Dev Psych Exam #2

Cephalocaudal Principle

the principle that growth follows a pattern that begins with the head and upper body parts and then proceeds down to the rest of the body

Proximodistal Principle

states that development proceeds from the center of the body outward

Principle of Hierarchical Integration

the principle that simple skills typically develop separately and independently but are later integrated into more complex skills

Principle of the Independence of Systems

suggests that different body systems grow at different rates

Neurons can communicate with other cells, using a cluster of fibers called _______ and carries out messages through the _______ with neurons called ________________

dendrites, axon, neurotransmitters

Neurons

the basic nerve cell of the nervous system

Cerebral Cortex-

the upper layer of the brain; these cells are responsible for higher-order processes such as thinking and reasoning

Over time, the cells in the ______________ become more developed and interconnected

cerebral cortex

Shaken Baby Syndrome

an infant is shaken by a caretaker, leading the brain to rotate within the skill, causing blood vessels to tear and destroying intricate connections between neurons

Shaken Baby Syndrome can lead to:

-severe medical problems
-long-term physical disabilities such as blindness, hearing impairment and speech disabilities
-in the worse cases death

Plasticity

the degree to which a developing structure or behavior is modifiable due to experience

Sensitive Period

a specific, but limited, time usually early in an organism's life, during which the organism is particularly susceptible to environmental influences relating to some particular facet of development

Rhythms

repetitive, cyclical patterns of behavior

State

the degree of awareness an infant displays to both internal and external stimulation

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep

the period of sleep that is found in older children and adults which is associated with dreaming

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

the unexplained death of a seemingly healthy baby

There is no known reason or cure for SIDS, but it is suggested to:

have the baby lie on their back with a pacifier during sleep

Reflexes

unlearned, organized, involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli

rooting reflex

reflex consisting of head-turning and sucking movements elicited in a normal infant by gently stroking the side of the mouth or cheek; disappears after 3 weeks

stepping reflex

movement of legs when held upright with feet touching the floor; disappears after 2 months

swimming reflex

infant's tendency to paddle and kick in a sort of swimming motion when lying face down in a body of water; disappears after 4-6 months

moro reflex

activated when support for the neck and head is suddenly removed. The arms of the infant are thrust outward and then appear to grasp onto something; disappears after 6 months

babinski reflex

an infant fans out its toes in response to a stroke on the outside of its foot; disappears after 8-12 months

startle reflex

an infant flings out its arms arches its back and spreads its fingers in response to a sudden noise; reflex remains in different form throughout lifespan

eye-blink reflex

rapid shutting and opening of the eye on exposure to direct light; never disappears

sucking reflex

infant's tendency to suck at things that touch its lips; never disappears

gag reflex

an infant's reflex to clear its throat; never disappears

Dynamic Systems Theory

a theory of how motor skills develop and are coordinated

Norms

the average performance of a large sample of children of a given age

It isn't always reliable to base a child's health on norms, because it lacks representation of the ____________________ between each child, and most research is done only on middle/upper-class Caucasian babies.

individual differences

Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)

a measure used to determine infants' neurological and behavioral responses to their environment

Nutrition of infants

-Studies have found breast milk to be more advantageous than formula
-Babies are suggested to start taking 1-2 tablespoons of solids around 6 months and 2-3 snacks per day after 9 months
-Children are more at risk of malnourishment in developing countries
-There is no clear evidence if overfeeding actually causes for adult/child obesity or not, but regardless it is good to not overfeed an infant

Nonorganic Failure to Thrive

a disorder in which infants stop growing due to a lack of stimulation and attention as the result of inadequate parenting

Sensation

the physical stimulation of the sense organs

Visual Perception of infants

-Infants are able to see about 20 feet in front of them with visual accuracy
-Babies also quickly develop depth perception, which has been tested through the use of "visual cliffs"
-They also prefer to look at more complex patterns, as well as learn how to distinguish faces

Auditory Perception of infants

-infants are able to hear before the time of birth, and even in the womb the fetus responds to sounds outside of its mother
-Infants are born with preferences for particular sound combinations
-Infants are born with reasonably good auditory perception, and are more sensitive to high and low frequencies than adults, while less sensitive to middle-range frequencies
-Sound localization is pretty good and improves within the first two years of life
-Babies are able to distinguish the sounds of different languages, and similar sounds

Infants senses of smell, taste and feel:

-infant's sense of smell is so well developed that some newborns (12-18 days) can distinguish their mother on the basis of smell alone
-Babies are born with an innate sweet tooth, with a distaste for bitter things
-Infants are born with the capacity to experience pain, and pain produces distress in infants
-Touch is one of the most highly developed sensory systems in a newborn, and is one of the first to develop
-There is evidence that by 32 weeks after conception the entire body is sensitive to touch
-Many reflexes are revolved around an infant's touch perception

Multimodal Approach to Perception

the approach that considers how information that is collected by various individual sensory systems is integrated and coordinated

Affordances

the action possibilities that a given situation or stimulus provides

Gross motor skills

• Grasp reflex---->ulnar grasp------->neat pincer grasp
• Catching/throwing
• Head control (at 6 weeks)
• Rolling
• Sitting
• Crawling
• Creeping
• hitching
• Standing
• Walking
• Running
• Climbing
-Jumping

Visual Cliff Experiment

children will not cross a visual cliff, showing depth perception in young infants and toddlers

