Critical Periods - lydgate/mindmeld GitHub Wiki

Some important papers and books on critical developmental windows for language acquisition and attachment (and their interaction):

  1. If we’re going to go old, then let’s start with original work on attachment, which covers critical periods in attachment style development: "Attachment and Loss" by John Bowlby (1969-1980) - original developer of attachment theory. This is the foundational three volume work.

2”. Attachment" by Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby (1991) - Ainsworth was the other pioneer, collaborated with Bowlby, expanded attachment his stuff that started with primates to research on attachment styles.

ON CRITICAL PERIODS AND ATTACHMENT SPECIFICALLY:

3”. Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation" by Michael Rutter, Celia Beckett, Jenny Castle, Emma Colvert, Jana Kreppner, Megan Stevens, Thomas G. O'Connor, and Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barke. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, (2007), pages 465-476.

Key takeaways:

  • Supported the existence of a critical period where severe deprivation leads to long-term issues.
  • Studied children adopted from Romanian institutions into UK families after severe early deprivation
  • Found evidence of both recovery and persistent deficits compared to non-deprived adoptees.
  • Catch-up was strong in physical growth but mixed for cognitive function. Autism-related behaviors improved.
  • Deficits remained in IQ, attention, social relationships, and other areas.
  • Duration of deprivation was a key factor predicting outcomes. Deprivation beyond 24 months was associated with lasting problems. This was a landmark study and is still considered so, because it was one of the only “natural experiments” we could ethically do to test the critical period hypothesis. It provided evidence that early childhood represents a sensitive period where deprivation can have lasting impacts, even if conditions subsequently improve. It highlighted the resilience and plasticity of development as well as vulnerabilities.

BUT! Key to know that the same research group headed up by Rutter found SURPRISINGLY FEW differences in kids who were severely deprived in orphanages and the put into “healthy” attachment families, compared to their healthy counterparts. It shook the developmental research world… I remember the conference he presented the findings and no one actually believed the data yet:

4”. Quasi-autistic patterns following severe early global privation" by Michael Rutter, Jana Kreppner, Thomas G O'Connor, and the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team. Pdf here: https://www.princeton.edu/~sswang/ASD/rutter_oconnor99_Romanian-orphanage-early-privation-quasi-autism.pdf

Key takeaways:

  • Studied 165 Romanian orphans adopted into UK families before age 2. Compared to 52 non-deprived UK adoptees.
  • Around 10% of Romanian adoptees showed quasi-autistic patterns like rigid behaviors.
  • However, few group differences were found in cognitive outcomes at age 11-15 years.
  • IQ, theory of mind, executive function, and social functioning were in the normal range for most Romanian adoptees.
  • Supported the remarkable recovery possible with early adoption into nurturing homes.
  • Showed that severe early deprivation does not inevitably lead to cognitive impairment if intervened early enough.
  • Highlights the importance of stable, supportive care in normalizing development after early adversity. So this study found surprisingly good cognitive outcomes for Romanian orphans placed into adoptive homes before age 2, despite signs of early deprivation. It emphasizes the resilience and plasticity of early development.
  1. Good edited book with some key chapters, the one by Snow on language development is useful, I think, but so are the others given they don’t just come from psychology: https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=95LpAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=language+acquisition+critical+periods+attachment&ots=A1VbYn1p6n&sig=MakbT6TTOADMHzo5xEI3NBwoV4I#v=onepage&q=language%20acquisition%20critical%20periods%20attachment&f=false

THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO SENSITIVE PERIODS (I think these are important and the short list I prefer):

  1. Newport, E. L., Bavelier, D., & Neville, H. J. (2001). Critical thinking about critical periods: Perspectives on a critical period for language acquisition. In E. Dupoux (Ed.), Language, brain, and cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jacques Mehler (pp. 481–502). The MIT Press.

  2. Susan Oyama was one of my faves (lmk if you need the pdf: Oyama, S. (1979). THE CONCEPT OF THE SENSITIVE PERIOD IN DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly of Behavior and Development, 25(2), 83–103. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23083996

  3. CANNOT believe Charles Nelson is still alive, but his stuff is GOOD. Haven’t read this one but deeply want to, and it’s in a great little fave journal: Nelson, C. A., 3rd, & Gabard-Durnam, L. J. (2020). Early Adversity and Critical Periods: Neurodevelopmental Consequences of Violating the Expectable Environment. Trends in neurosciences, 43(3), 133–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2020.01.002

  4. Finally, a meta-theoretical account of why and how we can look at critical periods, by Bornstein who is one of the biggies in the field (but I can’t stand the man so almost didn’t put this review here. But it IS in Psychological Bulletin, basically one of the top 3 most prestigious journal and best reviewer process, IMO): Bornstein, M. H. (1989). Sensitive periods in development: Structural characteristics and causal interpretations. Psychological Bulletin, 105(2), 179–197. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.105.2.179