Why Your Childhood Follows You: The Science of Early Adversity and the Developing Brain

Harvard FAS

We know from decades of research that the foundations of healthy development are built early in life. Genes lay the groundwork for the brain's architecture, but it is environmental input that modulates gene expression and shapes how neural circuitry develops. Experience “cuts both ways;” thus, the brain benefits from positive experiences but can be harmed by negative experiences. And timing matters: negative experiences during critical periods of brain development (generally the first years…