Myelin

the fatty substance that coats the neurons, and is responsible for the increased efficiency in communication for neurons across the brain

Synapses

the spaces between neurons where information is processed

Infants are more likely to recover from _________ during the first two years of life

brain damage

Jean Piaget

a Swiss psychologist that suggested that knowledge is the product of direct motor behavior, and created many essential theories on cognitive development

Schemes

organized mental structures and patterns

Assimilation

the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive thinking

Accommodation

changes in existing ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events

Sensorimotor Stage

piaget's initial major stage of cognitive development, which can be broken down into six substages

The 6 substages of the sensorimotor stage are:

Simple reflexes, First habits and primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, Coordination of secondary circular reactions, Tertiary Circular Reactions, and Beginnings of thought

Substage 1: Simple reflexes

The various inborn reflexes are at the center of a baby's physical and cognitive life, and some reflexes begin to accommodate the infant's experience with the nature of the world; encompasses the first month of life

Substage 2: First habits and primary circular reactions

Occurs from 1 to 4 months; infants begin to coordinate separate actions into integrated activities

Substage 3: secondary circular reactions

Occurs from 4 to 8 months; infants begin to act upon the outside world, seeking to repeat enjoyable events in their environments

Substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions

Occurs from 8 to 12 months; infants begin goal-oriented behaviors and gain object permanence

Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions

Occurs from 12 to 18 months; develops schemes regarding the deliberate variation of actions that bring desirable consequences

Substage 6: Beginnings of thought

From 18 months to 2 years; develops the capacity for mental representation, or symbolic thought, and deferred imitation

Goal-Oriented Behavior

behavior in which several schemes are combined and coordinated to generate a single act to solve a problem

Object Permanence

the realization that people and objects exist even when they cannot be seen

Mental Representation

an internal image of a past event or object

Deferred Imitation

an act in which a person who is no longer present is imitated by children who have witnessed a similar act

Doubts/skepticism on Piaget's Theory:

-Development proceeds in more continuous fashion
-Robert Seigler suggests that development happens in waves rather than stages
-The connection made between cognitive and motor development is exaggerated
-Baillargeon conducted studies that demonstrate earlier capabilities of infants in understanding object permanence
-Other behaviors also seen to emerge earlier than piaget suggested
-Describes western countries better than children from non-western countries

Information-Processing Approaches

the model that seeks to identify the way that individuals take in, use and store information

Encoding

the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory

Storage

the placement of material into memory

Retrieval

the process by which material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness, and used

Automatization

the degree to which an activity requires attention

_________ can be thought of as a computer’s keyboard, through which one inputs information; _______ is the computer’s hard drive, where information is stored; and ________is analogous to soft- ware that accesses the information for display on the screen.

encoding, storage, retreival

Motor development of infants:

Memory

the process by which information is initially recorded, stored and retrieved

Infantile Amnesia

the lack of memory for experiences that occurred prior to 3 years of age

Explicit Memory

the memory that is conscious and which can be recalled intentionally

Implicit Memory

consists of memories of which we are not consciously aware but that affect performance and behavior

Developmental Quotient

an overall developmental score that relates to performance in four domains: motor skills, language use, adaptive behavior, and personal-social

Bayley Scales of Infant Development

a measure that evaluates an infant's development from 2 to 42 months

the relatively recent finding that an association exists between efficiency of information processing and later IQ scores does suggest some consistency of ___________________ across the life span.

cognitive development

Language

the systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols, which provides the basis for communication

Phonology

the basic sounds or a language that can be used to produce words and sentences

Morphemes

the smallest language unit that has meaning

Semantics

the rules that govern the meaning of words and sentences

Babbling

making speech-like but meaningless sounds

Holophrases

one-word utterances that stand for a whole phrase, whose meaning depends on the particular context in which they are used

Telegraphic speech

speech in which words not critical to the message are left out

Underextension

the overly restrictive use of words, common among children just mastering spoken language

Overextension

the overly broad use of words, overgeneralizing their meaning

Referential Style

a style of language use in which language is used primarily to label objects

Expressive Style

a style of language use in which language is used primarily to express feelings and needs about oneself and others

Learning Theory Approach

the theory that language acquisition follows the basic laws of reinforcement and conditioning

Nativist Approach

by Noam Chomsky; the theory that a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development

Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory that all the world's languages share a similar underlying structure

Language-Acquisition Device (LAD)

a neural system of the brain hypothesized to permit understanding of language

Interactionist perspective

by Jerry Bruner; the theory that language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help to teach language

Infant-Directed Speech

a type of speech directed toward infants, characterized by short, simple sentences

Cognitive Development

processes and outcomes of thought

Examples of cognitive skills:

-Attention
-Perception
-Memory
-Higher-order thinking (concept development, learning, and problem solving)
-Language

Piaget vs Vygotsky

Piaget focuses on "higher order" cognitive building, while Vygotstky focused on the process rather than the product of cognitive development and felt that learning is shaped through social interaction
-both felt that children learn through interactions in the environment and construct their opinions based on the world around them; are constructivist

equilibration

Children go between a state of equilibrium and dis-equilibrium while learning new information and their understanding of the world

piaget felt that the stages of development are _____________

culturally universal

Storing Strategies

rehearsal, organization, and elaboration

Retrieval strategies

recognition and recall

Rehearsal

repeating information to oneself