Developmental Psyc Flashcards
What was the hypothesis of the new born study?
Certain cognitive behaviours appear to early to be learned
What did the new born study find?
Babies from birth-5 days old prefer to look at face-like patterns than scrambled/blank
What is the concordance rate in twin studies used to show?
If monozygotic have more similar characteristics than dizygotic, genes must have a role
How do adoption studies show genes vs. environment
- Traits more similar to biological parents = genetic
- Traits more similar to adoptive parents = environmental
What monogenetic disease shows combination of genes + environment? How?
PKU - disease is affected by diet, worse if not treated (w/ protein supplements). Thus genes + environment
What does the mice in running wheels selective breeding study show? What is the inference to humans?
Activity level has a genetic component (polygenetic)
ADHD
What does the Cooper & Zubek (1958) study show?
Intelligence in rats has a genetic component (polygenetic)
What can we conclude from the selective breeding studies?
Genetic potential is inherited. Environment shapes potential, where we end up
Monozygotic twins have high correlated intelligence levels. Genes or environment?
Genes
Monozygotic twins raised together have higher correlated intelligence levels. Genes or environment?
Environment
What shows that schizophrenia has a genetic component?
Risk of being diagnosed increases the more closely a relative with schizophrenia is related to you. 46% risk if monozygotic twin has it
What shows that schizophrenia has an environmental component?
Only 46% risk if monozygotic twin has it - would be 100% if entirely genetic
What is a teratogen?
An agent that causes significant disruption to normal development, can lead to abnormalities or death
What is a critical period?
A time in which if something is present/happens, it will have a negative and irreversible effect on development
What is the critical period for thalidomide?
Days 24-49
What is the critical period for alcohol?
Weeks 10-birth
In Konrad’s study, what is the critical period for imprinting?
13-16 hours after hatching
After imprinting, what response does seeing a human being elicit in the geese?
Fixed action pattern
What did Henry Harlows monkeys do after being isolated?
Blank staring, repetitive circling, self mutilation
The monkeys outcomes got worse as their time in iso increased. This is an example of…
A dose dependent relationship
Cognitive behaviour in monkeys is affected by isolation. True or false?
False
It takes longer to rehabilitate monkeys who were in iso for longer. This suggests…
A sensitive period for social development in monkeys
What can Oxana Malaya’s rehab be attributed to?
A sensitive period for social behaviour
Describe Skeel’s study
Orphans fostered to intellectually disabled women = primary care giver
What did Skeel’s study find? What does this show?
IQ increased when given a primary care giver. Shows intervention is the best treatment, interaction with parent/pcv needed for normal development
Describe Dennis’ (1973) study
Children adopted from Lebanese creche, had almost no social interaction
What was the outcome of Dennis’ study?
IQ better if adopted before 2 y/o than after
What does Dennis’ study suggest? (2)
- earlier intervention is better
- sensitive period for normal brain development
Describe the distribution of victims of child abuse
Rate of child abuse increases as age decreases (most abuse in babies <1)
Who is typically the perpetrator in child abuse?
The parent
What proportion of child abuse deaths does SBS account for?
~0.5
What proportion of SBS victims are left permanently disabled?
1/3
What factors affect the likelihood of nicotine leading to cannabis use?
- learning
- risk assesment
- social factors
• peer pressure
• norms
• glamour
What increases the likelihood of illicit drug use in regards to cannabis use?
- the more frequent cannabis is used
- the earlier it was used
What genetic trait influences cannabis use?
Risk taking behaviour
What can risk taking behaviour be attributed to?
Gene on chromosome 11 that causes decrease in dopamine receptors. Risk takers have to do more to get the same feeling
What do twin studies demonstrate about cannabis?
As use increases, so does the genetic attribution
What are 3 risk factors of SIDS
Bed sharing
parent smokers
Baby sleeps on front
What neurochemical does normal childbirth stimulate?
Oxytocin
What response do C section mothers demonstrate
Less brain activity for processing, empathy, arousal, motivation and reward when hearing own babies cry vs other babies compared to vaginal delivery mothers
What is this increased in brain activity in vaginal delivery mothers also associated with?
Greater postnatal depression
Who was Noam Chomsky (broadly) and what did he believe re: language learning
He was a nativist and believed that some aspects of language (e.g. grammar) were innate
what did behaviouralists believe re language learning? Why is this flawed?
Parents punish and reward for incorrect/correct syntax and this shapes grammar, but this doesn’t actually happen
Now, what do people believe is the mechanism for early language learning
Statistical learning
What did the Teinonen et al. study find?
Learning of speech stream was effortless/occurs automatically (when sleeping)
What were the results from the Baldwin et al study?
Children will look longer at the video paused mid sequence
What does the Baldwin et al study show about how infants learn?
Infants first learn to predict patterns in behaviour, then understand later that there are mental states behind our behaviour
What symptoms are characteristic of SLI?
Small vocab, short sentences, word finding problems
Did kids with SLI have more trouble with linguistic (syllables) or non-linguistic stimuli (tones) in the Evans et al study?
Trick question - they had trouble with both
What do the results of the Evans et al study suggest?
Kids with SLI have general difficulties with statistical learning
What are 3 conclusions that can be drawn from the Evans et al study
- typically developing kids are good with learning pattens in syllables and tones
- kids with SLI struggle with learning these patterns
.: language learning relies on stat learning
What are 3 deficits in kids with autism?
social interaction, communication and imaginative ability
Describe brain activity in kids with and without autism when listening to non-random vs random syllables
No autism: increase in brain activity for non-random compared with random
Have autism: no change in brain activity between random and non-random
How can the difference in brain activity towards non-random syllables help account for autistic behaviours? What does this show?
Kids with autism don’t learn the pattern, which may help explain decreased language ability and different social behaviours. This shows that stat learning is central to language and behaviour
