Videos

In this, the third in our series we asked Dr Muriel Bruchhage a Post-doctoral Research Associate at Rhode Island Hospital and Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, as well as a Visiting Researcher at King’s College London, what is learning to her? She will discuss how brain structural and functional networks are facilitating the learning mechanisms and in particular, how learning new skills through early childhood and infancy shapes our brain by creating a functional roadmap: laying the foundation for early developmental milestones building up to more complex cognitive functions including executive functions showing how learning skills continues to shape the structural and functional networks of our brain throughout our lives

The impact of nutrition is greater in the foetal and early postnatal period because of the high metabolic demands of the brain at that age. Growing organs are more vulnerable to inadequate supply Brain counterbalances vulnerability by plasticity

Learning requires an ability to retain knowledge acquired through experience, while memory stores the background knowledge against which new learning takes place. Learning new information and skills, storing this knowledge, and retrieving, modifying or forgetting these memories over time are critical for flexibly responding to a changing environment

Scientific advances have enabled a better understanding of some of the unique components in human milk, termed ‘bioactives’, which are thought to protect against infection and inflammation, and contribute to immune maturation and healthy microbial colonisation.