Studies relate life experiences to brain structure

Recent studies from the lab of neuroscientist Elizabeth Gould are helping to show how major experiences -- such as early-life traumas -- can have a long-term effect on the structure of the brain.
In one study published last year, researchers in Gould’s lab found that baby rats that were separated from a care-giving adult for several hours a day formed fewer new neurons in their brains later in life. Another study showed that adult rats that grew up normally produced elevated numbers of new neurons if they achieved social dominance in a small community of rats.