Why do babies and young children respond more slowly? Scroll to learning area

With an animation and interview from Maria Robinson, we look at brain development at this age.

Transcript of video – Why do babies and young children respond more slowly?

‘The neurons work on electrical impulses and they are designed in a very special way. They have receivers at the top of them and they have what’s like a tail which is the sender of information. What happens over time, at different rates in different parts of the brain, is that those tails – those axons start to develop a little fatty sheath that helps the information go down them much much faster. This means that information is processed more quickly and it takes time for this process to happen. This explains why it takes children and babies often a long times sometimes to actually process information that they’re receiving – and then respond.’