Cascading genetic and environmental effects on development: implications for intervention

Massand, Esha and Karmiloff-Smith, Annette (2015) Cascading genetic and environmental effects on development: implications for intervention. In: Mitchell, K. (ed.) The Genetics of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Hoboken, U.S.: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 275-288. ISBN 9781118524886.

Abstract

The developing brain is not a miniature version of the adult brain, but becomes progressively localised and specialised over time, with neural changes playing a crucial role in both typical and atypical developmental trajectories. Since the infant brain starts out highly interconnected, a small difference in the initial state can have multiple cascading effects over developmental time, and lead to very different developmental outcomes. In this chapter, we consider what has been learnt about how the complex interactions between genes and environment impact on development. Whereas the overall six-layer structure of cortex may be under general genetic constraints, much of the microcircuitry of cortex turns out to be the result of complex multilevel interactions between genes and environment over developmental time. After providing empirical examples and discussing a number of theoretical options, we conclude by advocating a Neuroconstructivist approach to the theoretical and practical understanding of neurogenetic disorders as well as to the planning of very early intervention strategies.

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