child development exam #1

what is child development

the rapid change and growth that occurs in a child

what is development influenced by

genetic inheritance, experience, experience before birth, experiences throughout childhood

what happens in the prenatal stage of development (conception-birth)

starts as a single-cell zygote and rapidly grows into an embryo and fetus, with organs and systems forming

what happens in the infancy stage of development (birth-1 year)

characterized by rapid physical growth, developing motor skills, and cognitive growth in language and memory

what happens in the toddlerhood stage of development (1-2 years)

mobility increases, vocabulary expands quickly, self-awareness and emotional expression begin

what happens in the preschool stage of development (3-6 years)

motor skills become more coordinated, self-sufficiency grows, and social cognitive and language abilities greatly develop

what happens in the school age stage of development (6-12 years)

physical skills are refined, logical thinking and academics are mastered, and peer relationships become more important

what is holistic development

understanding the child as a whole, rather than treating areas of development as independent *changes in one are create opportunities for change in another

what are the domains of development

cognitive, language, social, emotional, physical

what is continuous development

gradual change

what is stage-like development

discreet windows of time with checklists of abilities during each age bracket

what are critical periods/windows

more severe version of milestones (what is developing during that window will be affected with FASD)

what are the “nature” of nature vs. nurture theories

starting point is built in, experience builds on our basic nature, nature focused theories of development inspired genetic, infant, cross species, and cross cultural studies

what are the “nurture” of nature vs. nurture theories

experience matters and can go as far to shape genetics

what did john locke say about development

tabula rasa (we are born with our mind as a blank slate)

what did watson say about development

development happens through rewards and punishments

what did vygotsky say about development

what a child can do in cooperation today, he can do alone tomorrow

what did piaget say about development

what we know changes what we see, what we see changes what we know

what did bandura say about development

introduced idea of social learning (imitation, modeling)

what is assent

voluntary agreement of an individual who is not legally authorized to give full consent

what is consent

the voluntary informed and revocable agreement of an individual to participate in a study

what are the two main goals of research with children and infants

chart the course of development and identify influences on development

what is the longitudinal method

a childs behaviour is measured repeatedly and changes&similarities are noted as the child gets older

what are the pros of the longitudinal method

same people at same age, study common patterns and individual differences, map trajectories, sense of cause and effect

what are the cons of the longitudinal method

very susceptible to practice effects, difficult to identify appropriate instruments for the entire time course, very expensive

what is the cross-sectional method

behaviour of different groups of people differing in age are measured at the same points in time

what are the pros of the cross sectional method

more efficient, compare multiple age groups especially across a large span easily

what are the cons of the cross-sectional method

susceptible to cohort effects, cause and effect harder to establish, harder to map individual trajectories and understand individual differences

what are the key measures of behaviour

(in)voluntary behaviours or something the child does thats observable

what are the key measures of physiology

measure an aspect of childs biological processes such as heart rate, skin conductance or brain activity

what are the key measures of self report

measure info about the child they report themselves including beliefs, thoughts as well as their reported behaviours

what is systematic observation

observe the child’s behaviour in a natural or semi-structured environment

what are the pros of systematic observation and ethnography

observe spontaneous or natural behaviour, reflects “everyday” life

what are the cons of systematic observation and ethnography

behaviour might be difficult to measure observationally, cannot fully control conditions under which participants are observed

what is ethnography

studies how culture affects child development using descriptive methods includes cross-cultural or multicultural research

what is a case study

focuses on understanding a single child using different kinds of info (interviews, observations, test scores)

what are the pros of a case study

provides rich descriptive insight, goes into great depth

what are the cons of a case study

small sample size, biased by researchers preferences or focus

what is a survey

kids report info about themselves like thoughts, feelings, and attitudes

what are the pros of a survey

targets peoples beliefs and theories, great depth of info can be obtained, efficient

what are the cons of a survey

kids might not be aware of how they behave or why, inaccurate info, social desirability bias

