Chap 3 - Physical Growth & Aging Across The Life Span

Question 0

State

Answer 0

Degree of awareness an infant displays to both internal & external stimulation

Question 1

Rhythms

Answer 1

Repetitive, cyclical patterns of behavior

Question 2

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

Answer 2

Period of sleep that is found in older children & adults & is associated with dreaming

Question 3

Puberty

Answer 3

Period of maturation during which the sexual organs mature

Question 4

Menarche

Answer 4

The onset of menstruation

Question 5

Primary sex characteristics

Answer 5

Characteristics associated with the development of the organs & structures of the body that directly relate to reproduction

Question 6

Secondary sex characteristics

Answer 6

The visible signs of sexual maturity that do not directly involve the sex organs

Question 7

Senescence

Answer 7

The natural physical decline brought about by increasing age

Question 8

Primary aging

Answer 8

Aging that involves universal & irreversible changes that, due to genetic programming, occur as people get older

Question 9

Secondary aging

Answer 9

Changes in physical & cognitive functioning that are due to illness, health habits, & other individual differences, but that are not due to increased age itself & are not inevitable

Question 10

Osteoporosis

Answer 10

A condition in which the bones become brittle, fragile, & thin, often brought about by a lack of calcium in the diet

Question 11

Synaptic pruning

Answer 11

The elimination of neurons as the result of nonuse or lack of stimulation

Question 12

Myelin

Answer 12

Protective insulation that surrounds parts of neurons, increasing the speed of transmission of electrical impulses along brain cells

Question 13

Cerebral cortex

Answer 13

The upper layer of the brain

Question 14

Plasticity

Answer 14

The degree to which a developing structure or behavior is modifiable due to experience

Question 15

Sensitive period

Answer 15

A point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences

Question 16

Lateralization

Answer 16

The process in which certain cognitive functions are located more in one hemisphere of the brain than in the other

Question 17

Reflexes

Answer 17

Unlearned, organized involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli

Question 18

Norms

Answer 18

The average performance of a large sample of children of a given age

Question 19

Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)

Answer 19

A measure designed to determine infants’ neurological & behavioral responses to their environment

Question 20

Handedness

Answer 20

The preference of using one hand over the other

Question 21

Sensation

Answer 21

The physical stimulation of the sense organs

Question 22

Perception

Answer 22

The sorting out, interpretation, analysis, & integration of stimuli involving the sense organs & brain

Question 23

Multimodal approach to perception

Answer 23

The approach that considers how info that is collected by various individual sensory systems is integrated & coordinated

Question 24

Affordances

Answer 24

The option that a given situation or stimulus provides

Question 25

Visual impairment

Answer 25

A special need that involves significant loss of sight

Question 26

Auditory impairment

Answer 26

A special need that involves the loss of hearing or some aspect of hearing

Question 27

Speech impairment

Answer 27

Speech that deviates so much from the speech of others that it calls attention to itself, interferes with communication, or produces maladjustment in the speaker

Question 28

Stuttering

Answer 28

Substantial disruption in the rhythm & fluency of speech; the most common speech impairment

Question 29

Presbyopia

Answer 29

A nearly universal change in eyesight during middle adulthood that results in some loss of near vision

Question 30

Glaucoma

Answer 30

A condition in which pressure in the fluid of the eye increases, either because the fluid cannot drain properly or because too much fluid is produced

Question 31

Presbycusis

Answer 31

Loss of the ability to hear sounds of high frequency

Question 32

Peripheral slowing hypothesis

Answer 32

The theory that suggests that overall processing speed declines in the peripheral nervous system with increasing age

Question 33

Generalized slowing hypothesis

Answer 33

The theory that processing in all parts of the nervous system, including the brain, is less efficient

Question 34

Gerontologists

Answer 34

Specialists who study aging