Chapter 3 Flashcards
Rhythms
repetitive, cyclical patterns of behavior
- some immediately obvious
- some more subtle
State
one of the body rhythms is an infants state, the degree of awareness to both internal and external stimulation
- major body rhythm
- degree of awareness to external and internal stimulation
Affordances
The option that a given situation or stimulus provides
Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAs)
a measure designed to determine infants neurological and behavioral responses to their environment
Cerebral Cortex
the upper layer of the brain
Handedness
the preference of using one hand over the other
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep
the period of sleep that is found in older children and adults and is associated with dreaming
Puberty
the period of maturation during which the sexual organs mature
Primary Sex Characteristics
characteristics associated with the development of the organs and structures of the body that directly relate to reproduction
Secondary Sex Characteristics
The visible signs of sexual maturity that do not directly involve the sex organs
Menarche
the onset of menstruation
Senescence
the natural physical decline brought about by increasing age
Primary Aging
aging that involves universal and irreversible changes that, due to genetic programming occur as people get older
Secondary Aging
Changes in physical and cognitive functioning that are due to illness, health habits, and other individual differences, but that are not due to increased age itself and are not inevitable
Osteoporosis
a condition in which the bones become brittle, fragile, and thin, often brought about by a lack of calcium in the diet
Gerontologist
Specialists who study aging
Synaptic Pruning
the elimination of neurons as the result of nonuse or lack of simulation
Myelin
protective insulation that surrounds parts of neurons, increasing the speed of transmission of electrical impulses along the brain cells
Cerebral Cortex
the upper layer of the brain
Plasticity
the degree to which developing structure or behavior is modifiable due to experiences
Sensitive Period
a point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences
Lateralization
the process in which certain cognitive functions are located more in one hemisphere on the brain than in the other
Reflexes
unlearned, organized involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli
Norms
the average performance of a larger sample of children of a given age
Sensation
the physical stimulation of the sense organs
Perception
The sorting out, interpretation, analysis, and integration of stimuli involving the sense organs and brain
Multimodal Approach to Perception
the approach that considers how information that is collected by various individual sensory systems is integrated and coordinated
Visual Impairment
a special need that involves significant loss of sight