Chapter 11

Question 1

What is the nature-nurture debate?

Answer 1

The extent to which behaviour and cognition are attributable to genes or environment

Question 2

What is phylogenetic development?

Answer 2

The development of the species over an evolutionary timescale

Question 3

What is ontogenetic development?

Answer 3

The development of an individual from conception to death

Question 4

What are behavioural genetics?

Answer 4

a field concerned with studying the inheritance of behaviour and cognition.

Question 5

what are MZ twins (monozygotic)?

Answer 5

genetically identical twins are caused when a fertilized egg splits in two

Question 6

what are DZ twins (dizygotic)?

Answer 6

Twins who share half of their genes, caused when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm.

Question 7

what is heritability?

Answer 7

The proportion of variance in a trait, in a given population, that can be accounted for by genetic differences amongst individuals.

Question 8

what is an unshared environment?

Answer 8

Non-shared environment is a subtype of environmental influences that refers to the environmental factors that produce behavioral differences among siblings living in the same household and is unique to a given individual

peer relationships, school experiences

Question 9

what is a shared environment?

Answer 9

Shared Environment refers to the environmental factors that are common among family members, contributing to similarities in behavior or traits within a family unit.

Question 10

what is a Neural tube?

Answer 10

a set of cells arranged in a hollow cylinder in an embryo from which the nervous system derives

Question 11

How does a socially enriched environment affect brain development?

Answer 11

A socially enriched environment can influence the growth or decline of brain cells and pathways, impacting both structural and functional brain development

Question 12

What are the classic methods used in behavioural genetics to study nature and nurture?

Answer 12

Twin studies and adoption studies

Question 13

What are gene X environment interactions (G × E)?

Answer 13

Gene X environment interactions (G × E) refer to the way specific environmental factors can influence the effect of a person’s genes on their traits or behaviours, and vice versa.

Question 14

What are gene-environment correlations (rGE)?

Answer 14

Gene-environment correlations (rGE) refer to the idea that a person’s genetic makeup can influence the types of environments they encounter, and vice versa.

Question 15

what is epigenetic?

Answer 15

shows how environmental influences—children’s experiences—actually affect the expression of their genes

Question 16

How does face processing change during childhood?

Answer 16

The face processing system becomes more specialized, with less spatial activation in regions like the fusiform face area (FFA) compared to adults.

Question 17

What are the abbreviations OFA and STS in the context of face processing?

Answer 17

OFA = Occipital Face Area; STS = Superior Temporal Sulcus

Question 18

At what age does a specific kind of behaviour related to emotional response begin to emerge?

Answer 18

Around 12 months, but it continues to mature afterward.

Question 19

Motor mimicry

Answer 19

Automatic copying of another person’s actions or expressions, often seen from birth. It helps in social bonding and empathy without requiring understanding of goals or intentions.

Question 20

Goal-based imitation

Answer 20

Imitating someone’s actions based on understanding the goal or intention behind the behavior, emerging after the first year of life.

Question 20

Emotion contagion in infants

Answer 20

Newborns are likely to cry in response to another infant’s cries, reflecting automatic emotional mimicry and helping infants learn that others are like themselves.

Question 21

Like me hypothesis

Answer 21

the idea that infants use motor mimicry to understand that other people are like them, leading to the development of empathy and mentalizing

Question 22

Protodeclarative pointing

Answer 22

A gesture by infants, emerging around 12–13 months, meaning “look at that!” It suggests infants understand that seeing leads to knowing, indicating early development of shared attention

Question 23

Motherese (infant-directed speech)

Answer 23

A form of speech used by adults when speaking to infants, characterized by higher pitch, more pitch variability, slower tempo, and elongated vowels. Infants prefer this type of speech.

Question 24

Triadic interaction in language learning

Answer 24

Refers to the interaction between infant, speaker, and object during language learning, which is crucial for phoneme discrimination and is best facilitated by face-to-face communication.