Studied by 2 people
Rooting reflex
A natural instinct in infants that causes them to turn their head and open their mouth when their cheek is stroked, helping them find the nipple for breastfeeding.
Habituation
A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure, allowing infants to focus on new stimuli.
Moro reflex
A reflex in infants characterized by a startle response to sudden movements or loud noises, often involving spreading out the arms and legs.
Maturation
The process natural of growth and development that humans go through regarding the changes that occur from birth to death
Teratogen
A substance that interferes with normal fetal development, resulting in abnormalities (EX: drugs, alcohol, chemicals, certain diseases)
Association areas
Regions of the cerebral cortex which connects sensory and motor areas, and which is thought to be concerned with higher mental activities
Pruning
The process of eliminating unnecessary neural connections in the brain during adolescence, enhancing efficiency in neural pathways.
“Use it or lose it”
The principle that neural connections are strengthened through use and weakened or eliminated when not actively engaged, emphasizing the importance of experience in brain development.
How do babies’ early reflexes help them survive?
Babies' early reflexes, such as Moro and rooting, are automatic responses that aid in feeding and staying near caregivers, ensuring their survival and promoting early interactions.
Why do newborns tend to prefer their mother’s over the father’s voice?
Newborns tend to prefer their mother's voice due to prenatal exposure, as they become familiar with the sound of her voice while in the womb, which provides comfort and recognition after birth.
What do newborns like to look at after they are first born?
They like high contrast images that are 8-12 inches away, and they like things that look like faces
Where are neural networks located in a child’s brain?
Neural networks are primarily located in the cerebral cortex, where they develop through experiences and interactions, facilitating cognitive and motor skills.
On the day you were born, you had most of the ______________________ you would ever
have.
Brain cells
What brain area experiences the most rapid growth? What are the last cortical areas to develop?
The prefrontal cortex
The association areas linked with thinking, memory, and language
Why is pruning important?
It eliminates excess neural connections so it can focus its and energy to make sure the ones it doesn’t get rid of are good
What is the sequence of motor development in babies/young children?
Lifting head - sitting - crawling - standing up - walking assisted - walking unassisted - running
What is physical development in children mostly a result of? : (Social learning / Maturation)
Maturation!
Assimilation
Interpreting new things in terms of our schemas (ex: a toddler might call everything with a tail a dog)
Accomodation
Adapting our current understanding (schema) to incorporate new info/things (ex: a cat has a tail, but it’s not a dog, so the toddler will make a new schema for “cat”)
Schema
Concepts or mental molds which we put info into
Sensorimotor stage
Birth-age 2: babies take in the world through senses and actions (looking, hearing, touching, biting, grasping)
Object permanence
Awareness that objects continue to exist even when we cannot see them (starts around 8 months old)
Preoperational stage
Age 2 - ages 6/7: where a child learns to use language but doesn’t yet comprehend mental operations and concrete logic
Concrete operational stage
Age 7 - age 12: children gain mental operations that let them think logically about concrete events
Formal operational stage
Ages 12+: kids begin to think logically about abstract concepts and gain mature moral reasoning
Theory of mind
People’s ideas about their own and others mental states (feelings, perceptions, thoughts, behaviors) develops in the preoperational stage
Conservation
Principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of the objects (ex: a taller cup that has the same volume as a shorter cup doesn’t equal more liquid in the taller cup) develops in preop stage
Egocentrism
Preoperational Child’s difficulty seeing/understanding someone else’s point of view
Symbolic thinking
Being able to do pretend play basically (develops in preop stage)
Reversible mental processes
Things like familial relationships, and subtraction can be hard for preop kids
ZPD (Zone of proximal development)
The zone between what a child can do and what a child can’t do (it’s what a child can do with help, or contains things that are next for the child to master
Lev Vygotsky
Person who came up with the ZPD
Inner speech
Kids who talk to themselves while doing something generally become better at it than kids who don’t
Scaffolding
People like parents, caregivers, teachers, that help the child do new things
What is cognition?
The process of thinking/processing info such as languages, concepts, and images
What was Piaget core idea
There are 4 stages a child goes through when growing up
Schema
Concepts/mental molds that we put things into
What did lev vygotsky emphasize
That a child’s mind moves through the ZPD with help from parents, caregivers, and social interaction
Noah Chomsky
Argued that e language is an unlearned human trait, and that we are born with a language acquisition device that lets us learn any language.
Universal grammar
Birth with a predisposition to learn grammar
Babbling
By 4 months, babies sample sounds they can make, no language yet, but by 10 months, babbling indicates household language
Phonemes
Smallest distinctive sound units in a language (th - a - t)
Morphemes
Smallest language units that carry meaning (read - er - s)
One word stage
Around 1st bday, know sounds have meaning but only use one syllable at a time
Two word stage
Around 2nd bday, mostly says nouns and verbs (want juice), also called telegraphic speech
Aphasia
Damage to cortical areas that causes language impairment
Note 
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