Physical Development

Question 1

Physical growth, regardless of the environment.

• Although the timing of our growth may be different,
the sequence is almost always the same.

Answer 1

Maturation

Question 2

growth occurs from top down. Because the brain grows

Answer 2

Cephalocaudal Principle

Question 3

growth and
motor development proceed from the center of the body outward.

Answer 3

Proximodistal Principle

Question 4

a measure of physical
maturation based on the child’s level of skeletal development.

Answer 4

Skeletal Age

Question 5

• Newborns are born with all the muscle
fibers they will ever have.

• Muscular development proceeds in
cephalocaudal and proximodistal
directions.

• maturation of muscle tissue occurs
very gradually over childhood and then
accelerates during early adolescence.

Answer 5

Muscular Development

Question 6

• uneven process in which
different bodily systems
display unique growth
patterns.

• brain and head actually grow
much faster.

• Individual variations

• Cultural variations

Answer 6

Variations in Physical
Development

Question 7

the period between the 7th prenatal month and 2 years of age when more than half of the child’s eventual brain weight is gained.

Answer 7

Brain growth spurt

Question 8

The connective space (juncture) between one nerve cell
(neuron) and another.

Answer 8

Synapse

Question 9

nerve cells that receive and transmit neural impulses.

Answer 9

Neurons

Question 10

cells that nourish neurons and encase them in
insulating sheaths of myelin

Answer 10

Glia nerve

Question 11

the process during which young, immature (unspecialized) cells take on individual characteristics and reach their mature (specialized) form and function.

Answer 11

Cell Differentiation

Question 12

formation of connections
(synapses) among neurons.

Answer 12

Synaptogenesis

Question 13

capacity for change; a developmental state that has the potential to be shaped by experience.

Answer 13

Plasticity

Question 14

the process by which
neurons are enclosed in waxy myelin sheaths that will facilitate the
transmission of neural impulses.

Answer 14

Myelinization

Question 15

the highest brain center;
includes both hemispheres of the b

Answer 15

Cerebrum

Question 16

the bundle of neural
fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain and transmits information
from one hemisphere to the other.

Answer 16

Corpus callosum

Question 17

the outer layer of the brain’s cerebrum that is involved in voluntary body movements, perception, and higher
intellectual functions such as learning, thinking, and speaking.

Answer 17

Cerebral cortex

Question 18

the specialization of brain functions in the left and the right cerebral hemispheres

Answer 18

Cerebral Lateralization

Question 19

controls hearing, verbal memory, decision making,
language processing, and expression of positive emotions.
• Right Hemisphere - processing visual-spatial information,

Answer 19

Left Hemisphere

Question 20

processing visual-spatial information, nonlinguistic sounds such as music, tactile (touch) sensations, and
expressing negative emotions

Answer 20

Right Hemisphere

Question 21

is used to chart progress between ages 1 month and 6 years and to identify children who are not developing normally. It measures gross motor skills (using large
muscles) and fine motor skills (using small muscles). It also assesses language development and personality and social development. The newest edition, Denver II
Scale includes revised norms.

Answer 21

Denver Developmental Screening Test

Question 22

● Describes motor development as the
unfolding of a genetically programmed
sequence of events in which the nerves and
muscles mature in a downward and
outward direction.

Answer 22

Maturational Viewpoint

Question 23

● This viewpoint believes that opportunities
to practice motor skills are also important.

● infants who are physically capable of
sitting, crawling, or walking will not be very
proficient at these activities unless they
have opportunities to practice them

Answer 23

Experiential/Practice Hypothesis

Question 24

● a theory that views motor skills
as active reorganizations of
previously mastered capabilities
that are undertaken to find more
effective ways of exploring the
environment or satisfying other
objectives.

Answer 24

Dynamical systems theory

Question 25

An infant’s ability to reach out and manipulate objects
changes dramatically over the 1st year

Answer 25

Voluntary reaching

Question 26

ability to transfer
items from hand to hand or to hold
them with one hand and finger them
with the other.

Answer 26

Manipulatory skills

Question 27

the rapid increase in physical growth
that marks the beginning of adolescence.

Answer 27

Adolescent growth spurt

Question 28

The _______ _______ _______ are the organs
necessary for reproduction. During puberty these
organs enlarge and mature.

Answer 28

primary sex characteristics

Question 29

The ________ _______ ______ are psychological
sign of sexual maturation that do not directly involve
the sex organs

Answer 29

secondary sex characteristics

Question 30

The first menstruation,
called _________, occurs
in a fairly late sequence
of female development;
its normal thing can vary
from age 10 to 161
/2.

Answer 30

menarche

Question 31

a “master gland” located at the base of the brain that
regulates the endocrine glands and produces growth hormone

Answer 31

Pituitary

Question 32

hormones responsible for
sexual maturation.

Answer 32

Estrogen and Testosterone

Question 33

a period of accelerated growth in which children who
have experienced growth deficits grow very rapidly to “catch up to” the growth trajectory that they are genetically programmed to follow.

Answer 33

Catch-up growth

Question 34

a growth-retarding disease affecting infants who receive
insufficient protein and too few calories.

Answer 34

Marasmus

Question 35

a growth-retarding disease affecting children who receive
enough calories but little if any protein.

Answer 35

Kwashiorkor

Question 36

a form of malnutrition in which
the diet provides sufficient protein and calories but is lacking in
one or more substances that promote normal growth.

Answer 36

Vitamin and mineral deficiency

Question 37

a listlessness caused by too little iron in the diet that makes children inattentive and may retard physical
and intellectual development.

Answer 37

Iron deficiency anemia

Question 38

a medical term describing individuals who are at least 20
percent above the ideal weight for their height, age, and sex.

Answer 38

Obese

Question 39

an infant growth disorder, caused
by lack of attention and affection, that causes growth to slow
dramatically or stop.

Answer 39

Nonorganic failure to thrive

Question 40

a childhood growth disorder that is
triggered by emotional deprivation and characterized by
decreased production of GH, slow growth, and small stature.

Answer 40

Deprivation dwarfism