Developmental Psych Exam 3

ADHD-circadian rhythms/sleep connection

Often experience disruptions in circadian rhythms—the body’s internal clock regulating sleep-wake cycles

Delayed sleep onset, shorter total sleep, and restless sleep, which can worsen attention, mood, and self-regulation during the day

Developmentally, poor sleep affects prefrontal cortex functioning, impairing executive processes like impulse control and working memory

Brain development

Synaptogenesis: the formation of new synaptic connections between neurons, this happens explosively in the first few years of life

Pruning: the elimination of weaker or unused synapses, improving efficiency and specialization of brain networks

Plasticity: the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize in response to experience or injury

Rapid Growth Areas– the frontal lobes and temporal/parietal regions develop quickly in preschool years

Motor skill development

Boys often excel in gross motor activities requiring strength and power

Girls often excel in fine motor skills and tasks requiring balance and coordination

These differences reflect both biological maturation and socialization (encouragement of gender-typed play)

Role of heredity and environment

Heredity sets limits (muscle composition, body proportions), but environmental support, such as play, practice, and nutrition, shapes skill acquisition

Role of formal lessons

Can refine motor control but is less crucial than daily play and opportunities for active movement

Improvements in preschool years

Better posture, balance, motor coordination, and speed arise from brain maturation and repetitive physical experience

Nightmares

Night Terrors

Occur during REM sleep, child wakes up, recalls dream, and can be comforted, often linked to stress, over-tiredness, or trauma

Occur during deep non-REM sleep, child may scream or thrash, but does not wake up fully and has no memory afterward, usually decreases as the nervous system matures

Nutrition–how are good habits developed?

Modeling: children imitate parents’ and peers’ eating patterns

Repeated exposure: familiarity with new foods increases acceptance

Positive mealtime environment: avoiding pressure or rewards around food encourages healthy attitudes

Parental guidance: offering balanced options and limiting sugary foods teaches self-regulation and preference for healthy choices

Proper nutrition supports brain development, energy levels, and growth

Sleep–what is the importance and how does this benefit occur

Physical growth: during deep sleep, the pituitary gland releases human growth hormone (HGH), which promotes tissue growth and cell repair

Cognitive functioning: sleep supports memory consolidation, attention, and emotional regulation

Behavioral control: adequate sleep reduces irritability and improves learning readiness

Teeth–when lose, baby teeth care and effect on adult teeth

Loss of baby teeth: Usually begins around age 6, timing can vary based on genetics and nutrition

Care of baby teeth: Early care (brushing, avoiding sugary foods) is crucial—decay in baby teeth can affect speech, nutrition, and the alignment of adult teeth

Cigarette smoke exposure

Increases risk of tooth decay and gum disease by affecting saliva and exposing children to harmful bacteria and toxins

Autism

Neurodevelopment disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, impulse control

Repetitive behavior like stimming

Associated with atypical brain connectivity

Sensory processing disorder

Extreme difficulty in processing & responding to sensory stimuli interferes with daily functioning

Structural abnormalities in sensory pathways and areas responsible for higher order thinking

Different forms:

• Sensory over-responsivity with low sensory threshold

• Sensory under-responsivity

• Craves and seeks intense stimulation

Unintentional injury

Boys are more likely to be injured & injuries are more sever

Temperament: inattentive, over-action, aggressive children are more likely to be inured

Risk factors: poverty, societal conditions, child-care shortages

Child maltreatment

Common in homes with poverty, martial instability, drug and alcohol abuse, special needs children in the home

Children with special needs require a great deal of care that can overwhelm caregivers

Community factors— Inadequate housing, community violence, and poverty

Child abuse types

Physical abuse

Sexual abuse

Emotional abuse

Neglect

Death

Awareness happens around age 7, but experience creates variation

• Universality– everyone dies

• Permanency– cannot come back

• Non-functionality– all function cease

Intersubjectivity

Refers to a shared social reality that is constructed through social interactions and involves processes like empathy, shared attention, and the ability to understand that others have different perspectives

Sustained Attention

Selective Attention

Focus for extended time (at the end of this period, they can remain focused despite the occurrence of a more dominant stimulus)

Deploy attention– purposeful use, focusing on relevant info, ignoring distractors

Planning

Mastered around age 5

Make-believe play leads to

Gains in social competence

Strengthens cognitive capacities

Provide space, materials (realistic & ambiguous), experiences, help in conflict resolution (but do not save them), and encouragement

Piaget

Egocentric speech, a sign of cognitive immaturity due to an inability to take others' perspectives, which fades with maturity

Recasting

Expansion

Re-stating something with correct grammar

Adding information to the restatement

Vygotsky

Private speech, a developmental tool for self-regulation and problem-solving that transitions into internal, silent thought (inner speech)

Guided Participation

Scaffolding

Working together with more shilled peers, done with peers ages 3 to 5

More knowledgeable/experienced person provides guidance and structure but does not do the activity

Theory of mind

Awareness of own and other people’s mental processes

Improved by discussions emphasizing possible different perspectives and talking about causes and consequences

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

Children learn when a task is too hard to do along, but not so difficult that they cannot do it with scaffolding

Morality development

Developed through social learning, morality is learned through reinforcement and modeling

When adults discuss morality with children, the children will develop more sophisticated conceptions of morality