what is an experiment

researchers examine if theres a relation between variables using an experimental procedure

what is “the procedure”

experimental or treatment group recieves a treatment or manipulation of some kind

what is the “control group”

doesn’t receive treatment or manipulation

what is “random assignment”

participants placed in the experimental or control group using a random method

what are the pros of random assignment

highly controlled, identify causality

what are the cons of random assignment

ecological validity and non-spontaneous behaviour

what is the correlational method

researchers measure the association between variables using correlation coefficients

what are the pros of the correlational method

measure relation between multiple variables that might be hard to manipulate and include quite a few variables

what are the cons of the correlational method

p-hacking, cant make causal claims

what does the brain coordinate

physical, social, emotional, linguistic and cognitive development

define cellular

the actual neurons and how they function

define functional

areas of the brain and how they work together

define neuron

receives and sends signals. can change during development

define synapse

connection between neurons

define neurotransmitter

chemical messenger; what is sent between the neurons

define glia

support, insulate, and help maintain neural function

when are most of the brains approx. 100 billion neurons formed

before birth

what is neurogenesis

the process by which neurons are generated

neurons that fire together, ______?

wire together

what happens to neurons you dont use

they prune away

what are synapses

connections between neurons

what do connected neurons form

neural pathways that allow info to travel within the brain and between brain and body

what three broad regions does the SECD module describe

hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain

what does the forebrain include

cerebral cortex, limbic system, and corpus callosum

the cerebral cortex is divided into what

hemispheres and lobes

how does the cerebral cortex work

two hemispheres communicate through interhemispheric connections including the corpus callosum

what are some of the major cortical lobes

frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital and insular cortex

what does bottom-up refer to

basic neural systems develop before more complex systems, which sensory systems develop first depend on prenatal exposure, sensory and regulatory systems provide foundations for increasingly complex abilities

what are critical periods

period of time in development when a specific growth must occur for normal development to take place

what are sensitive periods

period of time when specific growth ideally occurs

what are genes

units of heredity that contribute to biological development

environmental exposure can affect what

our genotype and vice versa

what is epigenetics

the processes that regulate gene expression without modifying the underlying DNA sequence

what can contribute to epigenetic to epigenetic regulation

environmental exposures

what is GXE

different effects of environmental exposure on people with different genotypes or how different genotype affects those with varying experiential exposures

what does GXE stand for

gene by environment

what are epigenetics

studies of particular mechanisms or processes that lead to differences in gene expression based on specific environmental exposures

define sensation

the signal from the sensory input

define perception

how the brain interprets the sensory signal

define migration

neuron bodies move around

as the brain specializes it becomes more what

efficient

how genes can be expressed can change depending on what

the environment

when is the germinal stage

0-2 weeks (when cell development occurs)

when is the embryonic stage

3-8 weeks

when is the fetal stage

9 weeks-birth

what happens at day 16 (4 weeks) of the embryo stage

neural groove and tube formation

what happens at day 20 (5 weeks) of the embryo stage

swelling at the top of neural tube form three structures forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain

what does the brain stem control

breathing system, heart rate, sleep/wake cycles

what does the forebrain form

diencephalon and telencephalon (and thus eventually the cortex and subcortical structures)

what happens in week11-29 of the fetal stage

second wave of neurogenesis and neural migration

what happens in week 20ish of the fetal stage

greatest amount of neurogenesis has occured

what happens in week 23ish of the fetal stage

first synapses form but, most are after birth

what stage does the most development happen in

fetal stage

around 20 weeks how many neurons per day are formed

25,000

what week can a fetus usually survive outside the womb

23-24

what is gyrification

the brain gets bumps and grooves

what is apoptosis

dying off of cells you dont need

what are teratogens

environmental factors that can contribute to birth defects, and include maternal diseases, pollutants, drugs and alcohol

what are the physical symptoms of FASD

smooth head, ridge between upper lip and nose, wide eye set, thin upper lip, below average height and weight