Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Table of Contents -- List of contributors -- Chapter 1: Environmental enrichment and brain development -- Introduction: critical periods and experience-dependent plasticity in brain circuits -- Optimization of environmental stimulation: environmental enrichment -- Environmental enrichment and visual system development -- Concluding remarks -- References -- Chapter 2: Epigenetic control of visual cortex development and plasticity -- Introduction -- Overview of chromatin modifications -- Epigenetics and brain plasticity -- Epigenetic control on visual system development -- Future directions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 3: Gene-environment interactions in the etiology of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders -- How animal models help us study human brain disorders -- Genetic models for complex brain diseases -- Behavioral outcomes from environmental modulation -- Components of environmental enrichment -- Molecular changes in response to environmental modulation -- Environment, BDNF, stress, and depression -- Epigenetics and environmental influence -- Overview of Rett syndrome -- Genetic sources of phenotypic variation in Rett syndrome and other brain disorders -- The functions of MeCP2 -- Can disease progression in Rett syndrome be prevented? -- Regulation of Bdnf and Crh by MeCP2 -- Effects of environmental enrichment in Mecp2 mutant mice -- Summary -- References -- Chapter 4: Critical periods and neurodevelopmental brain disorders -- Introduction -- Developmental aspects of NDDs -- Brain development and critical periods -- Dysregulation of brain development in NDDs: a framework for misregulated timing -- Potential mechanisms underlying critical period dysregulation in NDDs -- Corrective strategies for NDDs: genetic and pharmacological interventions.

Syndrome-specific molecules or common signalling hubs? Targets for future pharmacotherapeutic interventions -- Dysregulated critical period framework as a unifying hypothesis for prominent NDD theories -- Implications of misregulated critical periods and future directions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 5: Maternal care and DNA methylation -- Introduction -- DNA methylation -- DNA methylation and regulation of gene expression -- Reversibility of DNA methylation -- DNA methylation changes triggered by differences in maternal care in the nr3c1 gene -- Molecular conduit between experience and DNA: signaling cascade leading from maternal care to epigenetic programming -- Reversibility of epigenetic programming by maternal care -- Epigenetic programming by early life experience in humans -- rRNA genes are hypermethylated in suicide victims who were abused as children -- The response to early life adversity is broad and involves several gene networks -- System-wide responses to maternal deprivation -- the impact of rearing differences in nonhuman primates -- Natural disasters as a model to study the impact of maternal stress on child DNA methylation -- Summary -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 6: Neurobiology and programming capacity of attachment learning to nurturing and abusive caregivers -- Introduction -- Infant attachment -- Neurobiology of attachment learning -- Neurobiology of abusive attachment learning -- Maternal control of attachment -- Attachment and epigenetic programming -- Functional consequences -- Concluding remarks -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 7: Early environmental manipulations and long-term effects on brain neurotrophin levels -- Introduction -- Long-term effects of infantile stimulation on brain plasticity -- Neurotrophins and brain plasticity -- Neurotrophins as transducers of early experiences.

Neurotrophins as transducers of stressful events -- Windows of opportunity: environmental enrichment as a means to achieve a fine-tuning of brain plasticity and of social and emotional behavior -- Epigenetic changes as one mechanism linking early experiences and adult neurobehavioral profile -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 8: Effects of genes and early experience on the development of primate behavior and stress reactivity -- Introduction -- Assessment of infant behavior and stress reactivity -- Influence of naturally occurring variation in maternal style on offspring behavior and stress reactivity -- Main genetic effects on the development of infant behavior and stress reactivity -- Summary and conclusions -- References -- Chapter 9: Institutional deprivation and neurobehavioral development in infancy -- Introduction -- Cognition -- Emotion -- Behavior -- Brain development -- Electrophysiology -- HPA activity -- Genetic moderation and epigenetics -- Evidence for sensitive periods -- Factors modifying postinstitutional outcomes -- Interventions and evidence for plasticity -- Comparisons with other forms of adversity -- Individual differences and resilience -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 10: Impact of infantile massage on brain development -- Introduction -- Early intervention programs and infant massage -- Infant massage as a model of environmental enrichment -- Summary and conclusions -- References -- Index -- End User License Agreement.