Chance events in the developing brain may be important for shaping who you become
Jiri Hera/Shutterstock
Many superheroes have origin stories, like Batman becoming a vigilante after witnessing his parents’ murder or Wonder Woman acquiring crime-fighting abilities through supernatural creation and childhood athletic training. Similarly, as ordinary people, we also have origin stories, although not as dramatic. For example, you might believe that you inherited cleverness from your mother, confidence from your father, or a love of cooking from fun times in the kitchen with your grandparents.
The age-old question of what shapes our personalities, abilities, and interests is centered around the interplay of nature (our genes) and nurture (our early environment). However, there is a third factor that has been overlooked until recently: randomness. Specifically, chance events that impact nerve cells during brain development. This oversight is significant because recent research indicates that this randomness may play a larger role in shaping who we are compared to environmental factors, and in some cases, may even be as influential as our genes. Therefore, it is crucial to view ourselves as the product of nature, nurture, and “noise”.
This topic is not only of interest to neuroscientists but also has profound implications for everyone. It could alleviate concerns about our parenting choices and potentially reduce blame towards our own parents for how we have turned out. According to Benjamin de Bivort, “We have a tendency to develop narrative explanations for differences we see in people.”
