Chapter 5

Question 1

head-sparing

Answer 1

• A biological mechanism that protects the brain when malnutrition affects body growth
• The brain is the last part of the body to be damaged by malnutrition.

Question 2

percentile

Answer 2

• a point on a ranking scale of 0 to 100
• the 50th percentile is the midpoint—half of the people in the population being studied rank higher and half rank lower

Question 3

REM sleep

Answer 3

• rapid eye movement sleep
• a stage of sleep characterized by flickering eyes behind closed lids, dreaming, and rapid brian waves

Question 4

co-sleeping

Answer 4

-a custom in which parents and their children (usually infants) sleep together in the same room

Question 5

neurons

Answer 5

-the billions of nerve cells in the central nervous system, especially the brain

Question 6

cortex

Answer 6

• the outer layers of the brain in humans and other mammals
• most feeling, thinking, and sensing involve the use of this part of the brain

Question 7

prefrontal cortex

Answer 7

-the front of the brain that specializes in anticipation, planning, and impulse control

Question 8

axon

Answer 8

a fiber that extends from a neuron and transmits electrochemical impulses from that neuron to the dendrites of other neurons

Question 9

dendrite

Answer 9

-a fiber that extends from a neuorn and receives electrochemical impulses transmitted from other neurons via their axons

Question 10

synapse

Answer 10

-the intersection between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of other neurons

Question 11

transient exuberance

Answer 11

-the great but temporary increase in the number of dendrites that develop in an infant’s brain during the first two years of life

Question 12

pruning

Answer 12

-when applied to brain development, the process by which unused connections in the brain atrophy and die

Question 13

experience-expectant brain functions

Answer 13

-brain functions that require certain basic common experiences (which an infant can be expected to have) in order to develop normally

Question 14

experience-dependent brain functions

Answer 14

-brain functions that depend on particular, variable experiences and that therefore, may or may not develop in a particular infant

Question 15

shaken baby syndrome

Answer 15

-a life-threatening injury that occurs when an infant is forcefully shaken back and forth, a motion that rupture blood vessels in the brain and breaks neural connections

Question 16

self-righting

Answer 16

• the inborn drive to remedy a developmental deficit
• literally: to return to sitting or standing upright, after being tipped over
• people of all ages have these impulses, for emotional as well as physical imbalance

Question 17

sensation

Answer 17

-the response of a sensory system (eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose) when it detects a stimulus

Question 18

perception

Answer 18

-the mental processing of sensory information when the brain interprets a sensation and occurs in the cortex

Question 19

binocular vision

Answer 19

• the ability to focus the two eyes in a coordinated manner in order to see one image
• ability is absent at birth

Question 20

motor skills

Answer 20

• the learned ablities to move some part of the body, in actions ranging from a large leap to a flicker of the eyelid
• motor refers to the movement of muscles

Question 21

gross motor skills

Answer 21

• physical abilities involving large body movements, such as walking and jumping
• big movements

Question 22

fine motor skills

Answer 22

• physical abilites involving small body movements, especially of the hands and fingers, such as drawing and picking up a coin
• small movements

Question 23

immunization

Answer 23

• the process of protecting a person against a disease, via antibodies
• can happen naturally when someone survives a disease; or medically via a small dose of the virus that stimulates the production of antibodies and thus renders a person immune
• aka vaccination

Question 24

protein-calorie malnutrition

Answer 24

• a condition in which a person does not consume sufficient food of any kind
• this deprivation can result in several illnesses, severe weight loss, and even death

Question 25

stunting

Answer 25

-the failure of children to grow to a normal height for their age due to severe and chronic malnutrition

Question 26

wasting

Answer 26

-the tendency for children to be severely underweight for their age as a result of malnutrition

Question 27

marasmus

Answer 27

-a disease of severe protein-calorie malnutrition during early infancy, in which growth stops, body tissues waste away, and the infant eventually dies

Question 28

kwashiorkor

Answer 28

-a disease of chronic malnutrition during childhood, in which a protein deficiency makes the child more vulnerable to other diseases, such as measles, diarrhea, and influenza