Methodological Aspects of Studies of the Physiology of Child Development

Theoretical prerequisites to the studies of the physiology of child development are considered. The problems of developmental periods and the criteria for their determination are discussed in terms of the concept of the adaptive character of development and the mechanisms of systemic organization of adaptive reactions. The authors suggest that in the determination of developmental periods it is necessary to take into account both the features of the morphofunctional maturity of the organism and the mechanisms, which allow its interaction with the environment. The question of the sensitive and critical developmental periods is discussed in these terms, as well as the biological and social factors, which determine these periods.