DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTEDNESS DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD

Abstract

Since the early postnatal days, gifted children seem to benefit more from the experience than their non gifted peers by developing increasingly efficient behaviors in more complex environments. Most of the models that try to explain this greater adaptability focus on the study of the higher cognitive functions and cortical regions that support them, However, during the early stages of development these areas are still functionally and structurally immature. The objective of this review is to synthesize and describe the subcortical and cortical neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the interaction with the environment, motivation for the practice and automation of higher cognitive processes in gifted children from the early stages of postnatal development.