How does the neocortex affect my preschooler’s brain function?

Every day, we watch our children running around and playing with their friends, constantly processing new information and taking in their surroundings. But do we ever take a moment to consider what’s going on behind the scenes, in the depths of their hardworking little brains?

As parents, we are constantly observing our children and trying to understand them better, so we can help them learn and grow in every way possible. But in order to properly understand our children, we have to understand what’s going on inside their heads.

If we were to cover the brain in depth, this article would be a book. On a basic level, it’s important to understand that your child’s brain is made up of three parts. The reptilian brain, the mammalian brain, and the neocortex. The first two are considered to be the parts of the brain that are more primal or ‘animal’, that have been around the longest. In brief, the reptilian brain is responsible for your child’s primal needs for food, warmth, sleep, routine, and people who help them feel safe, while the mammalian brain is responsible for your child’s emotions and feelings. These two parts of the brain, as vital as they are, could not function without the third part - the ‘neocortex’. This is the biggest and most developed part, and is considered to be responsible for what really makes us human: our intelligence.

Understanding how to cater to your child’s reptilian and mammalian brain is one thing, to appreciate the importance of the neocortex and help it to thrive is another conversation altogether.

So before we dive into how you can be of assistance to this part of your little one’s growing brain, let’s first understand what the neocortex is, and how it affects your child.

What is the neocortex and how does it affect my child?

The neocortex - neo meaning ‘new’ and cortex meaning ‘outer layer’ - is the largest part of the brain that sits on the top. The neocortex will support your preschool child’s ability to think, be imaginative and creative, have consciousness, develop language, pay attention and be involved in activities, among other functions.

To help you understand just how hard the neocortex works, at your child’s very young age, their neocortex is able to make between 700 and 1000 connections per second. If this type of information tells us anything, it tells us that your little one’s early childhood experiences and the support their developing brain receives is vital for them to flourish and thrive as they grow, and continue to do so later in life.

How can I use this knowledge to help my child?

Now we know more about the neocortex and how it will affect your preschool child, what can you as a parent do to assist them?

Well, the first thing to understand is that as fast as children may be able to make connections in their brains, we also need to give them time to process, consider and think about the new information they are receiving constantly, in order to learn new things. Therefore, practice patience, support and encouragement when interacting with them.

Let’s think about this using an example. Suppose your child appears to have a tantrum or meltdown in the middle of the playground when they can’t work out how to get on the roundabout while it is moving. You turn around after talking to another parent for a moment and see them struggling, and tell them to wait until it slows down. They fly into a rage, as they’ve just spent the last few minutes trying to get on. You try to explain that it’s much safer to wait until it’s slowed down, but they continue to shout and scream. In this situation, remember that their neocortex is working hard to process information, make sense of it, and put it into action. So practice patience. They will also have other factors affecting them, such as hormones, everyday bumps and bruises, and other additional needs.