The Great Brain Debate: Is it Nature or Nurture?

Author(s): John E. Dowling

How much of our behavior is determined by our genes and how much by our environment? Fiercely
debated but not fully resolved, we continue to grapple with this nature-vs.-nurture question. But data
from the study of the developing and adult brain are providing us with new ways of thinking about this
issue -- ways that, finally, promise answers.

Whether our personality, our intelligence, and our behavior are more likely to be shaped and affected
by our environment or our genetic coding is not simply an idle question for today.s researchers. There
are tremendous consequences to understanding the crucial role that each plays. How we raise and
educate our children, how we treat various mental diseases or conditions, how we care for our
elderly -- these are just some of the issues that can be informed by a better and more complete
understanding of brain development.

John Dowling, eminent neuroscience researcher, looks at these and other important issues. The
work that is being done by scientists on the connection between the brain and vision, as well as
the ways in which our brains help us learn new languages, are particularly revealing. From this
groundbreaking new research we are able to gain startling new insights into how the brain
functions and how it can (or cannot) be molded and changed. By studying the brain across the
spectrum of our lives, from infancy through adulthood and into old age, we see how the brain
develops, transforms, and adjusts through the years. Looking specifically at early development
and then at the opportunities for additional learning and development as we grow older, we
learn more about the ways in which both nature and nurture play key roles over the course
of a human lifetime.

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