Exam 2 Chp. 4,5,6

Question 1

organized pattern of physical growth that proceeds from upper to lower part of body

Answer 1

cephalocaudal trend

Question 2

organized pattern of physical growth that proceeds from center of body outward

Answer 2

proximodistal trend

Question 3

nerve cells that store and transmit info

Answer 3

neurons

Question 4

gaps between neurons, across which chemical messages are sent

Answer 4

synapses

Question 5

chemicals released by neurons that cross the synapse to send messages to other neurons

Answer 5

neurotransmitters

Question 6

aspect of brain growth in which as synapses form, many surrounding neurons die, making space for these connective structures

Answer 6

programmed cell death

Question 7

process in which neurons that are seldom stimulated lose their synapses and are returned to an uncommitted state so they can support future development

Answer 7

synaptic pruning

Question 8

cells that are responsible for myelination of neural fibers, which improves the efficiency of message transfer

Answer 8

glial cells

Question 9

coating of neural fibers with an insulating fatty sheath, called myelin, that improves the efficiency of message transfer

Answer 9

myelination

Question 10

largest, most complex structure of the human brain, which contains the greatest number of neurons and synapses and accounts for the highly developed intelligence of the human species

Answer 10

cerebral cortex

Question 11

region of the cerebral cortex, lying in front of areas controlling body movement, that is responsible for thought–in particular, consciousness, inhibition of impulses, integration of info, and memory, reasoning, planning, and problem-solving strategies

Answer 11

prefrontal cortex

Question 12

specialization of functions in the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex

Answer 12

lateralization

Question 13

capacity of various parts of the cerebral cortex to take over functions of damaged regions; declines as hemispheres of the cerebral cortex lateralize

Answer 13

brain plasticity

Question 14

young brains rapidly developing organization, which depends on ordinary experiences–opportunities to explore the environment, interact with people, and hear language and other sounds

Answer 14

experience-expectant brain growth

Question 15

growth and refinement of established brain structures as a result of specific learning experiences that vary widely across individuals and cultures

Answer 15

experience-dependent brain growth

Question 16

wasted condition of the body caused by diet low in all essential nutrients, which usually appears in the first year of life when the mother is too malnourished to produce enough breast milk and bottle-feeding is also inadequate

Answer 16

marasmus

Question 17

disease caused by an unbalanced diet very low in protein that usually appears after weaning, between 1 and 3 yrs of age; symptoms include an enlarged belly, swollen feet, hair loss, skin rash, and irritable, listless behavior

Answer 17

kwashiorkor

Question 18

in classical conditioning, stimulus that consistently produces reflexive response

Answer 18

unconditioned stimulus

Question 19

in classical conditioning, reflexive response that is consistently produced by an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 19

unconditioned response

Question 20

in classical conditioning, neutral stimulus that through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, leads to a new conditioned response

Answer 20

conditioned stimulus

Question 21

in classical conditioning, new response elicited by a conditioned stimulus that is similar to the unconditioned, or reflexive response

Answer 21

conditioned response

Question 22

form of learning that involves associating neutral stimulus with stimulus that leads to a reflexive response; once the nervous system makes the connection between the two stimuli, the neutral stimulus alone produces behavior

Answer 22

classical conditioning

Question 23

form of learning in which a spontaneous behavior is followed by a stimulus that changes the probability that the behavior will occur again

Answer 23

operant conditioning

Question 24

in operant conditioning, stimulus that increases the occurrence of a response

Answer 24

reinforcer

Question 25

in operant conditioning, removal of a desirable stimulus or presentation of an unpleasant one to decrease the occurrence of a response

Answer 25

punishment

Question 26

gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation

Answer 26

habituation

Question 27

following habituation, increase in responsiveness to a new stimulus

Answer 27

recovery

Question 28

learning by copying the behavior of another person

Answer 28

imitation

Question 29

specialized cells in motor areas of the cerebral cortex in primates that may underlie early imitative capacities by firing identically when a primate hears or sees an action and when it carries out the action on its own

Answer 29

mirror neurons

Question 30

theory that views mastery of motor skills as a process of acquiring increasingly complex systems of action, in which separate abilities blend together, each cooperating with others to produce more effective ways of exploring and controlling the environment; each new skill is a joint product of central nervous system development, the body’s movement capacities, the child’s goals, and environmental supports for the skill

Answer 30

dynamic systems theory of motor development

Question 31

infants’ capacity to analyze the speech stream for patterns- repeatedly occurring sequences of sounds– through which they acquire a stock of speech structures for which they will later learn meanings

Answer 31

statistical learning capacity

Question 32

process of making sense of simultaneous input from more than one modality, or sensory system, perceiving these separate streams of information as an integrated whole

Answer 32

intermodal perception

Question 33

view that perceptual development involves the detection of increasingly fine-grained, invariant features in the environment

Answer 33

differentiation theory