The developing brain Flashcards
Nature-nurture debate
The extent to which cognition and behavior can be attributed to genes or environment.
Neuroconstructivism
A process of interaction between environment and brain-based constraints that leads to the mature cognitive system emerging out of transformations of earlier ones (but does not assume discrete stages).
Neural tube
The embryo’s precursor to the central nervous system, consisting of a set of cells arranged in a hollow cylinder.
Neuroblasts
Stem cells for neurons.
Radial glial cells
Support cells that guide neurons from the neural tube to their final destination.
Hebbian learning
Strengthening of a synapse that occurs when the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are active at the same time (‘‘what wires together, fires together).
Myelination
An increase in the fatty sheath that surrounds axons and increases the speed of information transmission.
Plasticity
The brain’s ability to change as a result of experience.
Kennard Principle
The idea that the earlier brain damage is sustained, the better the functional outcome.
Filial imprinting
The process by which a young animal comes to recognize the parent.
Critical period
A time window in which appropriate environmental input is essential for learning to take place.
Sensitive period
A time window in which appropriate environmental input is particularly important (but not necessarily essential) for learning to take place.
Empiricism
In philosophy, the view that the newborn mind is a blank slate.
Nativism
In philosophy, the view that at least some forms of knowledge are innate.
Instinct
A behavior that is a product of natural selection.
Prepared learning
The theory that common phobias are biologically determined from evolutionary pressures.
Behavioral genetics
A field concerned with studying the inheritance of behavior and cognition.
Chromosome
An organized package of DNA bound up with proteins; each chromosome contains many genes.
Allele
Different versions of the same gene.
MZ twins (monozygotic)
Genetically identical twins caused wen a fertilized egg splits in two.
DZ twins (dizygotic)
Twins who share half of their genes, caused when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm.
Heritability
The proportion of variance in a trait, in a given population, that can be accounted for by genetic differences among individuals.
Unshared environment
The proportion of variance in a trait, in a given population, that can be accounted for by events that happen to one twin but not the other, or events that affect them but in different ways.
Shared environment
The proportion of variance in a trait, in a given population, that can be accounted for by events that happen to both twins, affecting them in the same way.
Genotype-first
An analysis approach in which different genotypes (e.g., different alleles) are used to explore for phenotypic variation.
Phenotype-first
An analysis approach in which different phenotypes are used to explore genetic differences.
Genome-wide association study (GWAS)
A phenotype-first approach in which the presence/absence, or continuous variation, in a trait is linked to variations at many different sites in the genetic code.
Orofacial dyspraxia
An impaired ability to perform the coordinated movements that are required for speech.
Transcription factor
A gene product that affects the function of other genes.
Gene-environment correlations
Genetic influences in people’s exposure to different environments.
Gene X environment interactions
Susceptibilty to a trait depends on a particular combination of a gene and environment.
