Brain story. Part 5, Growing the mind.

Prof. Susan Greenfield (Univ. of Oxford) visits the Baby Laboratory of Birkbeck College (Univ. of London) to see how babies are monitored for brain development. Changes in brain structure can be observed as the babies learn to distinguish faces from other shapes. At the Institute of Child Development (Univ. of Minnesota) babies and children are tested to discover how memory develops. But in degenerative brain disease the connections between brain cells which build up memory begin to fail; there is a reversal of the childhood building of knowledge. In old age, even where there is no brain disease, mental energy requires more effort; whereas young people can remember facts while carrying out physical activities, old people have difficulty in doing both at once and generally need to be still when making demands on their memories. The programme is illustrated by many brainscans, film of brain cells forming connections, and instances of people undergoing memory tests. Contributors include Prof. Annette Karmiloff Smith (Institute of Child Health), Dr. Frank Besag (St. Piers Epilepsy Centre, Surrey), Prof. Bruce McCandliss (Univ. of Pittsburgh), Prof. Charles Nelson (Institute of Child Development, Univ. of Minnesota) and Prof. John Hodge.