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
The theory that common phobias are biologically determined from evolutionary pressures
Prepared learning
A field concerned with studying the inheritance of behavior and cognition
Behavioral genetics
An organized package of DNA bound up with proteins; each one containing many genes
Chromosome
Different versions of the same gene
Alleles
Genetically identical twins caused when a fertilized egg splits in two
Monozygotic twins
Twins who sare half of their genes, caused when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm
Dizygotic
The proportion of variance in a trait in a given population that can be accounted for by genetic differences among individuals
Heritability
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 in different ways
Unshared 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
Shared environment
An analysis approach in which different genotypes (ex: different alleles) are used to explore for phenotypic variation
Genotype-first
An analysis approach in which different phenotypes are used to explore genetic differences
Phenotype-first
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
Genome-wide association study (GWAS)
An impaired ability to perform the coordinated movements that are required for speech
Orofacial dyspraxia
A gene product that affects the function of other genes
Transcription factor
Genetic influences in people’s exposure to different environments
Gene-environment correlations
Susceptibility to a trait depends on a particular combination of a gene and environment
Gene X environment interactions
