Lifespan Development - Part 1 Flashcards
The Role of Heredity
Most traits are polygenic, meaning that they are influenced by multiple genes. We categorize between dominant versus recessive genes.
Genotype verses Phenotype
Genotype- refers to a person’s genetic inheritance
Phenotype- refers to observed characteristics or what is expressed, BASED ON BOTH HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Development
(2004) Based on the notion that development involves an interaction between the individual and their context or environment.
He described 5 Environmental Systems (or levels):
Microsystem
Mesosystem - interaction between elements of a child’s microsystem that influence development
Exosystem
Macrosystem
Chronosystem
Critical Periods vs Sensitive Periods
- Critical Periods- specific, predetermined periods of time during biological maturation when an organism is particularly sensitive to certain stimuli that can have either a positive or negative impact on development. - Sensitive Periods- longer in duration and more flexible than “critical periods”; not tied as closely to chronological age or maturation stage IE: attachment, language acquisition
Three stages of Pre-natal Development and their definitions
- Germinal Stage (Wks 0 - 2)
- Embryonic Stage (Wks 3-8)
- Fetal Stage (9 Wks - Birth)
- FETUS REACHES VIABITY between 22 and 26 WEEKS
Describe “normal” human chromosomes
- 46 Chromosomes
- 23 Pair: 22 pair of Autosomes 1 pair of Sex Chromosomes
- XX female XY male
Chromosomal Disorders due to dominant or recessive genes: examples
Huntington’s - inheritance of one dominant gene (Dominant Gene Disorder)
PKU- inheritance of a pair of recessive genes (Recessive Gene Disorder)
3 Disorders due to Chromosomal Abnormality and incorrect number of chromosomes (chromosome variability)
Down Syndrome - Extra chromosome #21
Klinefelter Syndrome - Abnormality in sex chromosome; in MALES only- due to presences of 2 or more X chromosomes and a Y chromosome. (Extra X chromosome)
Turner Syndrome - Abnormality in sex chromosome; in FEMALES only; due to presence of a single X chromosome.
Prader-Willi Syndrome and Angelman Syndrome
Caused by chromosomal deletion; causes some level of intellectual disability, obesity, and often OCD behaviors.
Teratogens
Substances that cause birth defects. Especially vulnerable at 3-8 weeks, or during the Prenatal Embrionic Stage EI: Alcohol, Cocaine, Nicotine, Lead,
Effects of teratogens: Exposure to fetal alchohol
May cause Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD); describing a large range of conditions that are largely irreversible, involving physical, behavioral, and/or cognitive abnormalities. FAS is the most severe form of FASD.
Effects of teratogens: Exposure to Cocaine
When used by pregnant women, increases the risk for spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. Babies born to cocaine users are at high risk for SIDS, seizures, low birth weight, and reduced head circumference. Babies may have a high-pitched cry and an exaggerated startle response, along with sleep and feeding difficulties
Effects of teratogens: Maternal Health Conditions and their effects
- Rubella
- heart defects, blindness, deafness, intellectual disability
- HIV
- 20-30% chance of passing to child
- Malnutrition
- LBW, stillbirth, Miscarriage
- Stress
- misc,arriage, painful labor, premature delivery, baby w/LBW, hyper, irritable, other problems
Complications during birth
Anoxia - prolonged oxygen shortage
- delayed motor and cog development
- intellectual disability
- cerebral pulsy
Rutter’s Indicators (risk of psychiatric disturbance - developmental)
(1985)Described by Rutter;
The following 6 Family Risk Factors:
- severe marital discord
- low SES
- overcrowding or large family size
- parental criminality
- maternal psychopathology
- placement of the child outside the home
Impact of early stress on development; what characteristics lead to more positive outcomes according to research?
Research suggests that high-risk babies are less likely to have negative outcomes when the babies experience
- fewer stressors following birth
- have an easy temperament
- marked by a high degree of social responsivity and good communication skills
Most common symptoms of congenital CMV
(Congenital Mom Virus) (herpes strain)
- Some degree of intellectual disability
- Hearing and Vision impairments
(Herpes Virus)
Genotype-Environment
(3 correlation proposals)
- Passive
When children inherit genes that predispose them towards particular traits, and then parents provide a perfect environment that encourages that trait.
- Evocotive
When a child’s genetic make up evokes reactions from parents and others that reinforce their genetic makeup (cooperative, attentive, smart)
- Active
(Niche picking)
Reaction Range
“Potential Range” of reaction for certain traits; and that an individuals ultimate status depends on environmental factors.
Canalization
- RESTRICT ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE
- Used to describe characteristics in which genotype restricts phenotype to a small number of outcomes.
