Shanker – caregivers

However, nature had one more ace up its sleeve. Nature, since it was giving birth to these brains that were so small and undeveloped at birth, could also use the opportunity to make our brain highly adaptable. We are the most adaptable species. The infant’s brain can adapt to anything from the Arctic to the Sahara, to a very safe and secure environment to a very hazardous environment. The connections that are formed in the first two years of life are molded by the kinds of experiences that that child encounters. And the primary vehicle for these experiences are the caregivers. This is a defenseless creature that relies on its caregiver for security, food and learning, and stimulation. And so what we find is, that beginning at birth, through the caregiver’s facial expressions, through the gleam in their eyes, they are stimulating and regulating how that little baby’s brain develops. What sorts of connections develop?  

We know that there’s an enormous explosion of the growth of the synapses, of synaptic genesis in the first eight months. At that point we know that a significant process of pruning starts to occur. Those connections that are turning out to be most useful are the ones that will be kept, that will be preserved, that will serve as the sort of foundation for the growing architecture of the brain. Again, these connections come through the primary caregivers.  They serve as the sort of conduit–the lens–that introduces the child to the world. Their gestures, their facial expressions indicate to the child: this is interesting, this is new, this is frightening, this is to be avoided.