Development, Learning, and Behavior Flashcards

Flashcards about development learning and behavior

What does WEIRD science stand for?

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.

What is development?

A type of change that is qualitative, sequential, cumulative, directional, multifactorial, and individual.

What is mitosis?

Normal cell division where all genetic material is copied, resulting in two full sets of chromosomes (23 pairs).

What is meiosis?

Cell division in sex cells involving the exchange of information (crossing over) and resulting in four new cells with different combinations of genes (gametes, with only one pair/half of the blueprint).

What is the function of chemical substances released by the egg cell?

Attracts sperm to the egg for fertilization.

What are the four developmental processes?

Mitosis (ordinary cell division), cell migration (new positions), cell differentiation (becoming specialized), and apoptosis (programmed cell death).

What is a morula?

A stage where all cells are totipotent, meaning they can become any cell type.

What is a blastocyst?

Part of the fetal portion of the placenta that includes an amniotic sac (protective buffer for temperature and cushioning) and a placenta (rich network of semipermeable blood vessels).

What is cephalocaudal development?

Development that proceeds more rapidly at earlier stages and in areas nearer the head.

When does cleft palate originate?

A critical period between 5 ½ and 8 weeks of prenatal development.

By 28 weeks, what capabilities are developed in the fetus?

They become functional

What is phylogenetic continuity?

Humans share many characteristics and developmental processes with nonhuman animals due to shared evolutionary history.

What happens by 30 weeks of prenatal development?

Central nervous systems are sufficiently developed for learning and short-term memory to occur.

What are teratogens?

Harmful influences that can affect prenatal development; timing and duration are factors.

What is a sensitive period in prenatal development?

Each organ has a critical period during development when it is most vulnerable to teratogens.

What is a dose-response relation in the context of teratogens?

The greater the exposure to a potential teratogen, the more likely and severe the damage to the fetus will be.

What is NAS?

Neonatal abstinence syndrome; drug withdrawal in newborns due to maternal opioid use.

What is sudden infant death syndrome?

SIDS; can result from maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy.

What is fetal alcohol syndrome?

Characterized by facial structures, intellectual disability, attention problems and hyperactivity, and is caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

What is Zika?

Can cause microcephaly (smaller head) in the fetus if contracted during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester.

How can maternal stress influence the baby?

Can slow the growth of the fetus due to cortisol and HPA-axis activation.

What are the main parts of a neuron?

Cell body, dendrites (receiving), axon (sending), myelin sheath (health and speed), and axon terminals.

What is the role of glial cells in the brain?

Formation of myelin sheath.

What is the hypothalamus responsible for?

Specialized for motivation and emotion, control of the autonomic nervous system (ANC) and the endocrine system (sexual behavior).

Which part of the limbic system is responsible for forming and retrieving memories, including the creation of new neurons?

Hippocampus.

What are some functions of the frontal lobe?

Executive functions (planning, reasoning, inhibition), speech (Broca's area) and voluntary movements (primary motor cortex).

What are the major functions associated with the temporal lobe of the brain?

Speech reception and understanding (Wernicke’s area) and auditory processing (primary auditory cortex).

What is the function of the cerebellum?

Coordinates muscular movement (smooth), learning and memory.

What functions are controlled by the Medulla?

Heartrate, respiration and blood pressure.

What processes occur during brain development?

Neural stem cells differentiate into neurons/glial cells, neurons migrate using radial glia cells, axons/dendrites grow, and programmed cell death (apoptosis) occurs.

What is the term for the making of connections in the brain?

Synaptogenesis.

How does synaptic elimination or 'Pruning' Affect Brain Plasticity?

Brain adapts to environment through synaptic pruning for plasticity.

What is experience-expectant plasticity?

General experiences that almost all infants have by virtue of being human (e.g., patterned visual stimulation, voices).

What is experience-dependent plasticity?

Specific, idiosyncratic experiences that children have as a result of their particular life circumstances.

What is a genotype?

Refers to genetic material inherited from parents

What is a Phenotype?

An observable expression of the genotype

If all cells in the body carry the same gene, why aren’t all cells identical doing the same thing?

Switching on and off regulator genes

What are endophenotypes?

intermediate phenotypes that mediate the pathways between genes and behaviour

What is epigenetics?

the study of stable changes in gene expression that are mediated by the environment

What are quantitative genetics research design?

Statistical methods involving family, twin, adoption and adoptive twin studies

What are molecular genetics research designs?

DNA based research design involving GWAS and GCTA

What is perception?

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information about objects, events, and spatial layout of the world around us

After entering the eye, where does visual information go before reaching V1 in the visual cortex?

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)

What is visual acuity?

How sharply someone can see by preferring pattern than grey field?

What is Object Segregation?

The identification of separate objects, including Border detection, Integration and Figure-ground segregation

What is Gestalt principle?

How our minds organize and interpret visual data

What is prosody?

the characteristic rhythmic and intonation patterns with which a language is spoken

What is Stimulus generalization?

When a stimulus similar to the initial CS elicits a CR

Infant musical perception

The ability of infants to recognize and differentiate musical tones and structures, demonstrating a heightened sensitivity to auditory stimuli.

What is Habituation?

A decrease in the strength of response to a repeated stimulus; adaptive function

How is IQ important?

An important predictor of academic, occupational, economic success, and resilience

What is observational learning?

the process of learning by observing behaviours of others

What is measured in the Binet-Simon test?

Tasks of reasoning and problem-solving, verbal and quantitative