This article from NPR describes research conducted by Charles Nelson and others on the impacts of neglect on children's wellbeing and development. The studies examined children who grew up in institutions in Romania with a focus on electrical activity in their brains. "Many of the orphans had disturbingly low levels of brain activity. 'Instead of a 100-watt light bulb, it was a 40-watt light bulb,' Nelson says." The researchers attributed these low levels of brain activity to neglect and lack of a primary caregiver. "A baby 'comes into the world expecting someone to take care of them and invest in them,' Nelson says. 'And then they form this bond or this relationship with this caregiver.' But for many Romanian orphans, there wasn't even a person to take them out of the crib."
