Chapter 4

Patterns of Growth

Patterns of Growth

Individuals develop from infancy through adulthood, one of the most noticeable physical changes is that the head becomes smaller in relation to to body.

Neurons

Neurotransmitters that transfer information to other neurons

Glial Cells

Nourishes nerve cells and bridges the gap between neurons and blood

Brain Stem

Includes the cerebellum, which controls balance and coordination

Midbrain

Serves as a relay station, controls breathing and swallowing

Cerebrum

Includes right and left hemisphere

Frontal Lobe

Motor control (premotor cortex) Problem solving (prefrontal area) Speech production( Broca's area)

Temporal Lobe

Auditory Processing (hearing) Language comphrension (Wernickle area) Memory/ Information retrieval

Brainstem

involuntary

Parietal Lobe

touch perception (somatosensory cortex) Body orientation and sensory discrimination

Occipital Lobe

Sight (visual cortex) Visual reception visual interpretation

Cerebellum

Balance and Coordination

Myelination

Indicates that maturation of areas in the brain

lateralization

Left and right brain have specialized functions

Postive Emissions Topography (PET)

Measures metabolic activity; requires injection of radioactive isotope

Functional Magnetic Resonance

uses a magnet to record changes in the oxygen level

Event Related Potentials

Measures neuronal activity through electrodes

Plasticity

responsivesness of the brain to experience

Experience-expectant processes

Experiences available in normal or expected environments that all share

Experience-dependent processes

Experiences specific to the individual

Early Experience and the brain

Children in a deprived environment may have depressed brain activity

Sleep

Sleep is necessary for survival Replenishes and rebuilds brain & body

REM

Eyes flutter under closed lids Infants spend ½ of sleep in REM; most of life span Can’t know if infants dream in REM (like when older) But likely provides self-stimulation to promote brain development

Nutrition

Breast- vs. Bottle- Feeding Breastfed infants show: fewer gastrointestinal & respiratory tract infections fewer ear, throat, and sinus infections reduced infant hospitalization fewer middle ear infections lower risk of being overweight/obese lower risk of Type I and Type II diabetes lower risk of SIDS

Malnutrition

Associated with growth delay, lowered resistance to disease, lowered physical activity, and lowered cognitive performance Iron deficiency anemia Most common; negatively affects motor and mental development Of particular concern in developing countries with high HIV and other infection rates, which prevent breast feeding

Prehension

ability to use hand tools for eating , building, and exploring

Dynamic Systems Approach

Influences of nature and nurture on motor development lead to acquisitions of a particular skills

Exploration

Infants try many responses; relatively random and uncoordinated

Selection

Infant learns what works and fine tunes new motor response

Newborn Reflexes

Innate behaviors Essential to survival Absence or presence of reflex gives information about the baby's brain and nervous system development

Newborn Reflexes

Rooting Reflex- helps baby with feeding Palmar Reflex- grasping in response to pressure Moro Reflex- thrusts arms and legs outward, arches back Stepping reflex- mimics motion of walking

Locomotor movement

walking, running, jumping hopping, skipping, and climbing

Manipulative movements

Throwing, kicking, catching, striking, and dribbling

Stability movement

body control relative to gravity (bending, rolling, etc)

Gross Motor Skills

Skills that involve large- muscle activities, such as moving arms or walking

Cultural Variation in Infants’ Motor Development

When caregivers provide babies with physical guidance or give them opportunities for exercise, infants often reach motor milestones earlier

Fine Motor Skills

Involve finely tuned movements, such as finger dexterity

Infancy

Infants have hardly any control over fine motor skills at birth Infants refine their ability to grasp objects Palmer grasp – grasp with whole hand Pincer grip – grasp small objects with thumb and forefinger Vary their grip on an object depending on size, shape, texture, size of own hands

Sensation

Reaction that occurs when information interacts with sensory receptors Eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, and skin

Perception

Interpretation of what is sensed Examples: a specific color or shape or pattern

Habituation-dishabituation

Habituation-dishabituation- presenting a stimulus until there is no reaction then introducing another stimulus to elicit a reaction

Visual preference method

a method used to determine whether infants can distinguish one stimulus from another by measuring the length of time they attend to different stimuli