The Humans Cognitive and Neurological Processes - Research Paper Example

Cognitive Development through Play Cognitive and Neurological Processes of the Brain Play is identified as one of the crucial aspects of life that determines children’s development, as it induces in the ability to acquire several skills involved with social interactions, cognition, motor neuron, and adaptive behaviors. Through play, children interact with their environment. They thus become aware of their surrounding as they are exposed to people and the material objects. Through this kind of interaction, children master behaviors through repetition of certain acts as they play, and this occur within specific environmental setting. Research has since confirmed that play or physical activity has a considerable effecton the development of the motor and cognitive abilities in children. However, other factors also determine a child’s cognitive and neurological development apart from play alone. These include the mother’s influence and the environment in which a child is raised. Studies indicate that there is a relationship between breastfeeding and a child’s motor and cognitive development. Since some researchers had postulated that high IQs in children is correlated with breastfeeding, the subsequent researches dug deep into this matter and investigated whether breastfeeding had any influence on a child’s development and whether it led to the observed differences in IQ among children. This paper examines the connection between cognitive and neurological processes, and studies factors that have considerable influence on them. A study conducted by Holme, MacArthur, & Lancashire (2010) to examine the influence of breast feeding on cognitive development of children, came up with some interesting findings. Though the study confirmed that breast-feedingdo influence the IQ of a child to some extent, it also acknowledged some of the ways through which a parent may have an influence on a child’s cognitive development. As discussed by Holme et al., (2010), breastfeeding is always associated with cognitive development but sometimes it is also wise to consider other genetic and environmental factors that also do play a significant role in determining IQ. This particular study found out that breastfeeding actually led to higher IQ scores in children, but it was found out that this was not the case after certain adjustments were made in the variables. Duration of breastfeeding proved to be important factor to be considered in this study since it also had significant influence on a child’s cognitive development. Mothers who have high education achievements are likely to have positive influence on a child’s cognitive powers since these mothers are likely to breastfeed their children for an extended duration. Moreover, it was noted that maternal education had the most significant influence on a child’s cognitive ability, as it was found out that increased maternal education actually led to higher IQ scores in children. Living conditions, especially if the parents are living in a rented house also had significant influence on a child’s IQ scores. Other factors that also influence a child’s cognitive development include advancing maternal age, increased levels of education from the mothers, higher birth weight, whether the parent smoked or not during pregnancy, head circumference and mother’s level of social satisfaction. The researchers assert that the link between breastfeeding and cognitive development can be attributed to the kind of intimacy that exists during this kind of interaction between the two parties. Breast milk is also thought to provide the nutritional supplements that are necessary for neurodevelopment. Intelligent mothers are also thought to stimulate their children’s cognitive ability and the children are likely to become intelligent due to heritability factors (Holme, MacArthur, & Lancashire, 2010). Similarly, play or physical exercise has been identified by scientists as one of the factors that influence neurological and cognitive growth. Assessment tools that use play to examine the ability of a child to develop his or her neurological cognitive activities during play show that the two processes go hand in hand. Play-based assessments show that a child is able to develop and use various skills during play, a matter that confirms the interaction between neurological and cognitive abilities (OGrady & Dusing, 2015). Exercise has been identified by several researchers as one of the major factors that induce brain development. In fact, scientists argue that cardiovascularexercise causes important biochemical reactions in the brain, thus causing the biochemical molecule in the brain, which acts as the growth element, to trigger multiplication of neurons in the brain. During this same process, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) also triggers the growth of blood vesselsin the brain. The development of blood capillaries during exercise facilitates the transport of oxygen and glucose to the brain, thus enhances neuroplasticity. Increased Neuroplasticity is associated with improved development of the nervous system. The overalleffect of all these structural changes in the brain is that an individual’s learning ability is greatly improved. Scientists postulate that aerobic exercise increases brain volume, leading to increase in white and gray matter. This is an indication of enhanced development of the neural cells and the axon (Konopka, 2015). Environmental Enrichment (EE), which refers to the addition of objects to an animal’s environment, has also been identified as one of the inducers of motor-cognitive development in laboratory animals. Researchers in this area of research argue that EEinduces sensory activity, cognitive processes and exercise. EE involves the addition of physical objects to an animal’s environment, and these may include toys and balls. As these objects induce physical, mental and motor activity in an animal, the overall effect is the stimulation of the neural processes across the various nervous systems of the body (Hannan, 2014). Of most concern is how these physical objects induce activity in the animal’s body. It can be a clear depiction of how thought processes are based on the material world. The laboratory animals always increase their physical activity when exposed to objects, but the activity reduces when the objects are withdrawn. It shows how the presence of these objects affects thought patterns and leads to induced motor and cognitive activity in an animal. As discussed by Hannan (2014), EE leads to increased neurodevelopment and synaptic plasticity. These structural changes in the brain are believed to have great influence in cognitive abilities of the animals (Hannan, 2014). It is also likely that the human thought patterns can also be embedded in the material world, and this may determine our reactions and activity choices in one way or another. The brain has been studied severally, and scientists have come up with conclusions that the brain is a complex structure that involves neural activity too. That is, the cognitive activities of the human brain are supported by interrelated neural activity. The brain is believed to portray neural activity even when it is not engaged in any task-oriented functions. Moreover, the brain is believed to possess varied sections that are identified as task-negative and task-positive regions. The connections between these sections are believed to support response and memory systems within the brain. Any disruption in these may lead to complications in neurological disorders (Hermundstad, Brown, Bassett, Aminoff, & Frithsen, 2014). This is a clear indication of the strong relationship that occurs between the human cognitive and neurological processes. As argued by Hermundstad et al., (2014), the brain anatomy supports a wide range of patterns of neural activity, which form the basis of cognitive ability. Cognitive states depend on these correlated structural patterns of the neural system, and the existing differences among these states determine or results in the differences seen in behavior and task performance. The human’s cognitive and neurological processes have been studied widely, and most of the research works in this area have since confirmed the strong relationship between the two. Cognitive ability is believed to be affected by various factors that range from the influence of parents, hereditary factors to environmental exposure. Children’s cognitive development depends greatly on the mother’s influence since their IQ can be negatively or positive affected by how they are brought up. Exercise and play are also major determinants of both cognitive and neurological aspects of a child’s development. Studies indicate that as children interact with objects in their environment, they develop their neural as well as their cognitive abilities. Physical exercise is believed to increase the amount of oxygen and glucose flowing into the brain, thus leading to increased development in white and gray matter of the brain. The effect is the increased brain capacity. All these phenomena result fromthe underlying interconnected structural patterns of the neural system, and its influence on the cognitive activity of the brain. References Hannan, A. J. (2014). Review: Environmental enrichment and brain repair: harnessing the therapeutic effects of cognitive stimulation and physical activity to enhance experience-dependent plasticity. . Neuropathology & Applied Neurobiology, 13-25. Hermundstad, A. M., Brown, K. S., Bassett, D., Aminoff, E., & Frithsen, A. (2014). Structurally-Constrained Relationships between Cognitive States in the Human Brain. . PLoS Computational Biology, 1-9. Holme, A., MacArthur, C., & Lancashire, R. (2010). The effects of breastfeeding on cognitive and neurological development of children at 9 years. . Child: Care, Health & Development, 583-590. Konopka, L. M. (2015). How exercise influences the brain: a neuroscience perspective. . Croatian Medical Journal , 169-171. OGrady, M. G., & Dusing, S. C. (2015). Reliability and Validity of Play-Based Assessments of Motor and Cognitive Skills for Infants and Young Children: A Systematic Review. . Physical Therapy, 25-38. Read More