The concept of 'developing the brain': a new natural science for learning and education

From the viewpoint of biology, learning and education can be defined as the processes of forming neuronal connections in response to external environmental stimuli, and of controlling or adding appropriate stimuli, respectively. Learning and education can thus be studied as a new field of natural sciences with the entire human life span as its subject, thus including various problems such as fetal environment, childcare, language acquisition, general/special education, and rehabilitation. Non-invasive imaging of higher-order brain functions in humans will clarify the brain's developmental processes, and will provide various evidence for learning sciences. This new approach is called `developing the brain' or `brain science and education'. The origin of the concept and its present state are described and its future prospects are briefly analyzed. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.