LIFESPAN CHAPTER 4

Question 1

cephalocaudal
and
proximodistal
trends

Answer 1

the cephalocaudal and proximodistal
trends describe physical growth from
conception

Question 2

Brain development

Answer 2

At birth, newborns
have pretty much
all the neurons
they ever will

so why do their
brains get larger?

Question 3

reasons for increases in brain size

Answer 3

1. myleination
   2.arborization of dendrites
   - results in a dramatic increase in the number of synapses
2. increased number of glial cells

Question 4

what will happen later

Answer 4

starting at about age 2 ½ years,
the number of synapses will be
reduced.
This pruning of unused (or
underused) synapses is essential
for efficiency.

Question 5

how should
infant brain
development
be
supported?

Answer 5

The rapid growth of new synaptic
connections during infancy means
that early experiences are
critically important for brain
development.

-There seems to be a “use it or lose
it” principle at work, so:
* Should parents provide infants
with as many experiences as
possible?
* Can parents make their babies
“smarter”?

Question 6

two types of brain growth

Answer 6

1. Experience-expectant brain growth
   as a result of evolution, the brain expects to have certain
   experiences (e.g., seeing things, hearing language, and
   moving limbs)
   - the brain grows normally as it encounters these
   fundamental experiences in its environment
2. Experience-dependent brain growth
   cultural acquisitions can be picked up by the brain
   (with the proper stimulation) throughout our lives

Question 7

critical period

Answer 7

just as it sounds… a critical period is a specific time during
which an organism has to experience stimuli in order to
progress through developmental stages properly

Question 8

sensitive period

Answer 8

a time span that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge
and in which the individual is especially responsive to
environmental influences

Question 9

Experience-expectant brain growth

Answer 9

for “expected” neural connections to develop, the
necessary experiences must occur early in life
- i.e., there are sensitive periods (maybe even critical periods

Question 10

Experience-dependent brain growth

Answer 10

there is no sensitive period (or, in the few cases there is one,
it is very long)
examples:
a child learning to speak after hearing language

Other examples include normal visual
development from early exposure to light and the development of walking after being able to experience physical movement in an appropriate environment.

Question 11

motor development

Answer 11

Motor development in the first 18
months involves 3 types of tasks:
gross motor skills
1. learning to stabilize oneself in a gravity-
controlled environment
2. learning to move through space
(locomotion)
fine motor skills
3. learning to manipulate objects

Question 12

sequence of fine
motor development

Answer 12

pre-reaching 
ulnar grasp* 
transfer from hand to hand 
pincer grasp
*also known as the palmar grasp

Question 13

Motor
development
(cont.)

Answer 13

Development of the 3 types
of tasks is interrelated
e.g., progress toward
upright posture opens the
way for new kinds of
locomotion and new
opportunities to explore
the world with the eyes
and hands

Question 14

trends in
motor
development

Answer 14

cephalocaudal
proximodistal
differentiation – increased control
over and specificity of muscle movements
e.g., babies finger’s operate as one unit. in newborns, everything moves
at once; they gradually become
capable of moving just one part of
the body while holding the rest still

integration – the coordination of
several differentiated movement patterns
into an overall pattern
e.g., thumb sucking

Question 15

Nature/Nurture

Answer 15

Motor development is not
hard wired; it depends on
environmental factors as well
as biological maturation.

Question 16

cultural practices

Answer 16

Cultural practices
can accelerate the
development of
some motor skills
and delay others.

Question 17

What does training do?

Answer 17

Training can accelerate the
development of motor skills.

Question 18

Does the timing of
motor development
matter?

Answer 18

Back sleeping is associated
with delays in rolling,
sitting, crawling, and
standing, but babies who
sleep on their backs do
eventually catch up to their
stomach-sleeping peers.

Question 19

universal lamguges

Answer 19

speaking and hearing is universal

READING AND WRITING IS NOT –> DEPENDENT EXPERIENCE

Question 20

motor development

Answer 20

gross motor sills
1. learning to stabilize oneself in a gravity controlled enviornemtn
2. learning to move through space
fine motor skills
3. learning to manipulate objects

Question 21

Does the timing of
motor development
matter?

Answer 21

The acquisition of a new motor skill
triggers the development of other
skills.
e.g., babies who can walk have
larger vocabularies than babies who
are still crawling

Question 22

Perceptual development

Answer 22

William James
the baby assailed by ears, eyes. nose, skin, and entrails at once. feels it is all one great booming, buzzing confusion.

Question 23

methods
for testing
the
perceptual
abilities of
infants

Answer 23

1. Habituation
2. Looking preference
3. Operant conditioning

Question 24

the operant
conditioning
method

Answer 24

when R reinforcer, R is
strengthened (likely to be
repeated)
so, if a stimulus results in a
high rate of responding, the
baby “likes” it
and if a change in stimulus
results in a change in the rate
of responding, the baby must
be able to distinguish
between the two stimuli

Question 25

key findings re: infant perception

Answer 25

1. preference for novelty vs. preference for the familiar – depends on how much time has passed 2. babies are born prepared to be social – sensory preferences ensure they will pay attention to people 3. perceptual narrowing effect – there is a decline in the ability to discriminate or recognize stimuli that are not present or not relevant in the infant’s environment 4. intermodal perception – understanding that stimulation received through different senses is coming from the same object is present at birth (or develops very early)