Unit 2: Heredity, the Brain, and Prenatal Development & Unit 3 Perceptual and Motor Development

Question 1

Genotype

Answer 1

the genetic material individual inherits from biological parents
ex: genes that code for proteins that influence hair colour

Question 2

phenotype

Answer 2

the observable expression of the genotype, including the body characteristics and behaviour
ex: actual hair colour

Question 3

environment

Answer 3

includes every aspect of the individual, and his or her surroundings, other than genes

Question 4

chromosome

Answer 4

threadlike structure found in the nucleus

Question 5

DNA

Answer 5

a double-stranded molecule that makes up the chromosomes

Question 6

Genes

Answer 6

the basic unit of heredity that influences the person
each chromosome consists of thousands of genes
genes contain “instructions” for building specific proteins

Question 7

gene expression

Answer 7

a gene is said to be expressed if it has turned on to make it specific protein

Question 8

Homozygous

Answer 8

both alleles are the same

Question 9

heterozygous

Answer 9

2 alleles are different

Question 10

three different types of alleles

Answer 10

A B O

Question 11

A allele

Answer 11

A protein is expressed

Question 12

B allele

Answer 12

b protein is expressed

Question 13

O allele

Answer 13

neither A nor B is expressed

Question 14

phenotypic plasticity

Answer 14

the degree to which environmental factors affects a given trait

Question 15

canalization

Answer 15

certain characteristics are restricted in their outcome, even if the environment varies widely

Question 16

norm of reaction

Answer 16

the range of possible phenotypes for a given genotype

Question 17

epigenetics

Answer 17

the complex, dynamic process through which environments shape the expression of genes

Question 18

Four different ways of gene interacting

Answer 18

environmental factors turn genes on/off
environmental factors alter magnitude of genetics effects on development
gene expression can affect how people to children “evocative”
Genotype affects the types of environment the person seeks out ‘active’

Question 19

example of gene-environment interaction alter gene expression

Answer 19

When you are pregnant, and you take medication like thalidomide that helped women with nausea but caused babies to have upper limb malformation

Question 20

example of gene-environment interaction changes the magnitude of effects on development

Answer 20

PKU disease
It leads to deficiencies to digest phenylalanine in infants, and when undiagnosed and fed the incorrect diet, will result in severe intellectual impairment

Question 21

example of how gene expression can affect how people respond to children “evocative”

Answer 21

temperament is an early-appearing personality factor in infants often assumed was highly genetically influenced. If you are an easy or hard baby can affect how people respond to you

Question 22

example of genotype affects the type of environments the person seeks out “active”

Answer 22

kids with different temperaments as babies often end up being shy children. Shy children tend to seek out different environments than outgoing children

Question 23

Neurons

Answer 23

communication cells

Question 24

synapses

Answer 24

connective spaces between neurons

Question 25

gila

Answer 25

supporting cells that produce myelin

Question 26

Four lobes of the cerebral cortex

Answer 26

frontal
temporal
occipital
parietal

Question 27

frontal lobe

Answer 27

movement, attention, impulses

Question 28

parietal lobe

Answer 28

touch, pain, and body position

Question 29

temporal lobe

Answer 29

smell, taste, hearing and language

Question 30

occipital lobe

Answer 30

visual cortext

Question 31

cerebral lateralization

Answer 31

different specializations for right and left hemispheres

Question 32

four stages of brain development

Answer 32

Neurulation
Neurogenesis
Circuit Formation Myelination

Question 33

neurulation

Answer 33

formation of neural tubes

starts to form 3 weeks after conception
neural tube forms from the ectoderm
cells inside the rube form the central nervous system; cells outside the tube the peripheral nervous system

Question 34

neurogenesis

Answer 34

birth and migration of neurons
move to the appropriate place in the brain

Question 35

circuit formation

Answer 35

Synaptogenesis: the creation of connections between neurons
the neurons starting to communicate with each other (most rapid during pre and postnatal periods
many more synapses are produced than will be used

Synapse pruning: experience determines which synapses will live or die

Question 36

developmental plasticity

Answer 36

the degree to which and the conditions under which brain development is open to modification by the environment

