Ch. 3

Question 1

Norm

Answer 1

An average calculated from many individuals within a specific group or population

Question 2

Percentile

Answer 2

A point on a ranking scale of 0 to 100

Question 3

REM sleep

Answer 3

Flickering eyes behind closed lids; dreaming

Question 4

Head-sparing

Answer 4

A biological mechanism that protects the brain when malnutrition disrupts body growth

Question 5

Neurons

Answer 5

Nerve cells in the central nervous system

Question 6

Cortex

Answer 6

The outer layers of the brain in humans and other mammals

Question 7

Pre-frontal cortex

Answer 7

The area of the cortex at the very front of the brain that specializes in anticipation, planning and impulse control

Question 8

Axons

Answer 8

Fibers that extend from neurons and transmit electrochemical impulses from that neuron to the dendrites of other neurons

Question 9

Dendrites

Answer 9

Fibers that extend from neurons and receive electrochemical impulses transmitted from other neurons via their axons

Question 10

Synapses

Answer 10

The intersection between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of other neurons

Question 11

Neurotransmitters

Answer 11

Brain chemicals that carry information from the axon of a sending neuron to the dendrites of a receiving neuron

Question 12

Transient exuberance

Answer 12

The increase in the number of dendrites that develop in an infant’s brain during the first two years of life

Question 13

Pruning

Answer 13

Unused connections in the brain atrophy and die

Question 14

Experience expectant

Answer 14

Brain functions that require certain basic common experiences in order to develop normally

Question 15

Experience dependent

Answer 15

Brain functions that depend on variable experiences that may or may not develop in a particular person

Question 16

Shaken baby syndrome

Answer 16

When an infant is forcefully shaken back-and-forth

Question 17

Sensation

Answer 17

The response of a sensory system when it detects a stimulus

Question 18

Perception

Answer 18

The mental processing of sensory information when the brain interprets a sensation

Question 19

Binocular vision

Answer 19

The ability to focus both eyes

Question 20

Motor skills

Answer 20

The learned ability to move some part of the body

Question 21

Gross motor skills

Answer 21

Physical abilities involving large body movements

Question 22

Fine motor skills

Answer 22

Physical abilities involving small body movements

Question 23

Sudden infant death

Answer 23

An infants unexpected, sudden death

Question 24

Immunization

Answer 24

Getting a shot - you know this means

Question 25

Protein calorie malnutrition

Answer 25

A condition in which a person does not consume sufficient food

Question 26

Stunting

Answer 26

The failure of children to grow to a normal height for their age

Question 27

Wasting

Answer 27

The tendency for children to be severely underweight for their age

Question 28

Marasmus

Answer 28

A disease of severe protein calorie malnutrition during early infancy in which growth stops, body tissues waste away and the infant eventually dies

Question 29

Kwashiorkor

Answer 29

A disease of chronic malnutrition in which a protein calorie deficiency makes a child more vulnerable to other diseases

Question 30

Sensorimotor intelligence

Answer 30

Piaget’s term for the way infants think during the first period of cognitive development

Question 31

Object permanence

Answer 31

The realization that objects still exist even if they can no longer be seen, touched or heard

Question 32

Little scientist

Answer 32

The stage-five toddler who experiments without imagining the consequences

Question 33

Deferred imitation

Answer 33

A sequence in which an infant first perceives something done by someone else and then performs the same action hours or even days later

Question 34

Information processing theory

Answer 34

A perspective that compares human thinking processes to computer analysis of data

Question 35

Child directed speech

Answer 35

The high-pitched simplified and repetitive way adults speak to infants

Question 36

Babbling

Answer 36

Repetition of certain syllables

Question 37

Holophrase

Answer 37

A single word that is used to express a complete, meaningful thought

Question 38

Naming explosion

Answer 38

A sudden increase in an infant’s vocabulary

Question 39

Grammar

Answer 39

All the methods that languages use to communicate meaning

Question 40

Mean length of utterance

Answer 40

The average number of meaningful sound combination in a typical sentence

Question 41

Language acquisition

Answer 41

Chomsky’s term for a hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language