of theimaging technologies that has success for determiningthe differing areas within the brain is the functionalmagnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI is apainless, noninvasive way to pinpoint specific areas inthe brain. These are just two of the many types oftechnologies that are being used for diagnostic testingfor cognitive neuroscience as well as medicaladvances.

Cognitive neuroscience is using new technologyto determine specific questions about the brain. Withthis advancement, many cognitive neuroscientists arenow able to pinpoint specific areas of the brain thatcause reading difficulties and language difficulties,just to name two. They are also able to pinpoint all ofthe different areas of the brain and what hemisphereholds what types of information.

According to Goswami (2004) cognitive neuro-science can offer methods of early detection for thosechildren with special needs. Goswami (2004) believesthat much of the research is too specific and that amuch wider range of information still needs to beaddressed. The history of the brain shows that not alltheories were correct and with the advancement oftechnology, many of the theories that we now believeto be true may in fact not be so accurate in the future(Bergen & Coscia, 2001).

The 1990s were declared the decade of the brainby President Bush (Slegers, 1997). The new theoriesthat were developed in the 1970s about the twohemispheres of the brain that caused scientists toterm people as left- brained or right-brained was nolonger used (Saunders & Vawdrey, 2002). Theknowledge gained from the 1990s has helped educatorsto understand the simplistic functions of the brain toprovide students with strategies that make themlearners for life.

THE LANGUAGE CENTER

The breakthrough of technology has helped tomake it possible to visualize each part of the brainand what it does. The language center is located in asmall area of the brain called the perisylvian region(Eliot, 2001). The perisylvian region surrounds a fis-sure known as the Sylvian fissure that separates thetemporal lobe from the pariental and frontal lobe.These pariental and frontal lobes are located in the

left hemisphere where the understandings of speechsounds are found (Eliot, 2001).

Montanaro (2001) states that there are two dif-ferent stages involved in language acquisition: pre-language that begins before birth and lasts until theage of 10 or 12 months, and the linguistic stage fromthe ages of 12 to 36 months. Babies have very littleobservable external hearing but are actually taking ineverything that they hear and the information ishidden inside of them. Montanaro (2001) calls thisperiod ‘‘silence’’ (p. 2). The window for opportunityfor language is from birth until age 10 (Slegers, 1997).By the time a child is three years old 97% of childrenare able to connect 2–3 words to form phrases andsimple sentences (Slegers, 1997). Montanaro (2001)states that this period is a ‘‘sensitive period fornaming things’’ (p. 2). It is important for the child tolearn the correct terminology of words. Baby talk willconfuse the child in the long run and the child’svocabulary will not grow.

Language is broken into two categories: wordsand grammar. These two components are developedat different times and in different areas of the brain.In Eliot’s (2001) research she determined that peopleare able to speak seven hundred speech sounds in oneminute of normal speech. It is during this develop-ment that the plasticity of the brain continues. Thislearning window before the age of ten could be anexcellent opportunity to teach the child a secondlanguage since the brain is already wired for languageacquisition.

The brain when viewed with a fMRI shows thatchildren who have normal language skills have lopsided brains (Slegers, 1997). That being the case, it isnot surprising that the children with language disor-ders have brain sides of equal size. Children are bornwith equal sides of the brain (Slegers, 1997). The rightside develops first and grows faster. This is the side ofthe brain that deals with emotion. The left side of thebrain starts to grow later and is in charge of newlearning (Slegers, 1997). Both sides of the brain canwork independently and can work together.

Siegler (1978) believed that children’s spokenlanguage is based on the preoperational period thattends to be more representational rather than trans-formational. Even though children pass through dif-ferent stages, it is their environment and specificexperiences that affect each child’s development. Thechild’s short-term memory regulates the speed atwhich the child’s sequencing progresses. ‘‘Memorygrows from one unit at age one to two to five units atage four to five years’’ (Siegler, 1978, p. 54). The

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predetermined theory is a theoretical based positionthat language acquisition is innate. The human brainis believed to be wired to master any language. This isthe position that brain based researchers have cometo believe and have proved to be correct through theirmany studies and research (Sousa, 2006).

CRITICAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAXIMUM

LEARNING

The use of technology and research about braindevelopment and its functioning has allowed forresearchers to determine when critical opportunitiesfor learning to take place within the different areas ofthe brain.

One such example of the importance of thewindows of opportunity occurred in a preschool thatinvolved a young child adopted from China. This isabout a little girl who was adopted from China at agetwo. Generally the children, mostly girls, are wellcared for in the orphanages. Many of these girls areadopted outside of China to parents who wish tohave a child. A set of parents from the United Statesare awaiting the arrival of their precious little girlfrom China. For bureaucratic reasons, the paperworkto adopt her is tied up in China. China decides to putadoptions on hold for a period of time. The parentsin the United States will have to wait longer than theyhad expected for their child.

Fast forward to the next year, as almost a yeargoes by; the little girl continues to live at theorphanage. The women that work in the orphanagedo not communicate or interact much with the littlegirl since soon she will be going to the United Statesand will have a family who will dote on her where shewill learn to speak English, which her caregivers donot. The women pay more attention to the otherswho are not scheduled to be adopted. By the time thewaiting period is lifted, the little girl is just shy of hersecond birthday. The new parents bring home theirnew daughter to discover that she is unable to com-municate with them. At first, it is understandable thatthere is a communication difficulty due to the factthat the child speaks Chinese. The parents hadlearned basic Chinese to make this transition lessdifficult for her when she arrived in the United States.The child is not able to respond to their Chinese.

