Effects of early onset brain injury on the development of cognition and behavior: Introduction to the special issue

The effects of brain injury acquired early in life on the development of co gnition and behavior are not well understood. Deciphering these effects and modeling their neurodevelopmental trajectories are major concerns for clin icians and scientists. Historically, a prevailing notion has been that earl y-onset brain damage has a more favorable prognosis than does brain damage acquired in adulthood. However, there is growing evidence suggesting that e arly-onset damage to prefrontal brain structures may have devastating conse quences on the emergence of adaptive behavior throughout development. Parti cularly prominent are disorders of personality, social behavior, and execut ive functions such as planning and decision making. This special issue pres ents a series of new empirical studies that address these issues in depth, from several different perspectives, and in both human and animal participa nts. The findings promise to shed further light on both the neurobiology of development, and diverse neurodevelopmental disorders. Such advances may a lso enhance clinical diagnosis and facilitate the design of more effective interventions to help reduce the tremendous burden that neurodevelopmental disorders place on personal well-being, family structure, educational syste ms, and social resources.