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Post by Aileen on Jan 22, 2017 15:43:16 GMT -8
Executive Function is what helps us retain and work with information in our brain to focus attention, filter distractions, and switch mental gears. We are born with the potential to develop these skills. It is strongly influenced by our environment. Types of executive function include working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive/mental flexibility.
Toxic stress can impair the development of executive function. They are extreme environmental challenges that include abuse, neglect, exposure to chronic violence, parental mental illness, and poverty.
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Post by Gale Coleman on Jun 18, 2017 19:45:43 GMT -8
Toxic stress affects people across all stages of the life span. The long-term effects are different depending on the age of the person and the stage of brain development they are at when they are exposed to the stress. The younger the brain, the more damaging the effects of toxic stress. A prenatal and early childhood brain is growing, developing and absorbing what it is exposed to in the environment, stress during this period will have broad impact on learning and memory. Toxic stress during later childhood and adolescence will cause more problems for attention and impulse and emotional control, because they are the parts of the brain that are developing quickly during this period. In late adolescence or early adulthood, exposure to toxic stress will create a greater sensitivity to anything stressful and a more intense and enduring stress response. And during adulthood toxic stress will intensify the ageing process and affect memory, cognition and emotion.
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