Exam 1 Flashcards
explain why correlation does not cause causation.
Doesn’t address directionality of relationship… this relationship could be due to a third variable.
(example: amount of time child spends reading is correlated with scholastic reading achievement.)
1. kids who are naturally better at reading are more likely to spend time reading
2. in homes with fewer resources, kids are less likely to have as many books and reading oppertunities.
how do we determine causality, and what makes a “true experiment”.
- Random assignment to different conditions
2. Control over what is experienced.
Which variable is manipulated?
independent variable.
what variable is measured?
Dependent Variable.
Explain dependant and independant variables and how they work
The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called dependent because it “depends” on the independent variable. In a scientific experiment, you cannot have a dependent variable without an independent variable.
Explain reliability. and give the two types of reliability.
the degree to which a given measure is consistent with each measurement.
- interrater reliability
- Test-Retest Reliability
explain Validity and give the two types of Validity.
the degree to which a given measure is capturing the construct it is proposed to be measuring.
- Internal Validity
- External Validity
You can’t have _____ without ____ but you can have ____ without ______
Validity without reliability… reliability without Validity.
what does interrater reliability refer to?
refers to the fact that a researcher is observing ones behavior and the degree of reliability is how much the aspect of being observed is affecting the results
what is Test-retest reliability?
sometimes children are not giving you the right answers buby getting consistant answers in different way i.e. asking questions in different ways, that gives you test re-test reliability.
explain internal Validity:
weather or not the aspect of being in a lab is affecting the results i.e. a bunch of families are in the same experiment in the same lab and they all become close and proceed to get close to eachother and that could possibly be changing their behaviour and therefore changing the results.
explain external validity
lets say you are conducting an experiment in someones household, are they changing their behaviours because you are in their house? i.e. they could be embarressed by their normal behaviour and changing them like cleaning the house and having the kids behave better arround the researcher.
what is a cross sectional design?
compare children from different age groups on the same measure.
its not the greatest sometimes because sometimes the validity goes to shit (some things that matter to a 3 year old might not matter to a 16 year old) it doesnt allow us to track individual differnces over time
what is a longitudinal design?
getting a measure from the same group of children over time… it addresses how individual differences change through a lifespan…. although it difficult to follow the same group of children over time
explain a microgenetic design.
when you study a developing process at the age it is proposed to change… kinda like longitudinal design but shorter period between measures…. allows for anylizing individual differences in change
What does High amplitude sucking help to measure? why is it useful?
helps measure the babies intrest to a certian stimuli. higher sucking rate seems to show that the baby is more interested in something… pacifier connected to a computer. measures the change in air pressure by sucking
what happens when a baby habituates to a stimulus?
sucking rate goes down, and when noticing a chage it goes back up
what kind of things can preferential looking help us study in children?
eye and vision developement.
how long does it take children to have almost adult like vision i.e. the ability to keep fixated on things like faces?
by nine months
what is head turn measure?
basically the same concept as preferiential looking but here we measure with an auditory stimulus and see how the baby is reacting to it all while adding visual cues in the mix
how to remember the numbers in the WAIS Deveation IQ scores?
mean is 100 then you -/+ 15 for every standard deviation
Strengths and weaknesses of MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has great spatial resolution, great soft tissue contrast
but the measure depends on the magnetic properties of hydrogen
Strengths and weaknesses of fMRI
great spatial resolution, and is non invasive & relatively child friendly
but has disadvantages with poor temporal resolution, is disrupted by movement, is very expensive and very loud
shows the exchange of oxygen
Strengths and weaknesses of DTI
all you can see is white matter in these scans.
used to image structure of white matter connectivity, uses same machine as MRI but undergoes a different “scan”
Strengths and weaknesses of ERP
average on-going EEG by stimulus type,
is time locked to the onset of a specific stimulus
Pros; excellent temporal resolution, noninvasive & very kid freindly
Disadvantages; poor spatial resolution, disrupted by motion & eye artifact
CAN BE USED AS AN INDEX OF INHIBITIONS
pros and cons of MEG
pros: spatial resolution, is basically MRI with temporal resolution of EEG
cons: cannot image subcortical areas, VERY expensive (under the cortexs)
What are Epigenetics?
genes are modified by experience– Modifications can be inherited by offspring
what is a genotype?
inherited genetic materials
what is a phenotype?
observable characteristics of the genotype
who was the father of Modern Genetics?
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884
austrian monk
studied pea plants
what does Homozygous mean?
same two alleles present
what does Heterozygous mean?
two different alleles
in this case, one of the alleles would be expressed dominant
what are genes?
sw
what are genes?
sets of chromosomes that are the basic unit of heredity in all living things—carry the code for proteins
what do regulatory genes do?
these genes control activity of other genes
difference in long and short alleles
Long Allele: greater serotonin transporter transcription
short alleles: less transcription– more susceptible to psychopathology, yet may offer cognitive advantage…. even more so if raised in a very nurturing environment
what can methylation do?
can alter the expression
changes in methylation occur with experience & are herriable, explain how this happens
If the mother experiences stress and the changes in mwthylation end up changing a specific gene, this gene could then be passed on to the future kids
which type of baby would have higher GR protein?
