Week 2- Newborns And Reflexes Flashcards
What is adaptive radiation
Organisms suddenly diversify while adapting to new or recently vacated ecological niches
What is endothermy adaption
- Warm blooded
- Requires high-energy food
- Thermoregulatory adaptions (fur)
How are primates infants precocious (advanced) compared to other mammals
- Eyes and ears not sealed shut
- Neural cell proliferation nearly complete at birth
- Moderately rapid locomotor development
How are primates infants altricial compared to other mammals
- Dependent upon mother’s up to 4 years
- Very extended juvenile life stage, delayed adolescence
Sensory capabilities of newborns
- Touch (pain, pressure, temperature)
- Smell
- Taste
- Balance (vestibular system)
- Hearing (lower frequencies)
- Vision (20/400 at birth, 20/20 at 6 months)
Examples of Neonatal reflexes
- Grasp reflex
- Tonic neck reflex
- Step reflex
- Crawl reflex
- The Moro reflex
Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale
- Clinical assessment of neuromotor integrity in new born babies
- Also known as the Brazelton scale
Glia non-neuron cells
- In the CNS
- Continue to multiply after birth
- Provide structural support, maintenance
- Insulate neuronal axons with myelin
What is synaptogenesis
Formation of new connections between neurons
In the CNS what lays down myelin sheaths
Oligodendrocytes
In the PNS what lays down myelin sheaths
Schwann cells
Although the number of cell bodies stays the same
The density of dendritic spines increases over time from newborn to 24 months
How can extreme neglect affect the brain
- Brain can be smaller
- Cerebral ventricles can be much larger
- Less metabolic activity in the prefrontal and temporal regions
