Prenatal Central Nervous System Development

This chapter provides an overview of the major stages of prenatal central nervous system (CNS) development. CNS development plays the central role in the primary argument of this book. That argument is that the prenatal CNS is particularly vulnerable to environmental perturbations because it is rapidly developing during that time period. Further, we argue that many of the learning and behavioral problems that occur in childhood and adolescence have their origins in these prenatal perturbations of CNS development. This chapter sets the stage for exploring the relationship between prenatal exposures and later behavioral and/or psychological pathology by elucidating the normal course of prenatal brain development.