Psych - Early Brain Development

Nature

Plato

believed that knowledge is innate and that the mind is shaped by inherent qualities

Nurture

Aristotle

Knowledge is gained through experiences

Individual

what you are

• sex, age, etc.

Microsystem

Groups closest to the individual

• family, school, friends

Mesosystem

Interconnections between the systems

• teachers interacting with your family

Exosystem

Links between social settings

• experiences at home will affect your work or school experience

Macrosystem

Overarching culture that influences experiences

• being catholic versus muslim

Chronosystem

passage of time

• increased opportunities for women to get a job or degree

Neurogenesis

neurons being formed in the brain

they are assigned to functions

based on genetics

prepare us to receive input (experiences) from the world

Myelination

the growth of the brain

enhances electrical transmission

we become more efficient about information processing

severe malnutrition can alter myelination speed

electrical transmission

the speed of the action potential in the brain

Synaptogenesis Burst

allows us to adapt to the environment

our experiences will change this

important for development

Pruning

when synaptic connections are not used they are cut away

the sculptor cutting the marble

will reorganize itself based on experiences and how frequently the neuron connections are being used

Further Synaptogenesis and Strengthening of Connections

synaptic connections that are used regularly, they get stronger and strengthened

fire together, wire together

more branching and connections will be made because of this

Perceptual Narrowing

detecting differences between everything but then pruning away the information we no longer need

starting out big, then getting smaller, trimming away what we no longer need

Perceptual broadening

becoming experts in something and learning more and more about it

start out small, then get bigger because we become experts in that field by learning about it

Habituation

when you’re constantly exposed to the same thing, the brain stops paying attention because it is no longer perceived as new information

the brain almost gets bored of it

Dishabituate

to break the “boredom” by showing new information

if they can’t recognize that it is new information, the boredom will continue to ensue

Secure Attachment

the babies are able to use their caregiver as a secure base to do outside explorations

the parents are consistently responsive, available physically and emotionally, able to properly read infants signals and responses

Insecure Avoidant

emotional distance between caregiver and child, cannot use the caregiver as a source of comfort

consistently unavailable and is unresponsive or rejects the child

Insecure Ambivalent

inconsolable, they cling onto the caregiver but push the caregiver away too, opposing behaviors

unpredictable parents and they were inconsistent in how they act with their child

words

built off of sounds

Morphemes

single units of sound

inherently has meaning to them

Phonemes

language units, sounds

Syntax

the rules that we use to govern how to put together language sentences

semantics

how the words are put together and how they are communicated, what their meaning then is

• tone

parentese

exaggeration of phonemes

high pitch

slow pace

allowing the child to tell the difference between phonemes

allowing kids to find patterns in speech

dr. Kuhl’s research

statistical learning

babies pay attention to pattern

need social interaction

statistical learning

changes in perceptual experience

how they experience those patterns will change how they adapt their environment, how they understand and interpret the world

Mandarin vs. English

Those in-person English sessions: cannot speak Mandarin

In-person Mandarin sessions: kept the ability to notice the difference in sounds, perceptual broadening and strengthening synaptogenesis)

Listened to Mandarin: Still lost the ability

Listened through Audio Mandarin: lost the abilitiy

Joint attention

pointing to communicate that we’re talking about the same thing