Developmental Psych: Chap 3- Physical and Cognitive Development

Gross motor skills

The skills that involve large-muscle activities. Moving arms, walking, squatting, kicking

Fine motor skills

The skills that involve more finely tuned movements, finger dexterity, grabbing things, buttons. occur in later development

habituation

The decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after it is repeatedly seen. Babies no longer present interest in this stimulus

dishabituation

The recovery of an interested response after the change of a stimulus

sensorimotor stage

This stage lasts from 0-2 where infants start to use their reflexes through their senses and grasping, reaching, or putting their hands/feet in their mouth. Start understanding object permanence, cause and effect, schemas

Cephalocaudal Pattern

The sequence of which the earliest growth and motor/sensory skills development start from the head and works its way down the body.

Proximodistal Pattern

The sequence in which growth stars from the center if the body and radiates out into the extremities. Babies can control their arms and torso before they can control their hands. \

Myelination

The process of encasing axons with fat cells (myelin) during prenatal and adolescent development. this speeds up signal transmission and cognitive, motor and neural efficiency

SIDS

The condition that occurs when an infant stops breathing without an apparent cause with a risk at 2-4 months. Minimized by sleeping on backs.

Infant Sleep Cycle

Start out with a large amount of REM sleep to promote brains development

when babies gain color visibility

Babies can start to discriminate color from 4-8 weeks. gravitate towards blue hues. and don’t gravitate towards green or yellow

Language development

starts off with cooing and babbling for 6 months. Gestures 8-12 months. learn vowels in 6 months constants in 9 months. 10-15 months first words