ABSTRACT
In the late 20th and early 21st century, information regarding how the brains of humans and other creatures operate has grown exponentially, due to the invention of research techniques that can observe both the electrical and chemical processes occurring in the brain at various ages as well as the expansion of synaptic connections and subsequent pruning of neuronal structures from birth to adulthood. The sequence of brain development in infants and young children has been well charted by researchers during the past 20 years. At birth, the neonate already has about 100 billion neurons, which were created during the prenatal stage. Thelen and Smith have stated that nonlinear dynamic systems theory is the proper way to study human development processes because development is modular, heterochronic, context dependent, as well as multidimensional, the experiences children and adolescents have profoundly affect the ways their individual brains are structured.
