Human Growth and Development - Section 1, Lesson 5

What is synaptal blooming?

period of rapid neural growth and synaptogenesis/formation of new neural connections during infancy or toddlerhood.

what is synaptic pruning?

period following synaptal blooming where neural connections are reduced, making those used much stronger. Thought to cause the brain to function more efficiently. thought to allow for mastery of more complex skills. continues from childhood to adolescence

How big is the brain at birth?

250 grams. At birth, newborn brain is 33% of the size of an adults, and 55% within 90 days.

how big is the brain at one year old

750 grams

find picture on 5.1 for areas of brain. What is the frontal lobe for?

thinking, planning, memory, and judgement

find picture on 5.1 for areas of brain. What is the parietal lobe responsible for?

processing information about touch

find picture on 5.1 for areas of brain. What is the occipital lobe responsible for?

vision

What is the temporal lobe responsible for?

hearing and language

Although the brain rapidly grows throughout infancy, not all areas grow the same. What is an example of this?

primary motor areas develop faster than primary sensory areas. Prefrontal cortex least developed

What is lateralization?

the process in which functions become localized to one side of the brain. Ex: left hemisphere more active during language production, right side more active during visuospatial activities

What is neuroplasticity?

The brains ability to change physically and chemically to adapt after major change, such as in TBI

how much does a newborn sleep in a 24 hours period

16.5 hours, broken across various sleep periods. goes down to 15 hours by month 1, then 14 hours by month 6. down to 10 hours by 2 years of age

how much of a newborns sleeptime is spent in REM?

close to 50%, decreases to 25-30% in childhood

How many SUIDs (sudden unexpected infant deaths) occur within a year in the united states?

3,500. No immediate apparent cause

What is a leading hypothesis for SIDs

that there are abnormalities present in the area of the brainstem that regulates breathing

What are 3 commonly reported types of SUIDs?

SIDs, Unknown cause, accidental suffocation/strangulation (900 reported deaths in 2017)

What is the recommended position for a baby to sleep?

on back

how more often are babies younger than to die from SIDs if they bed share?

5 times more likely. parental smoking and alcohol consumption increase risks. In countries where cosleeping is more common, sleeping occurs on floor mats or hard surfaces, which decrease chance of suffocation

What are some more important reflexes?

sucking and rooting reflex, which are important to feeding. Grabbing and stepping reflexes replaced by more voluntary behaviors. THese reflexes disappear within a few months of life, but blinking swallowing sneezing gagging and withdrawal remain due to importance.

What is the sucking reflex

sucking on anything that touches the lips

What is the rooting reflex?

turns the head when the cheek is touched

What is the grasp reflex

grips anything that touches the palm of the hand

What is the babinski reflex

toes fan out when sole of foot is stroked heel to toe

Moro reflex

sudden noise or loss of support causes infant to rapidly spread out arms and legs

tonic neck reflex

when lying on back with head to one side, infant extends arm and leg on the same side, flexes limbs on opposite side.

stepping reflex

legs move in stepping motion when feet touch smooth surface

what is cognitive equilibrium?

balance in what is seen and known. children struggle to maintain balance because of how often they learn new material. New information is organized into a schema.

What is assimilation in the cognitive schema?

Fitting new information in existing schema. ex: calling all 4 legged animals “doggie”

Instead of assimilation, children may sometimes demonstrate accommodation. What is this?

expanding the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new situation, thus learning a new word. Ie, recognizing a horse is different than a zebra. even adults do this and assimilation

infants learn about the world through their sensory and motor abilities. These provide the foundation for cognitive skills that will emerge during subsequent stages of cognitive development. What is the first stage of cognitive development referred to as?

sensorimotor stage, consisting of 6 substages.

Sensorimotor stage: stage 1: reflexes

newborns learn about their world through the use of their reflexes that later become more purposeful/useful

Sensorimotor stage: stage 2: primary circular reactions

during 3 months following stage 1, infants begin to actively involve his or her own body in some activity. May accidentally engage in behavior such as vocalization and it motivates them to do it again

Sensorimotor stage: stage 3: Secondary circular reactions

infant begins to interact with objects in environment. Actions may start accidental, but become purposeful

Sensorimotor stage: stage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions

infant uses combined previously learned reactions to make a plan or goal. Ex: infant sees a car across the room and crawls across to get to it.

sensorimotor stage: stage 5: tertiary circular reactions:

toddler begins exploring the world through trial and error methods. ex: throwing ball downstairs to see what happens

sensorimotor stage: stage 6: beginning of representational thought

sensorimotor period ends with appearance of symbolic or representational thought.

