Chapter 4: Physical Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Flashcards
Cephalocaudal trend
“head to tail”, head develops more rapidly than lower part of body during prenatal period
Proximodistal trend
Growth proceeds from center of body outward
Neuron
Brain cell, store and transmit info
Synapses
Gaps between neurons, neurotransmitters pass through to transmit message
Neurotransmitters
chemicals that cross the synapse to send messages
Programmed cell death
As synapses form, surrounding unused neurons die
Synaptic pruning
Neurons seldom stimulated lose their synapses and return unneeded neurons to an uncommitted state so they can support further development
Glial cells
1/2 brains volume, responsible for myelination
Myelin
Fatty sheath that coats neural fibers to transmit messages faster
Cerebral cortex
Surrounds the rest of the brain, 85% of brain’s weight, greatest number of neurons and synapses
Prefrontal cortex
lies in front of areas controlling movement, responsible for thought (consciousness, inhibition of impulses, integration of info, use of memory, reasoning, planning and problem solving)
Laterialization
Specialization of two hemispheres (Left: logical, positive emotions, language development, Right: Spacial, creative, negative emotions)
Experience-expectant brain growth
Depends on ordinary experiences
Experience-dependent brain growth
Consists of additional refinement of existing brain structures as a result of specific learning (ex: playing the violin)
Marasmus:
Wasted condition of the body caused by low diet and no essential nutrients
Kwashiorkor
Unbalanced diet (not enough protein) 1-3 years, bloated stomach and limbs, hair loss, skin rash, irritable behavior
Classical conditioning
A neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response, the nervous system makes connection between the two stimuli and the neutral stimulus now produces the response itself (1. UCS–> UCR 2. Neutral stimulus presented 3. CS–> CR)
Operant conditioning
Infants act on the environment and stimuli that follow their behavior change the probability that behavior will occur again
Reinforcer
stimulus that increases the occurrence of a response
Punishment
decreases occurrence of response
Habituation
Gradual reduction in strength of response due to repetitive stimulation
Recovery
a new stimulus that causes responsiveness to return to a high level
Imitation
copying behavior
Mirror neurons
specialized cells in motor areas of cerebral cortex in primates that fire identically when a primate hears/sees an action and when it carries out the action of its own
Dynamic systems theory of motor development
Mastery of motor skills involves acquiring increasingly complex systems of action, separate abilities blend together to produce more effective ways of exploring and controlling the environment
Statistical learning capacity
Babies analyze the speech stream for patterns and acquire a stock of speech structures for which they will later` learn meanings
Perceptual narrowing effect
Perceptual sensitivity becomes increasingly attuned with age to info most often encountered
Intermodal perception
Make sense of running streams of light, sound, tactile, odor and taste information perceiving them as integrated wholes
Differentiation theory
Infants actively search for invariant features of the environment in a constantly changing perceptual world
Invariant features
Environmental factors that stay the same
Motor development norms
Crawling- 7 mo, stand alone- 11 mo, walking- 11 mo 3 wk