- A measure of the ability of a genotype to produce the same phenotype regardless of variability of its environment.
Brain growth facts
Brain at 25% of it’s adult weight at birth
By age 2, it has reached about 80% of adult weight.
Growth due to increase of connections and formation of glial cells (responsible for myelinization) rather than generation of additional neurons
Cerebral Cortex is almost completely undeveloped, and **[the prefrontal cortex may not be fully developed until the mid-20’s]**
Least well-developed at birth: PREFRONTAL CORTEX
How the Aging Brain compensates for atrophy of neurons in adulthood
The brain compensates for atrophy of neurons in adulthood by:
- Forming new synaptic connections
- Creating new neurons in the hippocampus and possibly other areas
Define 2 reflexes present in a newborn
- Babinski
- when the soles of the feet are tickled and toes splay out and up
- Moro
- flings arms and legs out in response to a loud noise or sudden loss of physical support
What type of visual stimuli do newborns prefer, and when does there visual accuity reach that of an adults’s?
- They prefer high-contrast patterns
- At about 6 months their visual acuity is close to an adult’s
- Sensitivity to kinetic cues show up first
Describe newborn hearing
- Newborns are only slightly less sensitive to sounds than adults
- Localization is evident in newborns but seems to disappear between 2 and 4 months, only to improve the rest of the first year.
Describe pain in full-term infants who undergo painful medical procedures during infancy
They have been shown to later exhibit heightened responsivity to pain
Describe the average developmental ages of abilities to stand, walk (take steps alone), use the toilet, and exhibit a preference for right or left hand.
- Stand at 9-10 months
- Walk by 12 months
- 50% of 24-month olds use toilet during the day
- By 4 years old most children exhibit a stable preference for right or left hand
When do gender differences in motor development become apparent?
Differences become apparent in middle school, when:
- Girls become superior in terms of flexibility, agility, and balance (FAB)
- Boys become superior in terms of strength and gross motor skills (SMS)
What has research shown to be consequences of early physical maturation in each gender?
- For girls, early maturation is associated with a number of negative consequences, such as low academic achievement, drug and alcohol abuse, and increased risk for developing depression or an eating disorder.
- For boys, early maturation is associated with greater popularity, superior athletic skills, and 3 D’s: increased risk of drug and alcohol use, delinquency, and depression.
- LATE ONSET PUBERTY may be more beneficial for females
Changes in sensory and psychomotor function associated with aging: VISION CHANGES in older people
- Presbyopia, an inability to focus on close objects
- loss of visual acuity
- reduced depth and color perception
- increased light sensitivity
What are predictors of a child’s successful adjustment to chronic illness?
- Severity of the illness (especially in f(x) impairment
- Better psychological outcomes when children are given accurate and developmentally appropriate information about their illness.
Patterns of substance use found in a 2013 study regatrding youth ages 12-17
- 8.8% reported using an illicit drug in the past month
- 11.6% reported using alcohol
What do surveys of older adults show regarding the primary reason for lack of sexual activity?
Physical health problems in men.
Changes in sensory and psychomotor functioning in aging: general
- Behavioral slowing- adversely affects performance on a variety of tasks
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Constructivism is:
- Humans construct higher knowledge by taking bricks from both biology and environment
- Motivation for knowledge comes from a drive towards equilibrium, brought on by descrepancy between ones understanding of the world and reality
- This descrepancy is resolved through ADAPTATION, which describes 2 processes: Assimilation and Accommodation.
Adaptation process according to Piaget (2 complimentary processes)
- Assimilation
- the encorporation of new knowledge into existing cognitive schemas
- Accommodation
- the modification of existing schemas to incorporate new knowledge
Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development
- Sensorimotor (B-2 years)
- Pre-operational (2-7 years)
- Concrete operational (7-11/12)
- Formal operational (11 or 12 +)
Desribe Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
- child learns through sensory information provided by objects and other people and the acts that can be performed upon them
- Symbolic Thought
- Object Permanence
- Deferred Imitation
- Make-believe play
Desribe Piaget’s Pre-operational Stage
- Ages 2-7
Characterized by some limitations, such as:
- Precausal reasoning (underlies Magical Thinking)
- Animism; the tendency to attribute human characteristics to inanimate objects
Describe Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
- (7-11/12 years old)
- capable of CONSERVATION Ugh
- which depends on the operations of reversability and decentration.
- Treat objects as things (ie. dolls as babies)
- the gradual acquisition of conservation is
HORIZONTAL DECILAGE
REALLY?! Ugh.
