Ch 10 Flashcards
Cross sectional designs
Study people at diff ages at same point in time
Advantage = inexpensive and fast
Disadvantage =
- Different age groups are not necessarily much alike
- Differences may be due to cohort differences (historical time) rather than age
Longitudinal designs
Study the same group of people over time
Advantage =
-Detailed information about subjects
- Developmental changes can be studied in detail
- Eliminates cohort differences
Disadvantage =
- Expensive and time consuming
- Potential for high attrition (people dropping out of the study)
What are cohort effects
differences between people that result from being born in different time periods.
For example, if you find differences between people born in the 2000s with those born in the 1970s, this may reflect any number of differences between people from those time periods —
= (such as differences in technological advances, parenting norms, cultural changes)
Zygote
Formed when nuclei of egg + sperm fuse together
Germinal stage (cells + fetus formation)
the first phase of prenatal development, which spans from conception to two weeks.
- Shortly after it forms, the zygote begins dividing, first into two cells, then four, then eight, and so on.
- The zygote also travels down the fallopian tubes toward the uterus and implanted
- The ball of cells, now called a blastocyst, splits into two groups.
Inner = fetus
Outer = placenta (oxygen, nutrients, waste)
Embryonic stage (organs start to develop)
spans weeks two through eight, during which time the embryo begins developing major physical structures
= such as the heart and nervous system, as well as the beginnings of arms, legs, hands, and feet.
Fetal stage (structures grow & function)
spans week eight through birth, during which time the skeletal, organ, and nervous systems become more developed and specialized.
=Muscles develop and the fetus begins to move.
=Sleeping and waking cycles start and the senses become fine-tuned
Teratogens
substances, such as drugs or environmental toxins, that impair the process of development
= affect fetal development
Ex: thalidomide
Thalidomide and its physical symptom
a sedative that was hailed as a wonder drug for morning sickness during pregnancy (blind and deaf)
- its most well known effect is phocomelia (impaired physical development)
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder meaning
consist of abnormalities in mental functioning, growth, and physical development in the offspring of women who use alcohol during pregnancy.
Relationship b/w parental smoking and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
Babies born to mothers who smoke are twice as likely to have low birth weight and have a 30% chance of premature birth—
- both factors that increase the newborn’s risk of illness or death
= increased risk for problems with emotional development and impulse control
2 cognitive symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome
Poor coordination or balance.
Intellectual disability, learning disorders and delayed development.
Poor memory.
Can newborns recognize mom and dads voice
YESS
Mother = babies remember their voice just before 8 months of prenatal development (hearing and remembering sounds from outside womb ; Cat in the Hat)
Father = babies dont prefer their voice until 4 months
Order the 3 abilities from earliest to latest to develop
= color perception
= object recognition
= depth perception
- Object
- Color
- Depth
Visual cliff experiment
Meaning: test development of depth perception for babies
to investigate the development of depth perception in nonverbal human infants and in nonhuman animals
= babies with little experience in crawling showed fear in crawling the deeper end
3 reflexes found in most infants
1) rooting reflex (sucking/ feeding w/ mouth)
2) moro reflex (startle reflex) = when mom lose head balance of baby
3) grasping reflex = holding on to fingers of caregivers
3) stepping reflex = feeling pressure on their feet
Reflex meaning
involuntary muscular reactions to specific types of stimulation.
Synaptogenesis
the forming of new synaptic connections, which occurs at blinding speed through infancy and childhood and continues through the lifespan
What is synaptic pruning and why is it important
the loss of weak nerve cell connections, accelerates during brain development through infancy and childhood, hen tapers off until adolescence
The brain becomes more efficient by getting read of synapses that are no longer in use
Why is synaptic pruning and synaptogenesis important
increase neural efficiency by strengthening needed connections between nerve cells and weeding out unnecessary ones.
What is sensitive period development? Provide an example of how it can influence our cognitive abilities
is a window of time during which exposure to a specific type of environmental stimulation is needed for normal development of a specific ability.
Example: to learn language is to be exposed to speech
Cognitive development meaning
the study of changes in memory, thought, and reasoning processes that occur throughout the lifespan.
