The brain and nervous system continue to develop in middle childhood. Present two ways the

brain and nervous system change. For each change, provide a subsequent cognitive or
behavioral development.

What will be an ideal response?

1. growth spurts of new synapses and increases inthickness of cerebral cortex. These occur between 6
– 8 years of age in the sensory and motor areas. This leads to increases in hand-eye coordination and
fine motor skills. From the ages of 10 – 12, growth is in frontal lobes of cerebral cortex, results in
increase in cognitive planning.
2. myelinization – of frontal lobes and reticularformation – results in selective attention.
3. myelinization of association areas – allows for increasing processing speed.
4. right cerebral hemisphere, lateralization of spatial perception – results in relative right-left
orientation.