Chapter 4: Physical and Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Question 1

first years of life are characterized by far-reaching changes

Answer 1

• size
• language
• brain structure
• adaptability
• flexibility

Question 2

during infant and toddler years

Answer 2

• growth is more rapid and health is more fragile
• genes play a long-term role but are less influential in size during this time

Question 3

breastfeeding for infants

Answer 3

• ideal food until about six months

Question 4

disease and mortality in infants

Answer 4

• get sick often
• worldwide, nearly 4 out of 100 die before age 5

Question 5

inadequate sleep for babies is related to

Answer 5

irritability and poorer health

Question 6

experiment-expectant

Answer 6

development relies on nearly universal environmental inputs

Question 7

experiment-dependent

Answer 7

development relies on quantity or quality of environmental input

Question 8

fine motor skills

Answer 8

small

Question 9

gross motor skills

Answer 9

big

Question 10

cephalocaudal pattern

Answer 10

development sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top head, physical growth and differentiation of features gradually working their way down from top to bottom

Question 11

proximodistal pattern

Answer 11

control of movement begins in the core and expands outward

Question 12

Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development

Answer 12

Young infants’ early cognitive activity is a combination of their senses and motor activities

Question 13

children’s thinking develops in 6 distinct stages

Answer 13

1- reflexes
2- primary circular reactions
3- secondary circular reaction
4- coordination of secondary reactions
5- tertiary circular reactions
6- mental combinations

Question 14

schemes

Answer 14

actions or mental representations that organize knowledge:
- behavioral scheme
- mental scheme

Question 15

assimilation

Answer 15

using existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences

Question 16

accomodation

Answer 16

adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences

Question 17

primary circular reactions

Answer 17

adaption of reflexes

Question 18

secondary circular reactions

Answer 18

making fun last

Question 19

coordination od secondary reactions

Answer 19

making a plan for action; object permanence

Question 20

tertiary circular reactions

Answer 20

little scientists running experiments

Question 21

mental combinations

Answer 21

thinking before doing; mental representation

Question 22

sensorimotor period

Answer 22

• birth to 2 years of age
• infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experience and developing motor abilities

Question 23

development of object permanence

Answer 23

understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched

Question 24

simple reflexes

Answer 24

coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors

Question 25

first habits and primary circular reactions

Answer 25

coordination of sensation and two types of schemes: habits and primary circular reaction; main focus is still on the infant’s body

Question 26

secondary circular reactions

Answer 26

infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-preoccupation: repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results

Question 27

coordination of secondary circular reactions

Answer 27

coordination of vision and touch- hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemes and intentionally

Question 28

tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity

Answer 28

infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things that can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behavior

Question 29

internalization of schemes

Answer 29

infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations

Question 30

nativist approach

Answer 30

babies are born with a wide range of innate knowledge about how the world works

Question 31

habituation

Answer 31

a basic form of learning in which you become bored with something if you experience it repeatedly

Question 32

implicit memory

Answer 32

memory of new skills and processes and ability to habituate

Question 33

explicit memory

Answer 33

memory of names, dates, and details

Question 34

fast-mapping

Answer 34

a child’s ability to quickly learn new words

Question 35

overextension

Answer 35

an error in which a child assumes that a specific term relates to a larger category

Question 36

underextension

Answer 36

an error in which a child insists that a word only applies to a specific member of the group, rather than the whole group itself

Question 37

IDF

Answer 37

infant-directed speech- adults use of high-pitched, sing-songy tones and simple sentences when they talk to infants

Question 38

universal grammar

Answer 38

a childs inborn ability to recognize and use grammar

Question 39

emergentists (constructivists)

Answer 39

language is another skill that emerges as the human brain develops to think and relate to others

Question 40

behaviorism and social learning theory

Answer 40

children observe and imitate language models around them; conditioning and imitation

Question 41

synaptogenesis

Answer 41

the process of creating new synapses between neurons, which begins before birth and continues throughout the lifespan

Question 42

experience-expectant brain development

Answer 42

brain maturation that relies on nearly universal environmental inputs

Question 43

experience-dependent brain development

Answer 43

brain maturation that relies on the quantity of environmental; includes features that are “nice to have” but not required

Question 44

preferential looking

Answer 44

a procedure that measures what babies perceive in which researchers harness babies’ intrinsic interest in new things

Question 45

perceptual narrowing

Answer 45

the process by which infants become less sensitive to sensory input as they grow and begin to specialize in the sights and sounds to which they are exposed more often