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Environmental influences on the pace of brain development

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 22, pages 372–384 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Childhood socio-economic status (SES), a measure of the availability of material and social resources, is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong well-being. Here we review evidence that experiences associated with childhood SES affect not only the outcome but also the pace of brain development. We argue that higher childhood SES is associated with protracted structural brain development and a prolonged trajectory of functional network segregation, ultimately leading to more efficient cortical networks in adulthood. We hypothesize that greater exposure to chronic stress accelerates brain maturation, whereas greater access to novel positive experiences decelerates maturation. We discuss the impact of variation in the pace of brain development on plasticity and learning. We provide a generative theoretical framework to catalyse future basic science and translational research on environmental influences on brain development.

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Fig. 1: Associations between socio-economic status and cortical thickness.
Fig. 2: Associations between socio-economic status and functional brain network segregation.
Fig. 3: Integrative theory: childhood experiences affect the pace of brain development.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank C. Recto for her assistance with figures, and M. Farah, J. Leonard, Y. Hahn and S. Sharp for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. U.A.T. was supported by the US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. A.P.M. was supported by a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship and the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (1R34DA050297-01). D.S.B. was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Graduate Group, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, PA, USA

    Ursula A. Tooley

  2. Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ursula A. Tooley & Allyson P. Mackey

  3. Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

  4. Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

  5. Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

  6. Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

  8. Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA

    Danielle S. Bassett

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U.A.T. and A.P.M. researched data for the article and contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors wrote the article and reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Allyson P. Mackey.

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Tooley, U.A., Bassett, D.S. & Mackey, A.P. Environmental influences on the pace of brain development. Nat Rev Neurosci 22, 372–384 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00457-5

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