However, the purpose of this analysis is to understand consciousness through biology. While consciousness might be more than just biology, biology still is one component of consciousness, and it my intent to study consciousness in this context. So, while it might be stretching things to say that the development of the brain can be equated with the development of consciousness, brain development is definitely one component of this process, and will therefore be used to study the development of consciousness. This question can be further answered by exploring the relationship between conscious behavior and brain biology. The first stage involves the formation of the basic architecture of the brain, while the second stage involves intense modification of the synapses in the brain, and the final stage is a more subtle process of modification that occurs in an individual as the result of learning and experience.
Anatomical differentiation involves the first stage of brain development and occurs fairly early.
Functional differentiation , which encompasses the sculpting and experiential stages of neural development, on the other hand, emerges very slowly. It begins during the postnatal period and continues until approximately age 20. And age 20 is actually when the process slows down, not when it stops. As children develop, their abilities of cognitive processing increase because of the increase in synapses that they utilize efficiently. Thus, as children develop, they become capable and higher and higher levels of processing.