A Neurobiological Perspective on Early Human Deprivation

The number of children who are abandoned or orphaned around the world is rapidly increasing owing to war, AIDS, and poverty. Many of these children are placed in institutional settings for lack of individual or societal resources or because of long-standing cultural traditions. It has been known for over half a century that rearing children in institutional care characterized by profound sensory, cognitive, linguistic, and psychosocial deprivation can be deleterious to their development. This article examines the neural mechanisms that likely underlie the maldevelopment many institutionalized children experience.