ABSTRACT
The development of the human brain is complex and takes many years. The fact that development mostly works out well demonstrates the brain's extraordinary ability to safeguard and adjust. The basic processes of brain development are the same in typical and atypical development, and neuroimaging studies show that children with cognitive and behavioral disorders have atypical organization and activity in various brain regions. The connections between amygdala and the prefrontal cortex are typically immature in children. The finding that maturation of these connections was accelerated in previously institutionalized and maternally deprived children and adolescents and associated with reduced anxiety reactions was interpreted as an adaptation to the early adversity.