high nurtured one, low nurtured ones would show less of these proteins
name five different genetic disorders from recessive alleles:
Albinism Cystic fibrosis Phenylketonuria (PKU) Tay-Sachs disease Sickle cell disease
Name the genetic disorder from the 4th chromosome
huntingtons disease
name the genetic disease on the 21st chromosome
down syndrome
name the sex chromosome genetic disease
Hemophilia
what, in order, are the 4 major steps of prenatal developement
- Conception
- Zygote
- Embryo
- Fetus
explain conception:
when the egg and the sperm meet in the falopian tube;
how many brain cells do you have as an infant compared to your parent?
roughly twice as many
how many eggs is a female born with?
all the eggs she will ever have
what is the largest human cell?
the egg
what is the smallest human cell?
the sperm
which sex cell is faster? Y or X
y
how many sperms are release on an average ejaculation? a
about 500 000 000
which sex has the higher rate of miscarriage ?
males, and happens most frequently in the zygotic phase
what is a zygote
it is a fertilyzed cell with 46 chromosomes where 23 come from each parent
what happens to the zygote?
it undergoes rapid cell division and turns into a blastocyte
when does the germinal stage end?
when it implants into the uterine wall
how long does the embryonic stage last approximately?
from week 3 to week 8
what is cell migration?
movement of newly formed cells to destination
what is cell differentiation?
Specialization of cells for given funtion
what is cell death?
planned cell death allows for the formation of body part i.e. the hand…. the hand start off as a mitt and then what will eventually be the spaces between your fingers die off and create the spaces
the three layers of the embryo is :
ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm
in the embryo, the layer in which is eventually going to be the nervous system, inner ear, eye lens, outer layer of skin, and teeth is called the
ectoderm
in the embryo, the layer in which is eventually going to be the muscles, bones, circulatory system, inner layers or skin and internal organs is called the:
mesoderm
in the embryo, the layer in which is eventually going to be the digestive system, lungs, urinary tract and glands is called the
endoderm
what is cephalocaudal development?
where areas closer to the heaad develop earlier than areas farther from the head
what timeframe does the mothers heartbeat start driving blood throught the baby?
11 weeks in
what timeframe is the fetal stage
weeks nine to birth
when does the baby start to have facial expressions?
at about 20 weeks
at what point can the baby start almost living on its own?
28 weeks
explain how the baby experiences the five senses durring pregnancy
Vision: can’t see a whole lot
touch: feels its own body– face fingers umbilical cord
taste; amnionic fluid flavor varies with what the mother is eating
smell amnionic fluid varieswith mothers food intake
hearing: very loud environment… heart beat is very lour
what are the three parts of the neural tube?
forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
in what steps in the neural tube formed?
outermost layer of embryonic cells turn into neural plate….neural groove.. neural tube
what is the precursor for the nervous system?
neural tube
neural tube defects :
SPINA BIFIDA
1 in 1000 live births in US
symptoms: leg paralysis orthepedic abnormalities Reading disabilities difficulties with executive function skills other cognitive deficits
what can help prevent SPINA BIFIDA?
diet rich in folic acid
what happens withing week three to eight to the brain?
massive growth
whats going on in brain developement in week 28?
cortical surface area expands, begins to fold
most neurons that you will ever have are now present
what do the fold serve purpose for the brain?
allow for mor surface area so that the brain can fit inside the skull
what happens in week 8-26 of brain developement?
cerebral cortex grows to cover midbrain
what happens in weeks 28-40?
gyri and sulci of the brain begin to develop
what is neurogenesis?
formation of new neurons (almost comeplete by 18 weeks gestation)
Explain neuromigration
Neurons move from innermost layers of tissue outward via glial cells
cells formed earlier stay closer to theri origination
results in layers in the brain
what are some defects of neuronal migration?
misplaced or oddly formed neurons,
child epilepsy
intellectual disabilities
what may be caused by mutations in genes that control neural migration?
schizophrenia, dyslexia, autism
what is synaptogenesis?
formation of synapses between neurons
huge growth from prenatal week 28 to 2 years of age
what is synaptic pruning?
where the synapses are reduced due to no longer being needed
what is neuroplasticity?
the brain is changing throughout life and prunes away synapse that we are not using
how is synaptic pruning different in austistic kids?
their is a lack of pruning
what does the frontal lobe do?
executive function (planning attention)
what does the parietal lobe do?
spacial processing, information intergration
somatosensation
what does the occipital lobe do
vision
what does the temporal lobe do?
audition, memory, emotion processing
what happens with grey matter in age ?
decreases
what happens to white matter with age ?
increases into mid adulthood, then decreases
what happens with cerebospinal fluid?
increases with age
what regions in the brain would matrue early ?
sensory functions
what regions in the brain would mature later in life?
regions for higher order
explain sensitive periods and how is works with brian developement
timing of experience is key
Neural orginization of different areas occurs during specific periods in development
lack of stimulation during that period can alter brain function and may be irreversible
when do cones approach adult functionality
8 months of age
explain infant vision
starts off they can’t see much, 2% of light strikes fovea wheras 65% strike fovea in an adult…. babies vision is more like 20/120 in the 1st month. they can only really see shades of white in the first month bu then in months 2-3 they start to have adult like color perception and by 4-5 months that start to have adult like color preference
infanrts look arround right from birth, but when does tracking objects become smoother?
by 2-3 months (if its a slow object) by 2 months they can scan an entire object and attention to overall shape and major details
explain face perception
from birth infants show preference fro human faces
within 12 hours of exposure, an infant perfers the image of his mother
by four months, can discriminate between facial expressions
by nine months, infants develop a prototype for faces
