ReviewProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
Critical period regulation across multiple timescales.
Review in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 263 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
263 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 493 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural excitation/inhibition imbalance and neurodevelopmental pathology in human copy number variant syndromes: a systematic review.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2025Pooled it
- Sensitive periods in development and risk for psychiatric disorders and related endpoints: a systematic review of child maltreatment findings.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Altered Postnatal Chromatin Development in the Nucleus Accumbens Primes Enduring Stress Sensitivity.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neuromodulatory roles of the sigma-1 receptor in behavior and drug sensitization during development.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Article
- Region- and Layer-Specific Glutamatergic Synapse Development in the Nascent Cortical Hierarchy.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Towards a neurobiology of early intervention: the importance of critical periods for preventive psychiatry and youth mental health.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- EEG Markers as a Tool for the Individualization of Education and Optimization of Social Interventions for Children from Alcohol-Affected Families.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Delayed astrocyte development impairs Sema6a-Plxna2/4-mediated astrocyte-neuron crosstalk and causes depressive-like behavior.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Ethological learning during the critical period resets synaptic setpoints in mouse binocular visual cortex.Neuron · 2026Article
- Mapping the transcriptional diversity of calcium signaling in the mouse and human brain.iScience · 2026Article
- Article
- TNF-α Deficiency Reduces Parvalbumin Neuron Density, Impairs Homeostatic Plasticity, Disrupts Synaptic Excitation-Inhibition Balance, and Prevents Critical Period Closure in the Auditory Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Schizophrenia-associated glycoprotein Adamtsl3 regulates perineuronal net formation, maintenance, and adult cortical plasticity.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Pronounced Neuroplasticity in the Primary Visual Cortex of the 13-Lined Ground Squirrel during Hibernation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- The criticome as the window of becoming: Toward a novel and comprehensive framework for understanding the critical period of information integration in human development.Brain health : lifelong brain resilience and longevity · 2026Article
- Psychiatric and medical profiles of children receiving health protection measures in a tertiary care facility: A five-year analysis.Dusunen adam : Bakirkoy Ruh ve Sinir Hastaliklari Hastanesi yayin organi · 2026Article
- MicroRNA-29 acutely regulates memory stability, expression of synaptic genes, and DNA methylation in the mouse adult hippocampus.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2026Article
- MEG Evidence of Concurrent Bilateral and Hemisphere-Specific Developmental Patterns in Auditory Cortex.Developmental science · 2026Article
- [Youth mental health: early detection and early intervention of mental disorders].Der Nervenarzt · 2026Review
203 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Brain plasticity is dynamically regulated across the life span, peaking during windows of early life. Typically assessed in the physiological range of milliseconds (real time), these trajectories are also influenced on the longer timescales of developmental time (nurture) and evolutionary time (nature), which shape neural architectures that support plasticity. Properly sequenced critical periods of circuit refinement build up complex cognitive functions, such as language, from more primary modalities. Here, we consider recent progress in the biological basis of critical periods as a unifying rubric for understanding plasticity across multiple timescales. Notably, the maturation of parvalbumin-positive (PV) inhibitory neurons is pivotal. These fast-spiking cells generate gamma oscillations associated with critical period plasticity, are sensitive to circadian gene manipulation, emerge at different rates across brain regions, acquire perineuronal nets with age, and may be influenced by epigenetic factors over generations. These features provide further novel insight into the impact of early adversity and neurodevelopmental risk factors for mental disorders.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.