A critical milestone during the sensorimotor stage is object permanence. what is this?

understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists. younger infants don’t know what happened when an object disappears, older infants know to look for the object.

Around the same time object permanence develops, babies may also demonstrate stranger anxiety. What is this?

Fear of unknown people

What is deferred imitation?

imitation of actions after time delay

What is a phoneme?

smallest unit of sound that makes a meaningful difference in the language. EX: Bit has 3 phenomes. Hundreds that can be used, but many people regularly use a small subset, as demonstrated by English using 45.

what is a morpheme?

string on phonemes that makes up a word with meaning. Some are prefixes or suffixes. (ie, -est in happiest, re- as in rewind)

what are semantics?

refers to the set of rules people refer to to obtain meanings from morphemes. ex: -ed makes past tense.

what is syntax?

set of rules of language by which people make sentences. Every language has a different syntax. ie, order. “Make me a sandwich” vs “Make a sandwich for me” is easily understood in english, but may be harder if the same error is made in other languages.

what are pragmatics?

social side of language. turn taking, staying on topic, volume and tone of voice, and appropriate eye contact.

When do more elaborate vocalizations than cooing begin?

4-6 months of age. different sounds start being formed.

When do babies start babbling?

7 months old

When does receptive language kick in?

10 months of age. Babies can understand more than they can say. Infants shake head no 6-9 months of age, and can follow instructions like “wave bye” at 9 to 12 months of age

What is holophrasic speech?

at about 12-13 months of age, babies use partial words. Ex: “ju” instead of “juice”

two word sentences and telegraphic speech.

unnecessary words not used. ie, “give baby ball” instead of “give me the ball”

What is infant directed speech?

sing-song intonation or “horsie”

When is the human brain 95% the size of an adult brain?

6 years of age, Left hemisphere of brain (inbolved in language skills) grows dramatically between the ages of 3 and 6.

What is locomotion?

ability to move from one place to another. ie, crawling, walking, running

What are object control skills?

ability to perform tasks such as throw something, pick up, etc

what gross motor skills changes can be seen in a 2 year old?

can kick a ball without losing balance, can pick up objects while standing without losing balance, can run with better coordination (still may have wide stance

What fine motor skill changes can be seen in a 2 year old?

Able to turn door knob, can look through a book 1 page at a time, can build a tower of 6 to 7 cubes, able to put on simple clothes without help

What gross motor skill changes can be seen in a 3 year old?

can briefly balance and hop on 1 foot, may walk upstairs with alternating feet (without aid of rail), can pedal tricycle.

What fine motor skills can be seen in a 3 year old?

Can build a block tower of more than 9 cubes, can easily place small objects in a small opening, can copy a circle, can draw a person with 3 parts, can feed self easily

What gross motor skills might a 4 year old show?

improved balance, hops on 1 foot without losing balance, throws a ball overhand with coordination

What fine motor skills might a 4 year old show

can cut out a picture with scissors, can draw a square, manages a spoon and fork neatly while eating, puts on clothes properly

What gross motor skills are demonstrated at age 5

better coordination (able to coordinate limbs and body movements), skips/hops/jumps with good balance, stays balanced while standing on one foot with eye closed,

What fine motor skills are demonstrated at age 5?

more skills with simple tools and writing utensils, can copy a triangle, can use a knife to spread soft foods.

a lifestage that coincides with early childhood development is the preoperational stage. According to Piaget, when does this occur?

from ages 2 to 7

In what stage might children use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas (which is why they engage in pretend play)?

preoperational stage

How do children in the preoperational stage process logic and or information

these children begin to use language, but cannot understand adult logic or mentally manipulate information. the term operational refers to logical manipulation of information, so children are considered preoperational at this stage.

The preoperational statge is divided into two stages. What are these?

the symbolic function substage (occurring between ages 2 and 4), and intuitive thought substage

What is the symbolic function substage characterized by?

child is able to mentally represent an object not present and has dependence on perception in problem solving

what is the intuitive thought substage characterized by?

greater dependence on intuitive thinking rather than simply perception.

Pretend play: how does this represent the real world?

children learn as they pretend and experiment. play does not simply represent what they have learned

What does egocentrism in early childhood refer to?

Tendency of young children not to take the perspective of others and thinks that everyone else is just like them. ie, getting a gift they themselves like for someone else. experiment was done asking young children what they thought a doll saw, and the children drew the doll itself (what the children saw). BUT children show some sort of awareness because they speak differently to adults vs children

What does conservation refer to?

ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter does not change the quantity. ex: an equal slice of pizza was given to an older sister and a younger brother. the younger brothers was cut into smaller pieces but was told he had more (even though both his and his sister’s slice was the same). The younger brother will not recognize this. However, culture is an influence, children of mexican potters can infer that the amount of clay stays the same

What is a classification error in preoperational children?

these children have a difficulty understanding that an object can be classified in more than one way. Ie, if a child is given 3 black and 4 white buttons and is asked if there are more white buttons or buttons, they’ll simply say white buttons.

Why are preoperational children’s more often transductive in their thinking?

because these children lack general classes, their reasoning is simply transductive. making faulty inferences from one example to the next. ex: child thinks it is not afternoon because she hasn’t had her nap

How long does animism (that is, thinking all objects like a cup that are able to be moved, are alive) last?

after age 3, it is rare

What is Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development

occurs when a child can almost perform a task,but still needs assistance

What is scaffolding?

temporary support parents or teachers give a child to help them complete a task

What is divided attention?

multitasking. Children struggle in this regard. While they perform better than a chimpanzee after age 5, they are typically struggling still

what is sustained attention?

the ability to stay on task for long periods of time

How are children with selective attention?

improves with age/ 8 to 11 year olds perform close to adults.

Sensory memory is the first stage in the memory system. How does this work?

sensory input stored in raw form for a very brief duration. Long enough for brain to register and process information. Find photo on 6.7

Working memory is the second stage of short term memory

Requires conscious effort and adequate use of attention to function effectively. Typical adult can hold a 7 digit number. child can only typically hold 4 digit. Child less efficient in paying attention

working memory: What is clustering rehearsal

person rehearses previous material while adding new infortmation.

long term memory is the 3rd component in memory. Also known as permanent memory. What is a basic division?

declarative and non-declarative.

What is a declarative memory?

Memories of an event or task needing to be done. Ie, remembering you have a task next week.

What is a non-declarative memory?

remembering how to drive

What are semantic memories?

memories for facts and knowledge that are not tied to time

What are episodic memories?

memories tied to specific points in time

what is autobiographical memory?

memories collected from an individual’s own life (verify)

Which characteristic of language describes semantics

The set of rules used to obtain meaning from morphemes

What are behavioral genetics?

the scientific study of the interplay between genetic and environmental contributions to behavior. nature/nuture debate. Bidirectional interplay suggests that environment can affect the expression of genes just as genetic predispositions can impact a persons potential. Additional, environmental circumstances can trigger symptoms of a genetic disorder.

Behavioral genetics: Additional, environmental circumstances can trigger symptoms of a genetic disorder.. What is an example of this?

a person who has sickle cell anemia, a recessive gene-linked disorder, can experience a sickle cell crisis under conditions of oxygen deprivation. Someone predisposed genetically to DM II can trigger is with poor diet and lack of exercise

what do genotype-environment correlations refer to?

The processes by which genetic factors contribute to variations in the environment. There are 3 types.

genotype-environment correlations refer to the processes by which genetic factors contribute to variations in the environment. There are 3 types. What are they?

passive genotype environment correlation, evocative genotype environment correlation, active genotype environment correlation

genotype environment correlations: passive genotype environment correlation - what does this refer to?

occurs when children passively inherit genes and the environments their families provide. certain behavioral characteristics, like being athletically inclined, may run in the family

genotype environment correlations: evocative genotype environment correlation - What does this refer to?

how the social environment reacts to individuals based on their inherited characteristics. ie, temperament affects how a child is treated by others.

genotype environment correlation: active genotype environment correlation - What does this refer to?

when individuals seek out environments that support their genetic tendencies. Ie, niche picking. Musically inclined children seek out music teachers

What type of study supported the genotype environment correlation?

360 adopted children and their adoptive and bio parents were followed. Results showed that children who had bio parents with psychopathologic tendencies exhibited significantly fewer behavior problems when their adoptive parents used more structured parenting. Psychopathology in adoptive parents increased risk of behavioral problems in the same children

What are epigenetics?

studies modifications in DNA that affects gene expression and are passed on when the cell divides. environmental factors such as genes, stress, and teratogents are thought to change gene expression by switching genes on and off and these changes are inherited by daughter cells. May explain why identical twins may increasingly differ in gene expression with age (explain? 7.1)

How did researchers discover genes involved in over 1800 diseases?

The Human Genome Project (international endeavor), in which scientists were tasked with sequencing the 3 billion base pairs that make up the human genome.

What is the HapMap?

a large database that catalogues the genetic variations in 11 global populations. This can improve people’s understanding of different risk of disease and reactions to medical treatments like various drugs. has aided in treatment plans for cancer, hiv, etc. future plans to identify the genetic markers to all 50 major forms of cancer.

what two emotional responses do infants exhibit at birth?

attraction (to pleasant situations that bring comfort) and withdrawal (from discomfort or bad tastes)