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130 Terms
Why is infancy a sensitive period for development?
Rapid brain growth makes experiences highly influential
What are teratogens?
Agents - including drugs, chemicals, infections, and environmental factors - that cause structural or functional congenital disabilities in a developing embryo or fetus
What is synaptogenesis?
Formation of new neural connections and synapses
Why is synaptic pruning adaptive?
It improves brain efficiency, strengthens essential neural pathways, and enables the brain to adapt to the environment by removing unnecessary connections
What is myelination?
The process of forming a fatty myelin sheath around neuronal axons, acting as insulation to significantly speed up electrical signal transmission (action potentials) in the nervous system
What is the embodied approach to development?
Cognition is shaped by the body’s physical actions and its interactions with the environment
What visual ability do newborns have at birth?
Their vision is blurry, focusing best on objects 8–12 inches away, such as a parent's face. They primarily see in black, white, and shades of grey, possess limited colour vision, and are highly sensitive to light. They prefer faces and can detect movement
What are limitations of newborn vision?
Extreme near-sightedness, a lack of depth perception, poor colour vision, and an inability to coordinate eye movements
What is perceptual narrowing?
A developmental process where infants start with broad sensory sensitivity and, through experience, become specialized in detecting stimuli commonly encountered in their environment (like native language sounds or familiar faces) while losing the ability to distinguish unfamiliar stimuli
Give an example of perceptual narrowing
Loss of ability to distinguish non-native phonemes/ language sounds
What is auditory dominance?
A phenomenon where auditory input takes precedence over visual input in multisensory perception. It occurs when sounds interfere with or "capture" visual processing, particularly in young children (around age 4) or tasks requiring rapid temporal processing
Why do infants prefer their mother’s voice?
Prenatal auditory exposure e.g. hearing the mother when they are still in the womb
What is habituation?
A form of non-associative learning where an organism decreases its response to a repeated, harmless stimulus over time
What is sensitisation?
A form of non-associative learning where repeated exposure to a stimulus - typically a noxious or intense one - causes a progressive increase in responsiveness
What is observational learning?
Learning by watching and imitating others
Where can early imitation be observed?
In newborns imitating facial gestures
Why are Piaget’s stages of development invariant?
They occur in the same order for everyone
What do violation of expectation method studies show?
Infants understand more than Piaget suggested
How does the information-processing approach differ from Piaget?
Emphasises gradual change rather than stages
What is the DCCS task?
The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) is a standardized, often computerized, assessment of executive function - specifically cognitive flexibility or set-shifting - in young children. It measures the ability to switch between sorting rules, such as sorting bivalent cards by colour and then by shape (e.g., sorting red trucks and blue cars first by colour, then by shape), which tests inhibitory control and mental flexibility.
Why does memory improve with age? (childhood)
Strategy use and brain development
What is theory of mind?
Understanding others have different thoughts, beliefs and mental states to ones own
What is phonology?
The branch of linguistics that studies how speech sounds are organized, structured, and used to create meaning within and across languages
What is semantics?
The branch of linguistics focused on the study of meaning in language, analysing how words, phrases, and sentences convey meaning
What is syntax?
The study of the rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a given language, specifically how words and morphemes combine into phrases and sentences
What is morphology?
The sub-discipline of linguistics dedicated to studying the internal structure of words and how they are formed. It analyses "morphemes," the smallest meaningful units of language, which combine to form complex words
What is pragmatics?
The branch of linguistics that studies how context contributes to meaning, focusing on how speakers produce and comprehend language in social situations rather than just its literal interpretation
What is the LAD?
Language Acquisition Device - a hypothetical, innate mental mechanism proposed by Noam Chomsky that enables children to rapidly acquire language, even with limited input
What is Universal Grammar?
A theory in linguistics, notably championed by Noam Chomsky, proposing that the ability to acquire language is an innate, biological component of the human brain
What is the poverty of stimulus idea in language acquisition?
Input too limited to explain language learning
What is usage based theory of language acquisition?
Introduced by Michael Tomasello in 2003, proposes that children learn language through actual use, social interaction, and general cognitive skills, rather than an innate universal grammar
What supports usage-based theory?
Role of frequency and social interaction → evidence that language structure emerges from cognitive processes - such as categorization, chunking, and analogy - applied to language experience. Key support comes from studies showing that language acquisition is driven by input frequency, item-based learning, and the gradual development of abstract rules from concrete, holistic, and formulaic "big words"
What is a limitation of usage-based theory?
The "generalization problem," which makes it difficult to explain how learners constrain their generalizations, often leading to overgeneralization (e.g., donated the library vs. gave the library).
Other limitations include struggles with precise, a priori predictions due to breadth of explanation, and difficulty accounting for how abstract rules are formed solely from concrete, lexically specific input
May underestimate innate abilities
What is overextension?
Using a word too broadly. Overextension involves using one word for many items (e.g., "dog" for all animals)
What is underextension?
Using a word too narrowly. Underextension restricts a word to a specific context (e.g., "car" only for the family car)
What is overregularisation?
Applying grammar rules incorrectly e.g. "comed," "goed," or "tooths"
What does the Wug test show?
Children internalize grammatical rules (like pluralizing or verb conjugation) rather than simply memorizing words through imitation. By using nonsense words like "wug," it demonstrates that children as young as 4-5 understand and apply English morpheme rules to new, unfamiliar words
What is the attachment behavioural system?
Activated when an infant perceives a threat. An infant seeks his or her primary caregiver upon becoming frightened, hurt, or distressed, but engages in exploration of the environment when threat is minimal
What are examples of attachment behaviours?
Proximity maintenance (staying close), using the figure as a "safe haven" for comfort when scared, and using them as a "secure base" from which to explore the world
What is internal working model in attachment theory?
A cognitive framework or mental template developed in early childhood based on interactions with primary caregivers. It shapes expectations regarding relationships, self-worth, and others' responsiveness. These models guide social behaviour, emotional regulation, and future relationship dynamics throughout life
What is a limitation of attachment theory?
Overemphasizing early maternal care, neglecting temperament and genetic factors, and potential cultural bias toward Western norms. It can be deterministic, labeling individuals negatively, and often overlooks the capacity for change and resilience in later life.
What is a reflex smile?
An involuntary, short, and random facial expression in infants, often occurring while sleeping, drowsy, or passing gas from birth up to roughly 2 months old
What is a Duchenne smile?
A genuine, involuntary smile of true enjoyment
Why is fear adaptive?
It evolved as a crucial survival mechanism, enabling humans and animals to detect, avoid, or respond rapidly to threats
Why is anger adaptive?
It serves as a survival mechanism that signals threats, injustices, or boundary violations, motivating individuals to take protective or corrective action