Question 37

the effect of an experience on the brain depends on

Answer 37

timing: when it occurs
dose: how much of an experience you receive
duration: how long the experience lasted

Question 38

experience-expectant plasticity

Answer 38

the brain adapts in response to ubiquitous sensory information

due to pruning of synapses that were overproduced and sensitive period

Question 39

critical period

Answer 39

a narrow window period during which a particular experience must occur for development to proceed normally

Question 40

sensitive period

Answer 40

a developmental stage during which the brain is most susceptible to experiences but changes are still possible outside this window

Question 41

sensation

Answer 41

the process by which sensory receptor neurons detect information and transmit it to the brain

Question 42

perception

Answer 42

the psychological process of organizing and interpreting sensory input

Question 43

gestalt theory of perception

Answer 43

• Principles or laws of human perception that describe humans’ spontaneous and natural organization of visual stimuli into meaningful patterns, such as perceiving objects as whole

Question 44

ecological theory of perception

Answer 44

highlights the evolutionary foundations of perception and connections between perception and action

Question 45

affordances for Action

Answer 45

an individual’s interpretation of which actions are possible and which are not possible based on their perceptions

Ex: when infants determine that a flat surface offers the opportunity for walking

Question 46

Three ways of testing infants

Answer 46

• Preferential-looking tests
• Habituation-recovery tests
• Contingent reinforcement studies

Question 47

preferential looking tests

Answer 47

• present 2 stimuli, then measure to both
• if an infant pays more attention to one stimulus

Question 48

habituation recovery

Answer 48

present 1 stimulus until the infant becomes “bored”
present new stimulus
if infant pays more attention to the new stimulus or their sucking rates increases

Question 49

One way to measure attention

Answer 49

Babies will suck their pacifier at a faster rate if the stimulus interests them

Question 50

Contingent reinforcement studies

Answer 50

operant conditioning
infants increase a specific behaviour in response to certain stimuli to obtain reward

Ex: infants’ sucking behaviours in response to hearing their mothers’ voice

Question 51

changing colour perception

Answer 51

newborns have trouble distinguishing blue, green and yellow from white, especially when equally bright

by 4 months infants can perceive the full range of colours, can discriminate among hues of the same colour category

Question 52

Visual Scanning - Tracking motion

Answer 52

• Newborns move their heads in response to moving stimuli
• Jerky eye movements until 2 months of age, with further development through 4 or 5 months
• Anticipatory eye movements: 6 months
  o Facilitates social interactions!

Question 53

good continuation

Answer 53

• A Gestalt principle of organization that claims a natural tendency for individuals to view objects or stimuli as continuous or whole

Question 54

object perception

Answer 54

• Adults interpret this as the rod being a whole object
• Babies that have good continuation would look longer at d bc they can tell that c is a whole rod and d looks novel (weird) (8 months)
• Younger babies can’t tell

Question 55

Depth Perception

Answer 55

Kinetic Cues (looming or approaching):
Looming - when an object gets bigger as it approaches your face
Babies blink at this point
1 month of age
Stereopsis (binocular vision):
Perceived by both eyes
To determine how far away things are
4 months of age
Sensitivity to pictorial (monocular) cues
Perceived by one eye
6-7 months of age
This 7-month-old infant is using the monocular depth cue of relative size
* Babies will only reach to the longer size if they can use that monocular depth cue

Question 56

Face perception

Answer 56

young infants view face 25-50% of their waking time
newborns prefer their mother’s face- they will look longer at their mothers face

Question 57

stages of prenatal development

Answer 57

• Germinal period (days 0-14): From conception to implantation in uterine wall (zygote)
• Embryonic period (weeks 3 – 8): Formation of major organs
• Fetal period (week 9 – birth): Organ systems begin to function, Significant growth, longest period of development

Question 58

patterns of development seen during the embryonic period

Answer 58

• Cephalocaudal development: (A) structures from the head develop before structures towards the feet (cephalon = brain, caudal = tail)
• Proximo-distal development: (B) embryo development starts from the centre of the body and outwards