DQ 1

To what extent can genetics and/or maternal environment affect the development of personality or other cognitive traits?

Nature is the genetic inheritance and biological factors that "pre-wire" an organism to develop a particular temperament, personality or cognitive ability (Zachy, 2015). Nuture describes the environmental and external factors that influence those same items following conception such as caregiving, exposure, experience and learning.

The debate between nature or nurture discusses the relative contribution of those factors to a person's personality, cognitive ability and behavior. Unfortunately neither side can explain the importance of both factors as heredity and environment contribute and interact to those variables.
Explain your position.

For example, Zachy (2015) posits that most psychological traits can be explained by heredity for 50% of the variance in population with the exception of conduct which can be accounted for by shared environment . Another exception is in autism spectrum disorder which can be linked to genetics in about 90% of the population variance.

Additionally, many pediatric mental disorders can also be attributed to genetics and chromosomal mutations. However, not all mental disorders are genetically linked, for example, adverse childhood experiences such as neglect, abuse, domestic violence, family discord, nutrition, poverty and exposure to toxic substances in the environment can also impact behaviors, personality development/temperament and cognitive ability.

Finally, complicating this argument are the interaction of those born with fragile or susceptible genetic conditions and the confounding of externally destructive or adverse factors during development that impact the individual and play a pivotal role in outcome.

References

Zachy, E. A. (2015). Nature, nurture, and human behavior; an endless debate. Journal of Child Adolescent Behavior, 3 (6).doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000e107

DQ 1

To what extent can genetics and/or maternal environment affect the development of personality or other cognitive traits? Explain your position.

The fetal period begins with the ninth week of pregnancy and concludes at birth. During that timeframe, the major organ systems continue to develop and the organs assume their distinct roles (Vander Zanden, 1997). Development during the fetal phase is not as considerable as that during the embryonic period; however, some meaningful changes do take place.

By the end of the tenth week the fetal face acquires a truly human appearance (Vander Zanden, 1997). In pregnant women and the developing fetuses, the major fuel for red blood cells, brain, retinal cells, and kidney medulla cells is glucose. The maternal and fetal hearts both make use of glucose and lactate.

The small intestine of both the mother and the fetus oxidises the amino acids glutamate, aspartate, and glutamine to provide most energy requirements of these tissues (Wu, Imhoff-Kunsch, Girard, 2012). "Glucose is a major energy substrate for the mother and the developing fetus. Glucose is also the predominant source of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which is an essential cofactor for antioxidative enzymes and diverse metabolic pathways in all cell types.

Thus, a deficiency of glucose will immediately result in neurological dysfunction and disorders of the circulatory system"(Wu, Imhoff-Kunsch, Girard, 2012). As such, maternal environment has the potential to affect the development of personality and other cognitive traits.

It is important for the mother to receive proper prenatal care and nutrition in order to ensure that necessary nutrients are provide to the fetus to prevent any deficiencies that could place the fetus at risk and have other ramifications on the fetus and developing child. As it relates to genetics, it is relevant to remember that behavioral genetics illustrates that 50% of the variance in personality characteristics is genetic in origin (Bleidorn, Kandler, Caspi, 2014).

We should also take note that it has been shown that genetic traits act as markers for addictive personality traits. This favors the argument that a person has a higher tendency to be an addict if they inherit the addictive genes (Few, Grant, Trull, Statham, Martin, Lynskey, Agrawal, 2014).

References

Bleidorn, W., Kandler, C., &Caspi, A. (2014).The behavioural genetics of personality development in adulthood-classic, contemporary, and future trends.European Journal of Personality, 28(3), 244-255.doi:10.1002/per.1957

Few, L., Grant, J., Trull, T., Statham, D., Martin, N., Lynskey, M., &Agrawal, A. (2014). Genetic variation in personality traits explains genetic overlap between borderline personality features and substance use disorders. Addiction, 109(12), 2118-2127.
Vander Zanden J. W. (1997). Human Development. (6th ed.).Cleveland, Ohio.

Wu, G., Imhoff-Kunsch, B., & Girard, A. W. (2012). Biological mechanisms for nutritional regulation of maternal health and fetal development.Paediatric& Perinatal Epidemiology, 26, 4-26 23p. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3016.2012.01291.x

DQ 2

Neuronal plasticity is the foundational theory that addresses how the brain adapts following injury, though all parts of the brain may not exhibit the same level of neuroplasticity. Which parts of the brain exhibit the greatest levels of neuroplasticity? Support your position.

Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change. This include repairing itself after an injury. Li, Legault and Litcofsky (2014) note that "neuroplasticity in humans is characterized by the extraordinary ability of the human brain to adapt in response to environmental stimulus, cognitive demand, or behavioral experience" (p. 318). Their research focused on changes in the brain as the result of learning a second language.

Research into neuroplasticity is still relatively new, but has many promising leads. For instance, Huang, Lane and Lin (2017) note that neuroplasticity impairment may be involved with depression.

They researched brain stimulation techniques to include the use of drugs and the use of physical stimulation techniques such as electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and transcranial direct current stimulation postulating that these techniques may have an effect on the treatment of depressive disorders by forcing the brain adapt through neuroplasticity. The brain, as it adapts, fixes itself reducing the symptoms.

Neumann, Liu, Sun, Yang, Noble-Haeusslein& Liu (2016) in their research on mice found that "traumatic brain injury induces a permissive environment that synergizes with signals induced by behavioral training to enhance neuroplasticity at remote brain regions that may improve overall recovery of function" (p. 6).

In other words, an injured brain seemed to be easier to train that an uninjured brain. This is a very interesting conclusion especially in light of Huang, Lane and Lin (2017) research that also indicated that stimulation may help the brain heal. This is a new exiting line of research that may help individual's recover from injuries.

In light of this information, there may not be one site in the brain that is the most plastic. The most adaptable area may depend on which area is injured and which area is stimulated.

Huang, Y., Lane, H., & Lin, C. (2017). New treatment strategies of depression: Based on mechanisms related to neuroplasticity. Neural Plasticity, 2017doi:10.1155/2017/4605971

Li, P., Legault, J., &Litcofsky, K. A. (2014). Special section: Review: Neuroplasticity as a function of second language learning: Anatomical changes in the human brain. Cortex, 58301-324.doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2014.05.001

Neumann, M., Liu, W., Sun, C., Yang, S. Y., Noble-Haeusslein, L. J., & Liu, J. (2016). Research report: Training of the impaired forelimb after traumatic brain injury enhances hippocampal neurogenesis in the Emx1 null mice lacking a corpus callosum. Behavioural Brain Research, doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2016.09.013