A similar perceptual tuning process may also occur

A similar perceptual-tuning process may also occur in the auditory domain. Despite being pre-linguistic, infants are able to respond selectively to emotional content in voices from an early age (Grossmann et al., 2010), and recognize identity based on vocal characteristics. However, these biases are only observed when the speaker uses the infant\'s native language (Johnson et al., 2011). This suggests that, like experience-tuned biases in face processing, maturation-related biases in voice processing are molded by the contexts a child experiences (Perrachione et al., 2011). Another example of this context-matching aspect of social behaviors in development can be found in juvenile play. While anthropological studies have revealed that both physical and imaginary play in virtually all human cultures peaks during middle childhood (Konner, 2010), the form that the play takes can vary markedly across cultures. In some cultures, play involves ritualistic dance, in others it has more elements of hunting and chasing, and in still others it involves pretending to take on different adult roles (Whiting and Edwards, 1992; Rogoff, 2003; Konner, 2010). Similarly, during adolescence, pimaricin to the peer group often involves adoption of specific cultural norms expressed by specific local groups into which they are attempting to integrate (e.g., “goths” vs “jocks”) (O’Brien and Bierman, 1988). These findings suggest that while there is a developmentally specific aspect in the timing of learned social behaviors, the specific form of that expression is strongly molded by the particulars of environmental conditions. Although specific motivated behaviors and adaptative responses are unique to each social phase, it is clear that experiences in each phase are interdependent insofar as their effects cascade into successive periods. The experiences that occur in each phase may impact the expression of social behaviors and motivations in subsequent phases. For instance, experiences with a caretaker in infancy can moderate social behavior with peers in adolescence, and parenting style with offspring in adulthood (Fleming et al., 1999; Kumsta et al., 2012; Olsavsky et al., 2013). Studies on play behavior have indicated that play experience in the juvenile period may promote flexibility and enhanced cortical function in adult social contexts (Fagen, 1981; Himmler et al., 2014) Additionally, competence with peers in adolescence is predictive of romantic competence in adulthood (Roisman et al., 2004). Thus, while each new social phase in development generates a shift in motivational direction, behavioral re-organization, and adaptation to localized experiences, these experiences can have both short and long-term consequences on subsequent behavior which is likely mediated by sustained changes to underlying neural circuits.
Sensitive periods and the role of the environment in canalizing maturation Conceptualizing maturation in terms of distinct phases, each with specific socially motivated goals, is not a novel concept. In fact this has been the foundation for various theories of human development for generations (Havighurst, 1972; Erikson, 1993; Masten et al., 1995; Roisman et al., 2004). Stage based approaches also appear in “dynamic systems approaches” to maturation, in which development is construed in terms of system-wide integrated adaptation to emerging and shifting environmental contexts or niches (Gubernick and Alberts, 1984; Thelen and Smith, 1994; Barr et al., 2009; Johnson, 2010; Scherf and Scott, 2012). Such approaches tend to run counter to reductionism of neuroscience, where mechanisms are often stripped of contextual function. More recently, however, integrative models that incorporate dynamic change across maturation have begun to emerge in developmental cognitive neuroscience as well (Crone and Dahl, 2012; Scherf and Scott, 2012; Scherf et al., 2013; Nelson et al., 2014).