Genetics Vs. Environment

or decades scientists have quarreled over the stereotypical question of Nature vs. Nurture, which may seem trivial at first glace, but is actually an extremely complicated subject. In the case of human brain development, some researchers are convinced that genetic predispositions are what lead people to become what they are. On the other hand, there are many others that promote the factor of environment, stating that outside forces are what impact the lives of humans and shape them as they grow. The research done for this website attempts to prove that genetics and environment are equally important in the development of humans. No one single factor decides the outcome of the intricate electrical network referred to as the brain.

lthough genetics and environment are extremely different in nature, they both affect the same fundamental component of the brain, the neuron. In commenting on Judith Rich Harris's book, The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do, Joseph E. LeDoux states that, "Research has shown that not only do nature and nurture each contribute (in disputable proportions) to who we are, but also that they speak the same language. Both achieve their effects by altering the synaptic organization of the brain" (1). Just how genetics and environment affect these neurons is an essential question greatly in need of an answer.