Week 1 Flashcards
Human development is influenced by….
person (neurological, muscular, cognitive, motor etc.) & context (family, peers, community etc.)
Human development = epigenesis. What does this mean?
Ongoing, bidirectional, interchange
What is lifespan development?
study of growth, change, and stability in humans and the processes that underlie these
Development is…
change in the individual’s level of functioning
What is a quantitative change?
change in number or amount, such as height, weight or reaction time
What is a qualitative change?
change in structure or organization, as marked by the emergence of a new behaviour
Why do we study lifespan development?
- understand what people can and cannot do - motorically, cognitively, and socially
- understand typical development, so we can help others better when we see atypical development
- can be used to optimize health and motor performance
What is heredity?
a set of qualities fixed at birth that accounts for individual characteristics and traits; can be modified by environment
What is maturation?
physical and biological changes (height, weight etc.)
What is stability?
State in which characteristics and abilities stay the same of function similarly across lifespan
What is aging?
process occurring with passage of time, leading to loss of adaptability or full function and eventually death
What is a behaviour?
physical, observable actions
What is an affect?
emotional experience; feelings, and understanding others’ emotions
What is cognition?
thinking abilities (memory, computation, imagination, language)
What is motor development?
study of change in movement behaviour
What is motor learning?
relatively permanent gains in motor skill capability associated with practice or experience (long-term change)
What is motor control?
the neural, physical and behavioural aspects of movement (immediate, short term)
What is cephalocaudal development?
growing proceeds from head to feet
What is proximodistal development?
growing proceeds from centre of body to periphery
- from trunk → shoulders → hands
What are environmental contexts?
the circumstances, objects or conditions by which one is surrounded
What are affordances?
opportunities in the environment that allow a person to do something or learn a new skill
What is an experience?
things a person goes through in life that helps them learn ans grow
What is learning?
a lasting improvement in a skill or behaviour that comes from practice or experience
What is readiness?
Being at the right stage of development and having the right experiences to be able to learn a new skill
What is an adaptation?
changing one’s behaviours to better fit their environment or situation
What are the 8 assumptions about development?
- Development is multi-faceted
- Development is not defined by age alone
- Development varies from person to person
- Environment plays a role in our development
- Development has critical and sensitive periods
- Development is aided by positive stimulation
- There is plasticity in development
- In advanced aging, our abilities will reress
What are critical periods?
developmental age range where we need certain experiences for psychological/physical abilities to develop
“windows of opportunity”
- if missed, can result in impairment, delays
What are sensitive periods?
less than necessary but advantageous period for the development of certain skills; more flexible and reversible than critical periods
What is positive physical stimulation?
opportunities to run, jump, throw, climb, balance, etc.
What is positive social stimulation?
encouragement form parents, teachers, or coaches
What is positive cognitive stimulation?
challenging tasks that engage problem-solving in movement (e.g. obstacle courses)
What does it mean that there is plasticity in development?
Plasticity in the brain’s and body’s ability to adapt, change, and reorganize in response to experiences and environmental stimuli
What is the prenatal stage?
from conception to birth
What is the infancy stage?
from birth to 2 years
What is the early childhood stage?
from 2 years to 6 years
What is considered later childhood?
from 6-12 years
What is considered adolescence?
from 12 to 18 years
What is considered young adulthood?
from 18 to 40 years old
What is considered middle adulthood?
from 40 to 60 years old
What is considered older adulthood?
from 60 years and up
Development can be shown in….
stages or as a continuum
Development as a continuum illustrates the…
relationship between motor behaviour and age-related periods
What is the maturational view on development?
- motor development driven by maturation of systems (nature); specifically the CNS
- minimal influence of the environment
- characteristics of motor development i.e. qualitative & discontinuous
- arnold gesell
What are the three main contributing views to development?
- Maturational view
- Learning-Behavioural view
- Cognitive-developmental view
What is the learning-behavioural view?
- observational learning
- albert bandura
- modeling - the process of observing and imitating a specific behaviour
- influenced by positive/negative reinforcement
What are the 3 main aspects of the cognitive-developmental view? Who made this theroy?
schemas, assimilation or accomodation, play; jean piaget
In the cognitive-developmental view, what are schemas?
children create mental models for how to interact in their environments
In the cognitive-developmental view, what is assimilation or accomodation?
Children wither add knowledge to their existing schemas, or adjust their schemas to adapt to new knowledge
In the cognitive-developmental view, what is play?
Children experiment and test in the real world to develop intellect
What would be an example of the Cognitive-Developmental view?
Schema: kicking a soccer ball
Assimilate: I can kick this beach ball the same way
Accommodate: I have to change my kicking motion to be able to kick this heavier ball
Learn through play, practice, experimenting
What are the two aspects of the environmental context theory?
Bioecological Systems Theory & Ecological Perspective
Describe the bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner)
- a model for how a person is influenced by the broader context
- microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem
What is a microsystem?
The setting the person lives in (e.g. family, peers, school)
What is a mesosystem?
Interrelationships of the person’s immediate settings (e.g. family to neighbours, school to peers)
What is a exosystem?
social setting beyond the person’s direct context (e.g. community center, parks, public transit)
What are macrosystems?
the culture in which a person exists (e.g. we live and study in a western democratic society; we also have our own cultures, beliefs, behaviour patterns)
What are chronosystems?
patterning of environmental events and transitions over time
What is the ecological perspective (Gibson)?
- how do individuals percieve and act on information in the environment?
- infants can directly percieve information and act with a reasonable response
- perceiving is experiencing
- affordance → perception → action
What would be an example of the ecological perspective?
affordance: this staircase offers me something to climb or step on
perception-action coupling: what I perceive will inform my action; how high is the step (perception) → can I lift my leg on it (action)
What are the aspects of the biological systems theory?
information processing view & Developmental biomechanics
What is the information-processing view?
- brain acts like a computer
- brain and CNS are the hardware
- mental processes are the software
- our software is constantly updating as we receive more information
- input (from environment) → analyzing (our brain) → output (our behaviour)
What would be an information processing view example?
Environmental input: soccer player sees an opponent
Analyzing and making a decision: kick? pass? shoot? go around?
Output: behaviour - goes around the opponent
What are developmental biodynamics? What are the components?
- mototr coordination and control emerge from continual and intimate interactions between the nervous system (brain) and the periphery (body)
- synergies, dynamic systems theory, neuronal group selection theory
What are the synergies involved in developmental biodynamics?
our brain groups together different muscles and joints to create a movement pattern
What is the dynamics systems theory involved in developmental biodynamics?
movements are shaped by how our muscles work together AND how we adapt to our surroundings and tasks we face
What is the neuronal group theory involved in developmental biodynamics?
- genetics play a role; genetics is a blueprint for initial neural network; network gets shaped by motor experiences (plasticity)
- variability in movement patterns (genetic predisposition)
What is the key concept of newell’s model of constraints?
development is shaped by individual, task and environmental constraints
