Brains develop in the context of experience. Social experiences may be particularly relevant for developing neural circuits related to the experience of feeling or emotion. Factors such as negative life events and the quality of relationships may be especially influential.
Adolescence is a key time to investigate how early social experiences contribute to brain development because it's a period of dramatic changes in brain function, brain structure, and social context, and it's when many psychiatric disorders first appear. But few studies have addressed this important area because of the need for longitudinal data to investigate long-term associations between early social experiences and later brain development.
The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) will host a symposium during its Biennial Meeting to explore these issues. Researchers will present work based on four large, longitudinal studies of high-risk adolescents from varied socioeconomic backgrounds and nationalities. Among the questions that will be addressed:
The symposium will take place in the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, Redwood AB, on Thursday, April 18, 2013, from 10:20 to 11:50 a.m.