Chapter 4 - The Newborn And Brain Development Flashcards
Neurons
Cells specialized in receiving information
Glial cells
Repair neurons are like glue
Cell body
Contains basic biological machinery that keeps the cell alive
Dendrite
Receiving end of the neuron
Axon
Sends information from receiving end to transmitting end
Synapse
A gap between two neurons
Myelin
Fat surrounding axon(allows transmission to happen more rapid)
Cerebral Cortex
Consists of 10 billion neurons, regulates many of our “human“ functions, divided into left and right hemispheres
Corpus Callosum
A bundle of million of axons that link the right and left hemisphere
Frontal Lobe
Behavior, learning, personality, and voluntary movement
Prefrontal Cortex
“Executive” planning, reasoning
Parietal Lobe
Spatial, integrates across the senses and with memory
Occipital Lobe
Visual information
Temporal Lobe
Memory, visual, recognition, emotion, auditory, information and speech recognition
Five stages of development
Neurogenesis, migration, Synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, myelination
Neurogenesis
Cell production
Most neurons are created prenatally
Starts at 10 weeks post conception and mostly completed by 28 weeks
Cell production 3000 per second
Migration
Neurons move from the neural tube to their final position in the brain
Synaptogenesis
Neurons form connections with other neurons
One neuron makes up to thousand synapses with other neurons
Will occur throughout life time
Exuberant Synaptogenesis
Is an explosion of synapse formation
Synaptic pruning
Rarely used synapses are eliminated “use it or lose it”
The goal is to make room for more and new connections
Myelination
Formation of the fatty sheath around the axon
Sheath creates by glial cells
Starts in the 4th month
Multiple sclerosis: myelin damage
Brain Specialization
Different areas of the brain are responsible for different psychological functions
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Measures brains electrical activity from electrodes placed on scalp
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)
Uses magnetic fields to track blood flow in the brain
Plasticity
The extent to which brain organization is flexible and shaped by experience
Two ways that experience can shape specialization: experience – expected growth, experience – dependent growth
Experience- expectant
Process through which typical brain wiring occurs because of the typical human environment
Brain “expects“ certain experiences, it is primed to activate particular synapses
Critical/sensitive periods
Brain is especially sensitive to particular input if input isn’t available development is less likely to be typical
Experience – dependent
Process through which individual’s experiences lead to creation and re-organization of neural connections
