Prenatal Development

Q: What are the main stages of prenatal development and their time frames?

Prenatal development begins at conception and has three stages:

• Zygote: fertilized egg, up to 2 weeks

• Embryo: 2 weeks to 2 months

• Foetus: 2 months to birth

Q: How do nature and nurture interact during prenatal development?

A: At every stage, genetic (nature) and environmental (nurture) factors influence development together. Environmental conditions can activate or deactivate certain genes, shaping how development unfolds.

Q: What are teratogens and what are some examples?

A: Teratogens are substances or environmental factors that can cause birth defects. Examples include smoking, alcohol, stress, maternal age, poor nutrition, and illness.

Q: How do genes and environment help us understand intelligence?

A: Twins are often studied because they share 100% of their genes, allowing researchers to compare how genetic factors and different environments influence intelligence—especially when twins aren’t raised in the same household.

Q: What makes a newborn “competent”?

A: Newborns are born with automatic survival reflexes, including the rooting reflex, sucking reflex, grasping reflex, and locomotor reflex.

Q: What is imitation in early development?

A: It’s learning by copying others’ behaviour. Melzoff’s research shows that modelling can occur even after a delay, meaning infants can imitate actions they saw earlier.

Q: What are infancy motor skills

A: Infancy motor skills include gross motor skills (large movements like rolling, sitting, standing) and fine motor skills (small, precise movements like grasping and manipulating objects).

Q: What is maturation in development?

A: Maturation is the biological growth process that leads to orderly changes in behaviour and occurs largely independent of experience.

Q: What are the cephalocaudal and proximodistal trends in motor development?

A: The cephalocaudal trend means development happens from top down—infants gain control of the head, arms, and upper body before the legs. The proximodistal trend means development moves from the centre outward—control develops first in the core, then toward the hands and feet.

Q: What environmental and cultural factors influence infancy development?

A: Enriched environment, diet, movement opportunities, and voluntary reaching.