2. Biological Bases of Cognitive Development

Question 1

architectural constraints

Answer 1

Ways in which the architecture of the brain is organized at birth; the type and manner in which information can be processed by the brain.

Question 2

axon

Answer 2

The long fiber of a neuron that carries messages from that cell to another.

Question 3

behavioral genetics

Answer 3

The study of genetic effects on behavior and on complex psychological characteristics such as intelligence and personality.

Question 4

biologically primary abilities

Answer 4

Cognitive abilities that have been selected for in evolution and are acquired universally; children typically have high motivation to perform tasks, such as language, involving them.

Question 5

chronotopic constraints

Answer 5

Neural limitations on the developmental timing of events.

Question 6

corpus callosum

Answer 6

A thick mass of nerves that connects the right and left hemispheres of the neocortex.

Question 7

dendrites

Answer 7

The numerous fibers of a neuron that receive messages from other neurons.

Question 8

developmental cognitive neuroscience

Answer 8

The perspective that takes data from a variety of sources - molecular biology, cell biology, artificial intelligence, evolutionary theory, as well as conventional cognitive development - to create a picture of how the mind/brain develops.

Question 9

differentiation (of neurons)

Answer 9

The final stage of neuronal development, in which neurons gain in size, produce more dendrites, and extend their axons farther away from the cell body.

Question 10

epigenesis

Answer 10

The emergence of new structures and functions during the course of development.

Question 11

evolution

Answer 11

The process of change in gene frequencies in populations over many generations that in time produces new species.

Question 12

evolutionary development psychology

Answer 12

The application of the principles of modern evolutionary biology to explain human development.

Question 13

evolved probabilistic cognitive mechanisms

Answer 13

Information-processing mechanisms that have evolved to solve recurrent problems faced by ancestral populations that are expressed in a probabilistic fashion in each individual in a generation. These mechanisms are universal in that they will develop in a species-typical manner when an individual experiences a series-typical environment over the course of ontogeny.

Question 14

experience-dependent processes (or experience-dependent synaptogenesis)

Answer 14

Processes whereby synapses are formed and maintained as a result of the unique experiences of an individual; contrast with experience-expectant processes.

Question 15

experience-expectant processes (or experience-expectant synaptogenesis)

Answer 15

Processes whereby synapses are formed and maintained when an organism has species-typical experiences; as a result, functions (such as vision) will develop for all members of a species, given a species-typical environment; contrast with experience-dependent processes.

Question 16

genotype -> environment theory

Answer 16

In Scarr and McCartney’s theory, the proposal that one’s genotype (genetic constitution) influences which environments one encounters and the type of experiences one has, or that genes drive experience. Three types of genotype -> environment effects are proposed; passive, evocative, and active.

Question 17

interactive specialization

Answer 17

Models proposing that specialization and localization in the adult brain are the result of self-organizing, domain-general mechanisms operating on experience during development.

Question 18

migration (of neurons)

Answer 18

The movement of neurons to their permanent positions in the brain, most of which is completed during the prenatal period.

Question 19

myelin

Answer 19

A sheet of fatty substance that develops around the neurons to promote faster transmission of electrical signals through the nervous system.

Question 20

myelination

Answer 20

The development of myelin around neurons, which proceeds at different rates in different areas of the brain.

Question 21

natural selection

Answer 21

In Darwin’s theory of evolution, the idea that more individuals are produced in a generation that can usually survive and that variations in individuals make some members of a species more fit than others and thus more likely to survive to reproduce; according to Darwin, natural selection is the primary mechanism for evolution.

Question 22

neocortex

Answer 22

The outer layer of the brain, which gives humans their highly developed intelligence.

Question 23

neuroconstructivism

Answer 23

The view that inherited and evolved learning abilities interact with a structured environment to produce species-typical patterns of cognitive growth.

Question 24

neuroimaging techniques

Answer 24

New technologies that permit imaging of brain activities, including high-density event-related potentials, positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Question 25

neuron

Answer 25

Nervous system cell through which electrical and chemical signals are transmitted.

Question 26

neurotransmitters

Answer 26

Chemicals in synapses that serve to transmit electrical impulses between neurons.

Question 27

plasticity

Answer 27

The extent to which behavior or brain functioning can be changed.

Question 28

proliferation (of neurons; neurogenesis)

Answer 28

The process of nerve-cell division by mitosis.

Question 29

representational constraints

Answer 29

Representations that are hard-wired into the brain so that some types of knowledge are innate.

Question 30

selective cell death (or apoptosis)

Answer 30

Early developmental process in which neurons that are not activated by sensory and motor experience die.

Question 31

sensitive period

Answer 31

The time in development (usually early in life) when a certain skill or ability is most easily acquired.

Question 32

synapse

Answer 32

The tiny space between the dendrite of one neuron and the axon of another through which chemical messages are passed.

Question 33

synaptogenesis

Answer 33

The process of synapse formation.