prenatal development

Question 1

recapitulation theory

Answer 1

embryo goes through whole evolution of the human species before getting to current human form

Question 2

3 stages of foetal development

Answer 2

1 geminal period (conception to implantation)

2. the period of the embryo (implantation to 2 months)
3. the period of the fetous (2 months to birth)

Question 3

germinal period

Answer 3

4 day safter conception - divides

5th day - earliest physical differentiation occurs

Question 4

embryological vs foetal

Answer 4

embryo = tissue differentiation

foetal = growth

Question 5

at 4months

Answer 5

now psychological bc exhibiting behaviour

touch
hearing
movement

Question 6

8 months

Answer 6

responds to movement, tactile stimuli and temperature changes

Question 7

aneuploidy

Answer 7

fewer or more than normal no. of chromosomes

Question 8

teratogens

Answer 8

substances that cause birth defects

effect organ systems differently

e.g. thalidomide and alcohol

Question 9

Descaper and Spence

Answer 9

baby’s showed preference for familiar stories

Question 10

endothermy

Answer 10

mammals survived nuclear winter because of this
warm blooded
can maintain body temperature

Question 11

sensory capability of newborns

Answer 11

touch
balance
smell
taste
hearing - fragile at birth - lower frequencies
visions improves to 20/20 at about 6 months

Question 12

3 types of reflexes

Answer 12

Clinging - Palmar, plantar grasp and Moro

Nursing - rooting, sucking

Locomotion - crawling, stepping

related to evolution - e.g. grasping in trees

Question 13

vestigial

Answer 13

partially or wholly lost original function

Question 14

anencephaly

Answer 14

‘without brain’
brain has not developed properly - still sometimes exhibit reflexes so reflexes must be lower brains stem activity

Question 15

brain growth

Answer 15

400g in to 1300g

most brain growth is not inc neurons but increase in cells that support neurons ‘glia cells’

Question 16

glia cells

Answer 16

• Provide structural support
• Maintenance
• Insulate neuronal axons with myelin

Question 17

myelination

Answer 17

formation of fatty sheath around axons - speeds up transmission

CNS = oligodendrocytes lay down myelin sheaths, PNS = Schwann cells

Question 18

CNS vs PNS cells that lay down myelin sheaths

Answer 18

CNS = oligodendrocytes

PNS = Schwann cells

Question 19

synaptogenesis

Answer 19

formation of new connections between neurons

peaks at certain points of development

usually growth of existing neurons rather than generation of new ones

Question 20

critical period

Answer 20

clear beginning and end where a certain thing must happen for development to occur

Question 21

sensitive

Answer 21

period not as strictly defined, development LESS likely

Question 22

Hubel and Weisal

Answer 22

sutured left eye of cats

allowed to develop

unsutured

close to 100% only responded to input in right eye

not predetermined by genetics to serve a function

could not reverse effect - critical window

Question 23

binocular

Answer 23

cells activated from input from both eyes
(most were like this)

Question 24

monocular

Answer 24

cells activated from either left or right eye

Question 25

hubel and weisal generalised to humans - congenital cateracts

Answer 25

• if you remove a cataracts from a child who has had it since birth after the age of 7, they almost never recover full vision in effected eyes

Question 26

social deprivation

Answer 26

human brain is not genetically coded - emerges as a consequence and interaction between brain growth AND environmental input

Question 27

development is a result of..

Answer 27

… a complex dialect between our dispositions and our experiences