The developing brain Flashcards
The extent to which cognition and behavior can be attributed to genes or environment
Nature-Nurture debate
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)
Neuroconstructivism
The embryo’s precursor to the central nervous system, consisting of a set of cells arranged in a hollow cylinder
Neural tube
Stem cells for neurons
Neuroblasts
Support cells that guide neurons from the neural tube to their final destination
Radial glial cells
Strengthening of a synapse that occurs when the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are active at the same time (“what wires together fires together”
Hebbian learning
An increase in the fatty sheath that surrounds axons and increases the speed of information transmission
Myelination
The brain’s ability to change as a result of experience
Plasticity
The idea that the earlier brain damage is sustained, the better the function outcome
Kennard Principle
The process by which a young animal comes to recognize the parent
Filial imprinting
A time window in which appropriate environmental input is essential for learning to take place
Critical period
A time window in which appropriate environmental input is particularly important (but not necessarily essential) for learning to take place
Sensitive period
In philosophy, the view that the newborn mind is a blank slate
Empiricism
In philosophy, the view that at least some forms of knowledge are innate
Nativism
A behavior that is a product of natural selection
Instinct