Lecture 9

Question 1

What percentage of height do you gain from birth to age 1?

Answer 1

50%

Question 2

What percentage of height do you gain from birth to age 2?

Answer 2

75%

Question 3

How long do babies gain “baby fat” for?

Answer 3

About 9 months, and then they slim out.

Question 4

What are the two growth trends?

Answer 4

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal

Question 5

What is cephalocaudal? (growth trend)

Answer 5

“Head to tail.” Lower part of the body grows later than the head.

Question 6

What is proximodistal? (growth trend)

Answer 6

“Near to far.” Extremities grow later than head, neck and trunk.

Question 7

How many neurons does the human brain have that store and transmit information?

Answer 7

100-200 billion

Question 8

At birth, the _____ is the closest to adult size than any other physical structure.

Answer 8

Brain

Question 9

How do neutrons send messages in the brain?

Answer 9

By releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters

Question 10

Programmed cell death

Answer 10

Check in text

Question 11

What is lateralization?

Answer 11

Specialization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Question 12

What does the left hemisphere of the brain do best?

Answer 12

Processing information in a sequential, analytic way.

Question 13

What does the right hemisphere of the brain do best?

Answer 13

Best at processing information in a holistic, integrative manner.

Question 14

In highly plastic cerebral cortex, many areas of the brain are not yet what?

Answer 14

Committed to one function; consequently, the cortex has a high capacity for learning.

Question 15

What happens if there are injuries to the cerebral cortex from before birth (or in the first six months) with language?

Answer 15

Language is delayed to about 3.5 years of age

Question 16

What happened by age 5 with language? (with damaged cerebral cortex’s)

Answer 16

The children caught up in grammatical and vocabulary skills (the undamaged area of the brain) either hemisphere, had taken over the language function.

Question 17

Why do spatial skills show more impairment after a brain injury?

Answer 17

Likely because spatial processing is more lateralized at birth.

Question 18

Can brain plasticity occur later in adulthood? Example?

Answer 18

Yes. E.g., stroke victims.

Question 19

What happens when there is early, extreme sensory deprivation?

Answer 19

Results in permanent brain damage and loss of function.

Question 20

What happens to babies born with cataracts in both eyes who have corrective surgery within 4-6 months?

Answer 20

Show rapid improvement in vision. The longer the surgery is postponed, the less complete the recovery of visual skills.

Question 21

What was shown in children who were adopted from Romanian orphanages?

Answer 21

Before 6 months, they showed dramatic cognitive and physical gains.

Question 22

What was shown in children who were adopted from orphanages AFTER 6 months?

Answer 22

Serious intellectual deficits.

Question 23

What happens to babies in deprived orphanage environments?

Answer 23

Disrupts the brain’s ability to manage stress, with long-term consequences.