The parents take her to a therapist that specializesin communication disorders and discovers that thelittle girl cannot speak Chinese. She is able to com-municate with facial expressions and pointing, but shehas no words. They try intensive therapy to teach her a

few words to communicate. The little girl makes pro-gress but only with her receptive language skills. She istaught sign language to communicate her needs. She isable to sign simple requests, but she still has no words.Why did this happen? What could be wrong?

The doctor determines that this little girl was nottalked to as an infant in any language. Her lack ofcommunication caused many of her brain synapses towither away. Since they were not being used, theycould not be developed during the critical window ofopportunity. Even though initial language learningcontinues until age twelve, the child had not even thebasic of information given to her for her synapses todevelop properly. She is able to communicate withthe use of a language board and sign language. As shecontinues to develop, her communication skills con-tinue to flourish with the intensive language therapyshe receives but she is still unable to communicatethrough spoken language.

This scenario is not typical, but a severe case ofwhen a child is not stimulated with language at birthand does not have interaction with stimuli that wouldhelp to increase the windows of opportunity foroptimal learning. This example of what happened tothis child was written to help explain the importanceof building synapses through environment andexperiences from birth and what could happen in theabsence of stimuli and not using the windows ofopportunity for critical learning to take place.

NEW INSIGHTS FOR EDUCATORS

More knowledge about critical windows oflearning will help educators develop timelines thatconcentrate on these windows. Brain research has ledto the betterment of early childhood education. Manyof the classic theories are still prevalent in today’sclassrooms. Learning is an individual process andmany times it is constructivist in nature. The con-structivist theories of Piaget and Vygotsky can befound in the foundations of many early childhoodcurricula today. Piaget’s ages and stages theory ofdevelopment can be identified with the cognitivegrowth of the brain. Many other programs and cur-ricula were developed based on theories of the indi-viduals who were popular at the time. For examplethe theories of Hunt, Skinner, and Piaget helped tobring about Head Start and High/Scope models.Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence is anexample of brain based education that promoteswhole language learning with the coordination ofthemes and units (Slegers, 1997).

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What does the brain research mean to earlychildhood education? The advancement of brain re-search can help to identify at-risk students or childrenwith special needs at a much earlier age than before.Having little or no knowledge of the way the brainfunctions in relation to learning is not beneficial forthe education of the students. New neurosciencediscoveries have now been found to disprove oldassumptions of how students learn. It is up to theeducator to incorporate some of these strategies intotheir teaching to make the most of the educationalexperience for the students. Educators can faceproblems with students’ learning due to using oldmethods of teaching and not using brain research totarget these windows of learning.

Learning is different for each child and the typesof learning vary based on the age and stage ofdevelopment the child is in. Until the age of five,children use the right hemisphere for almost alllearning. Once the child has reached kindergarten, heis expected to learn in a different manner. Before agefive, children learn through exploration and play,after age five, children are expected to sit still andlearn at a desk or table. Sequential knowledge isharder for the brain to process. Nonlinear learning inbits and pieces is easier for the brain to process. Eachside of the brain processes differently. When the brainis working as a whole, great potential can be achieved(Slegers, 1997). Teachers need to be aware of theseprocesses of the brain to plan curriculum so that itbest meets the needs of the children.

CONCLUSION

Each year more and more technologicaladvancements determine new findings about thebrain. Have scientists and educators found out all

there is to know about the brain and how it func-tions? No, time will tell as to what new things will belearned about the brain and its functioning. Severalyears from now educators may find that some of thetheories that were in place were not found to becorrect or need to be improved upon. The brain ismultifaceted, there is still so much more to learn anddiscover.

As the century continues, more brain researchwill bring about new and improved information thatcan be used to make education and learning better. Isit possible that we can even be able to pinpoint dif-ficulties to the point of being able to fix them and seea decrease of disabilities in students? One cannotknow the range of knowledge gained from studiesand research but one would like to believe that itcould be possible.

REFERENCES

Bergen, D., & Coscia, J. (2001). Brain research and childhoodeducation: Implications for educators. Olney, MD: Associationfor Childhood Education International.

Eliot, L. (2001). Language and the developing brain. NAMTAJournal, 26(2), 8–60.

Goswami, U. (2004). Neuroscience and education. British Journalof Educational Psychology, 74(1), 1–14.

Montanaro, S. (2001). Language acquisition. NAMTA Journal,26(2), 1–7.

Saunders, A. D., & Vawdrey, C. (2002). Merging brain researchwith educational learning principles. Business EducationForum, 1, 44–46.

Siegler, R. S. (2000). Childhood cognitive development: The essentialreadings. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Siegler, R. S. (1978). Children’s thinking: What develops?New York: Halsted Press.

Slegers, B. (1997). Brain development and its relationship to earlychildhood education. Presented at EDEL seminar in elemen-tary education, Long Beach, CA, April 17, 1997.

Sousa, D. A. (2006). How the brain learns (3rd ed.). ThousandOaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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