Physical Development in Infancy

Question 1

cephalocaudal pattern

Answer 1

sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top–the head–with physical growth in size, weight, and feature differentiation gradually working from top to bottom

Question 2

proximodistal pattern

Answer 2

sequence in which growth starts at the center of the body and moves toward the extremities

Question 3

shaken baby syndrome

Answer 3

includes brain swelling and hemorrhaging

Question 4

frontal lobes

Answer 4

voluntary movement, thinking, personality, and intentionality or purpose

Question 5

occipital lobes

Answer 5

function in vision

Question 6

temporal lobes

Answer 6

hearing, language processing, memory

Question 7

parietal lobes

Answer 7

registering spatial location, attention, motor control

Question 8

lateralization

Answer 8

specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other

Question 9

axons

Answer 9

carry signals away from the cell body

Question 10

dendrites

Answer 10

carry signals toward the cell body

Question 11

myelin sheath

Answer 11

layer of fat cells that encase many axons, insulating them and helping electrical signals travel faster down them

Question 12

neurotransmitter

Answer 12

chemicals released into synapses that allow info to pass over synapse gaps, like a ferry boat over a body of water

Question 13

synapse

Answer 13

tiny gaps between neurons’ fibers in which chemical interactions take place

Question 14

myelination

Answer 14

process of encasing axons with fat cells that begins prenatally and continues into adolescence

Question 15

pruning

Answer 15

the process of unused synaptic connections becoming replaced by other pathways or disappearing altogether.
example: the less a baby engages in the use of language, the more likely it becomes that those pathways will be replaced or will disappear

Question 16

blooming

Answer 16

the process of often-used synaptic connections replacing unused ones
example: the more a baby engages in physical activity, the more those pathways will be strengthened

Question 17

prefrontal cortex

Answer 17

area of the brain where higher-level thinking and self-regulation occurs; although the peak of overproduction of synapses takes place at about 1 year of age, it is not until middle-late adolescence that the adult density of synapses is achieved

Question 18

SIDS

Answer 18

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, highest cause of infant death in US, condition that occurs when infants stop breathing, usually during the night, and die suddenly w/out apparent cause. Risk factors include:
passive exposure to cigarette smoke
sleep with their babies or babies sleep on tummy
African American or Eskimo ethnicities
low SES groups

Question 19

benefits of breastfeeding

Answer 19

less gastrointestinal and lower respiratory infections
less otitus media (middle-ear infections)
less atopic dermatitis (inflammation of the skin)
less obesity and less likely to develop type 1 diabetes
less likely to die of SIDS
for mother, less breast & ovarian cancer, less type 2
diabetes

Question 20

Marasmus

Answer 20

life-threatening condition resulting from malnutrition, caused by severe protein-calorie deficiency and resulting in wasting away of body tissues in the infant’s first year. Gross underweight and muscle atrophy occur.

Question 21

Kwashiorkor

Answer 21

caused by severe protein deficiency, usually appearing between 1-3 years, appear well-fed b/c disease can cause child’s vital organs to collect nutrients and deprive other parts of the body of them, child’s hair becomes thin, brittle, colorless, behavior listless, abdominal and foot swelling common

Question 22

dynamic systems theory

Answer 22

the perspective on motor development that seeks to explain how motor behaviors are assembled for perceiving and acting; for example, a new behavior is a result of converging factors like:
development of nervous system
body’s physical properties/possibilities for movement
goal of child and motivation to reach the goal
environmental support for the skill

Question 23

maturation

Answer 23

Gesell, theory that motor development comes about through the unfolding of a genetic plan; later studies show that developmental sequence is not as fixed as he thought

Question 24

reflexes

Answer 24

built-in reactions to stimuli that govern the newborn’s movements; automatic and beyond the newborn’s command, allow infant to respond adaptively to their environment before they have had the opportunity to learn. Include: rooting reflex, sucking reflex, Moro reflex, grasping reflex

Question 25

rooting reflex

Answer 25

when cheek is stroked or side of mouth is touched, infant turns its head toward the side that was touched in an apparent effort to find something to suck

Question 26

sucking reflex

Answer 26

occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouths, enabling nourishment before associating a nipple with food, serving as self-soothing or self-regulating mechanism

Question 27

Moro reflex

Answer 27

when startled, newborn arches its back, throws back its head, and flings out its arms and legs, followed by rapidly closing them, occurs in response to sudden, intense noise or movement, disappears around 3-4 months of age

Question 28

grasping reflex

Answer 28

when something touches the infant’s palms, it responds by grasping tightly, is replaced around 3rd month with a more voluntary grasp

Question 29

gross motor skills

Answer 29

skills that involve large-muscle activities, such as moving one’s arms and walking

Question 30

infant development milestones

Answer 30

hold head erect-a few weeks old
sit while supported-2 months
sit independently-6-7 months
pulling up-8-9 months
standing-10-12 months
walking-around 1 year
walk quickly/run-18-24 months

Question 31

fine motor skills

Answer 31

finely tuned movements, refined over time
palmer grasp-early, grip with whole hand
pincer grip-later, grasping small objects with thumb and forefinger

Question 32

sensation

Answer 32

occurs when information interacts with sensory receptors (eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, skin)

Question 33

perception

Answer 33

interpretation of what is sensed

Question 34

ecological view

Answer 34

Gibson & Gibson-we directly perceive info that exists in the world around us

Question 35

affordances

Answer 35

opportunities for interaction offered by objects that fit w/in our capabilities to perform activities (Gibson & Gibson)

Question 36

Robert Fantz

Answer 36

developed a “looking chamber” to study infants’ visual perception, noticed that they looked at different things for different lengths of time, visual preference method

Question 37

visual preference method

Answer 37

studying whether infants can distinguish one stimulus from another by measuring the length of time they attend to different stimuli (Fantz)

Question 38

habituation

Answer 38

decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations of it

Question 39

dishabituation

Answer 39

the recovery of a habituated response after a change in stimulation

Question 40

orienting response

Answer 40

turning one’s head toward a sight or sound

Question 41

tracking

Answer 41

eye movements that follow a moving object and can be used to evaluate an infant’s early visual ability, uses eye-tracking headgear on the infant

Question 42

perceptual constancy

Answer 42

sensory stimulation is changing but perception of the physical world remains constant

Question 43

size constancy

Answer 43

recognition that an object remains the same even though the retinal image of the object changes as you move toward or away from the object, develops from 3 months to 10-11 years old

Question 44

shape constancy

Answer 44

recognition that an object remains the same shape even though its orientation to us changes, develops from 3 months onward

Question 45

occlusion perception

Answer 45

perceiving that objects no longer visible remain constant, like when a ball disappears behind a door; brief tracking of occluded objects begins between 3-5 months and increases over time

Question 46

depth perception

Answer 46

develops by 3-4 months

Question 47

infant hearing

Answer 47

at birth, infants cannot hear soft sounds and are less sensitive to low-pitched sounds; by 2 years, toddlers have increasing ability to hear
even newborns can determine localization (origin of a sound) but become more proficient by 6 months

Question 48

intermodal perception

Answer 48

the ability to relate and integrate info from 2 or more sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing

Question 49

nativist

Answer 49

proponents of the nature aspect of perceptual development, says that the ability to perceive the world in a competent, organized way is inborn/innate

Question 50

empiricist

Answer 50

proponents of the nurture aspect of perceptual development

Question 51

perception-action coupling

Answer 51

action educates perception, so that watching an object while exploring it manually helps infants discriminate its size, texture, and hardness