Describe Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
- 11/12 years old +
- Beginning of this stage involves renewed EGOCENTRISM, which results in the phenomenons of Personal Fable and Imaginary Audience
- Abstract thinking ability
- Hypothetical deductive reasoning
(Elkind’s) 2 Phenomenon that are a result in Renewed Egocentrism of beginning of Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage 11/12 years old +
- Personal Fable
- belief that one is unique and not subject to the natural laws that govern others
- Imaginary Audience
- belief that one is always the center of attention
Information-Processing theories of Development
- In contrast to Piagetians, development is viewed as taking place in specific cognitive domains.
- IE: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory
Desribe Vygotsky’s SocioCultural Theory (an IPT)
- an Information-Processing Theory
- emphasizes role of Society and Culture factors
- Importance of Zone of Proximal Development
What does the Zone of Proximal Development describe, and who is the theorist?
- Vygotsky
- Refers to the descrepancy between a child’s current developmental level and the elve that they can reach with an adult or older peer’s help—> SCAFFOLDING
Reminiscence Bump
The ability of adults to have better recall of events that occurred between the ages of 10 and 30
Describe important points of Memory Development
- Until age 9-10, children do not use memory strategies such as rehearsal or elaboration
- Improvements on cognitive tasks that occur as children grow are partially due to METACOGNITION -or
- Thinking about Thinking*
- -* Among older adults, Recent Long Term (RLT) memory shows the greates age-related decline
- probably due to problemns with the use of CODING STRATEGIES
The 3 primary approaches to Language Development
- Nativist (CHOMSKY)
- language acquisition attriburted to biological mechanisms
- stresses universal patterns of language development
- Behaviorist
- Interactionist
Describe the Nativist approach to Language Development
(CHOMSKY)
- attributes language acquisition to biology
- Chomsky proposed the existence of an innate LAD
(Language Acquisition Device) that makes it possible for people to acquire language after being exposed to it
-
Describe the Interactionist approach to language acquisition
- View that a combination of biological and environmental factors contribute to language development
Semantic bootstrapping
refers to a child’s use of their knowledge of the meaning of words to infer their grammatical structure.
What are the 2 types of speech sounds?
- phonemes
- smallest unit of sound understood in a human language
- morphemes
- smallest unit of sound that conveys meaning
3 Crying Patterns of Babies
- hunger
- anger
- pain
Describe language development in an infant
- 3-4 months: babbling
- 9-14 months: sounds narrowed down to those of own language
- 1-2 years: Holophrastic speech- 1-word to describe whole sentences or phrases
- 18-24 months: Telegraphic speech- 2+ words together to make a sentence
2 types of errors that take place during language development
Under-extension:
- word applied to narrowly (only use word “dish” for their own special dish
Over-extension:
-word applied too widely (dog for horse or other 4-legged animal)
Describe some gender differences in language
- Males talk for longer intervals and are more likely to interrupt
- Females more likely to ask questions
Describe some research results found regarding about bilingual education
- learning a second language is best when it begins in childhood
- Language-minority children who participate in high-quality programs do as well or better than those who participate in English-only programs.
Epigenesis - GOTTLIEB
Describes evolutionary changes and individual development
Recent data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the preterm birthrate is highest for __________ mothers.
Non-hispanic African American mothers
Volitional Auditory Localizatio begins at about what age in babies?
4 Months
What
Define pre-term birth.
Preterm is defined as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed.
Anomia
Inability to name objects or recognize written or spoken names of objects
Damange to Wernicke’s Area could produce this
At what age does the ability to realize that other’s have a separate reality occur?
18-24 Months
What has been found as the greatest predictor of intellectual disability without known etiology?
Low birth weight
Someone with Huntington’s disease likely has damage to what part of the brain?
The caudate nucleus of the Basal Gangli
Reflexes in Infants
- Moro (startle)
- Rooting (latching/sucking)
- Babinski (toes up when heel stroked
What does Vygotsky feel are the key elements in his theory of cognitive development?
Language and social interactions
Gross motor skills of a 3 year old
Kicking a ball; taking steps w alternate feet, can ride a bicycle; run without falling
The basic trait of Inhibition has been attributed by Kagan to what?
CNS Reactivity
According to Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs, what will someone seek after their physiological needs have been met?
Safety needs
Language Development Stages
- 12-16 mos: Babbling
- 18-24 mos: Telegraphic Speech (2-word requests “Daddy milk”; nouns, verbs, adjectives
- 26-32 months: 3 or more words to make sentences
- 30-32 mos of age” increasingly complex sentences
At what age do children tend to experience “stranger anxiety”?
8-10 months of age
