Early experience effects on adaptive behavior: Theory revisited

✍ Scribed by Sackett, Gene P. ;Novak, Matthew F. S. X. ;Kroeker, Rose

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 142 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1080-4013
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2779(1999)5:1<30::aid-mrdd4>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

Over 30 years ago, Sackett presented several ideas based on animal studies concerning effects of early experience on later adaptive behavior. The first idea proposed that rearing environment complexity produced individuals with a corresponding degree of psychological complexity. Enriched rearing produced individuals of high complexity who were willing to approach new and increasingly complex stimuli, thereby providing themselves with opportunities for learning and developing problem-solving strategies. Privation rearing produced individuals of low psychological complexity who avoided or withdrew from novel and complex stimuli, thereby depriving themselves of learning and problem-solving opportunities. The second idea concerned behavioral inhibition. It was proposed that a major developmental consequence of privation rearing was failure to inhibit high-probability responses that compete with those required for learning and adaptive problem solving when faced with new situations. A modern version of aspects of these ideas is contained in ''executive function'' theory. In this paper we review key animal literature that led to our theories, develop these theories in the light of newer findings, tie our ideas to those of executive function theory, and suggest how behavior by individuals with mental retardation may be related to privation rearing due to sensory-motor deficits regardless of any cognitive deficits.