Chapter 11 Flashcards
What is the nature-nurture debate?
The extent to which behaviour and cognition are attributable to genes or environment
What is phylogenetic development?
The development of the species over an evolutionary timescale
What is ontogenetic development?
The development of an individual from conception to death
What are behavioural genetics?
a field concerned with studying the inheritance of behaviour and cognition.
what are MZ twins (monozygotic)?
genetically identical twins are caused when a fertilized egg splits in two
what are DZ twins (dizygotic)?
Twins who share half of their genes, caused when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm.
what is heritability?
The proportion of variance in a trait, in a given population, that can be accounted for by genetic differences amongst individuals.
what is an unshared environment?
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
what is a shared environment?
Shared Environment refers to the environmental factors that are common among family members, contributing to similarities in behavior or traits within a family unit.
what is a Neural tube?
a set of cells arranged in a hollow cylinder in an embryo from which the nervous system derives
How does a socially enriched environment affect brain development?
A socially enriched environment can influence the growth or decline of brain cells and pathways, impacting both structural and functional brain development
What are the classic methods used in behavioural genetics to study nature and nurture?
Twin studies and adoption studies
What are gene X environment interactions (G × E)?
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.
What are gene-environment correlations (rGE)?
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.
what is epigenetic?
shows how environmental influences—children’s experiences—actually affect the expression of their genes
How does face processing change during childhood?
The face processing system becomes more specialized, with less spatial activation in regions like the fusiform face area (FFA) compared to adults.
What are the abbreviations OFA and STS in the context of face processing?
OFA = Occipital Face Area; STS = Superior Temporal Sulcus
At what age does a specific kind of behaviour related to emotional response begin to emerge?
Around 12 months, but it continues to mature afterward.
Motor mimicry
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.
Goal-based imitation
Imitating someone’s actions based on understanding the goal or intention behind the behavior, emerging after the first year of life.
Emotion contagion in infants
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.
Like me hypothesis
the idea that infants use motor mimicry to understand that other people are like them, leading to the development of empathy and mentalizing
Protodeclarative pointing
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
Motherese (infant-directed speech)
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.
Triadic interaction in language learning
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.
