What Is Mental Development?

Mental development usually begins during an infant's childhood, not too long after they are born actually. During this time, a child's mental development will increase as they begin to use their sense, motor skills and muscles. These will work together to help the child gain a better understanding and become more aware of the strange world that surrounds them.

• Infancy.

The period of time of a child's life that is known as infancy is usually defined as the time between birth and when the child is able to walk properly. This is the time where children begin to develop mentally, as well as physically and socially. Once a baby begins to walk, they are no longer considered to be an infant, they are a toddler. The majority of babies start walking between the age of 10 and 14 months.

• Sensory development.

When a child is still in the infancy period, their sensory development will increase dramatically. They will begin to perceive sounds and sights, which can be shown by them reaching and grabbing objects.

When they reach the age of around nine months, infants will begin to recognize familiar faces that appear most often, as well as being able to identify familiar objects. They will also start to recognize certain events such as meal times and be able to expect them in future.

• Misconception.

A lot of people seem to believe that because children have limited brain development, they are not able to know what is going on around them. However this is quite incorrect as a baby will be able to tell when something is wrong. It is often thought that a baby will be able to tell if an argument is going on for example, and not just because of the possible shouting.

• Limitations.

Although a baby's brain develops well when they are an infant, they are still unable to multi task as their small brain is only able to handle one process at a time.

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Mental development is essentially the 'growing' or 'improving' of your brain and its functions. Higher mental development allows your brain to contemplate and (hopefully) complete more complicated tasks. For example, a young child (who is not yet fully mentally developed) will be less likely to be able to complete a complex mathematical equation than an 18-year-old university student.

Meaning of mental development