Chapter 1

Question 1

Amblyopia

Answer 1

“Lazy eye”, loss of visual acuity in an otherwise healthy eye

Question 2

Analytic research

Answer 2

focused on the processes/variables that are responsible for the changes in abilities and needs from age to age, the “why” questions

Question 3

Androgen insensitivity syndrome

Answer 3

when an individual has male sex organs, but is resisted to male hormones (known as androgens), typically this can result in the lack of male sex traits

Question 4

Chromosome

Answer 4

structure composed of acids/proteins, found in the nucleus, contains genetic information

Question 5

Cohort effect

Answer 5

disadvantage of the cross-sectional design, the difference in age groups of the experiment may be due to generational/societal differences and not indicative of normal developmental patterns

Question 6

Critical period

Answer 6

now refined as a “sensitive” period

Question 7

Cross-sectional design

Answer 7

developmental research design in which individuals from different age groups are studied at the same point in time

Question 8

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 8

individual’s accumulated knowledge over their lifespan, may increase with age

Question 9

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Answer 9

building blocks of chromosomes, contain genes

Question 10

Dominant genes

Answer 10

allele that is expressed over the other allele, always results in that phenotype

Question 11

Experience-dependent

Answer 11

neural system that only develops typically if it receives appropriate input

Question 12

Experience-expectant

Answer 12

neural system whose development is critically dependant on inputs that are stable across sources

Question 13

Fetus

Answer 13

once an embryo has passed 8weeks of development

Question 14

Fluid intelligence

Answer 14

involves abstract thinking/quick reasoning, tends to decline with age

Question 15

Genes

Answer 15

molecular unit of heredity

Question 16

Genome

Answer 16

complete set of instructions contained in every cell of an organism

Question 17

Genotype

Answer 17

genetic blueprint, this and the environment produce an organism’s phenotype

Question 18

Longitudinal design

Answer 18

developmental research design where the same individuals are studied repeatedly over a subset of their lifespan

Question 19

Neural plate

Answer 19

developmental component of the nervous system, composed of primitive neural tissue, will develop into the neural tube

Question 20

Neural tube

Answer 20

when the neural plate folds/closes to become a hollow structure

Question 21

Neurogenesis

Answer 21

development/growth of neurons

Question 22

Normative/descriptive research

Answer 22

investigates how things normally change as a person ages

Question 23

Ocular dominance columns

Answer 23

columns of neurons in the visual cortex, respond preferentially to one eye

Question 24

Phenotype

Answer 24

observable traits resulting from the genotype/environment

Question 25

Polygenic inheritance

Answer 25

when a trait is governed by multiple gene pairs

Question 26

Quasi-experiment

Answer 26

similar to traditional experiments, lacks the random assignment of individuals to groups, the ones here are specified

Question 27

Recessive

Answer 27

only express if both alleles are recessive

Question 28

Sensitive period

Answer 28

stage of development when a person is MOST responsive to certain inputs, when new skills are learned quicker

Question 29

Synaptic pruning

Answer 29

changes in neural structures that results in the reduction of the number of synapses in the brain

Question 30

Teratogens

Answer 30

agent that causes malformation of an embryo

Question 31

Within-subjects design

Answer 31

the same group of participants is exposed to all the different conditions in an experiment