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Title: Supporting Healthy Brain and Behavioral Development During Infancy
Much of infant development occurs in the home and in the context of caregiving support. Babies learn through their everyday interactions with parents—from watching, listening, communicating, cuddling, and playing with them. Foundations for cognitive skills such as attention, perception, learning, and language are all built in the brain during the first year of life. Socioemotional development, including the ability to self-regulate behaviors and emotions, also begins during infancy. Recent advances have allowed researchers to answer questions about the developing brain and how it is impacted by experience and environmental systems, including parental sensitivity and consistency, the home environment, socio-cultural factors, community support systems, and public policies. Giving parents the opportunity to support healthy infant development through paid parental leave programs that are accessible, flexible, and equitable, will positively impact early trajectories of brain and behavioral development.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1728133
PAR ID:
10364348
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
SAGE Publications
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Volume:
9
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2372-7322
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: p. 129-136
Size(s):
p. 129-136
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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