COVER STORY • 封面專題 2022 UMAGAZINE 26 • 澳大新語 33 研究團隊招募中英雙語者觀看以不同方式呈現、傳遞情緒的各類詞彙。本圖顯示他們看到這些詞彙時，頭皮內N100、N200和N400這三種事件相關電位的分佈。 The research team has invited Chinese-English bilinguals to look at words associated with emotions represented in different ways. This figure shows the distribution of three event-related potentials, namely N100, N200 and N400, in the scalp when they saw the words. Our brain grows fastest from birth to the age of eight, exerting a long-lasting impact on the rest of our life journey. Members of the Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CCBS) at the University of Macau (UM) are therefore researching the neural mechanisms underlying children’s cognitive behaviours to promote early intervention for cognitive disorders, as well as intellectual and personality development. Rapid Growth of Neural Connections The brain of a two-year-old can reach 80 per cent of the size of an adult’s, says Zhang Juan, associate professor and interim director of the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Child Development in the Faculty of Education, and also a CCBS member. She says the brain contains as many neurons at birth as it will need in adulthood. To develop various high-level cognitive skills, such as the ability to perceive, think, learn, and communicate, neurons constantly make new neural connections through structures called ‘synapses’, which can transmit bioelectrical and chemical signals to each other. The brain of an average three-year-old child has about 100 trillion synapses, which are twice as many as adults, and the excessive synapses steadily drop after adolescence. ‘The networks of neurons and synapses formed in childhood have a profound impact as the foundation for our learning, adaptation to change, and physical and mental well-being,’ says Prof Zhang. Prof Zhang adds that early brain development is strongly influenced by interpersonal interactions and environmental factors. High-level brain functions, such as learning and emotion management, involve the frontal and medial temporal lobes, which are particularly sensitive to experiences during early development. Therefore, if children have inadequate or poor environmental experiences in their first four or five years of life, such as excessive stress, it is likely that their ability to deal with emotions and build positive personal relationships (collectively known as ‘social-emotional skills’) will show deficits and delays, with a significant increase in the incidence of mental illness. ‘That’s why our team is studying how parents’ responses affect their children’s timely emotional responses, thinking skills, resilience, and self-concept. We also use mathematical models to predict how parental response preferences influence their children’s behaviours,’ says Prof Zhang. Language and Emotion Perception Prof Zhang’s research team also studies the brain responses of people of different ages when they are presented, in their first and second languages, with words associated with emotion. ‘Emotion perception
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