A new field of developmental neuroscience changes our understanding of the early years of human life

Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners, a special volume published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (1, 2, 3) and authored largely by researchers of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), sets out an emerging new field of the developmental science of childhood adversity.

The implications of the research are far reaching, from new approaches to learning and language acquisition, to new considerations for the health effects of social environments affecting large populations, and policies for early childhood care and education.

"CIFAR’s multidisciplinary and international program in early childhood development is transforming our understanding of how early life experiences affect the development of the brain and in so doing set a lifelong trajectory," says Dr. Alan Bernstein, CIFAR President & CEO. "This research is providing the scientific basis for public policy concerning the critical window to provide the optimal conditions that will enable our children to grow up to be well-adjusted, well-educated and productive individuals."