Chapter 4: Brain, Perception, and Motor Development

Question 1

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What are synapses?

Answer 1

connectors that allow messages to be sent from one neuron (nerve cell) to another, then throughout the body

Question 2

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is synaptogenesis?

Answer 2

formation of new synapses

• at the beginning of line, the brain makes way more synapses than we need (500% jump from birth to 2 years)

Question 3

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is synaptic pruning?

Answer 3

loss of unused neural connections

Question 4

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is lateralization?

Answer 4

process of brain hemispheres (left and right) becoming specialized to carry out different functions

Question 5

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

When does lateralization occur?

Answer 5

before birth

Question 6

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is lateralization influenced by?

Answer 6

influenced by both genes and experience

ie. being forced to be right-handed

Question 7

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is the Corpus Callosum?

Answer 7

neural fibres that runs down the middle of the brain and connect the two hemispheres that grow during lateralization

• grows very rapidly → the more it grows, the more the two hemispheres are able to coordinate responsibilities

Question 8

Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood

What is plasticity?

Answer 8

brain’s capacity to change its organization and function in response to experience

ie. traumatic brain injury: brain is plastic enough that it can reorganize itself and recover significantly, whereas adults have a harder time

Question 9

Brain Development in Adolescence

What triggers neurological developments?

Answer 9

pubertal hormones

Question 10

Brain Development in Adolescence

Does synaptogenesis occur in adolescence?

Answer 10

yes, but makes way less than in infancy and childhood

Question 11

Brain Development in Adolescence

What happens to the brain when pubertal hormones trigger neurological developments?

Answer 11

increase in cerebral cortex volume

Question 12

Brain Development in Adolescence

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 12

helps with judgement, so adolescents can analyze things more complexly and look at things from different angles

Question 13

Brain Development in Adolescence

What is the Dual Process Model?

Answer 13

limbic system undergoes burst of development before prefrontal cortex

Question 14

Brain Development in Adolescence

What is the limbic system responsible for?

Answer 14

emotion and reward, things that make us feel good

Question 15

Brain Development in Adolescence

What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?

Answer 15

judgement

Question 16

Brain Development in Adolescence

What accounts for “typical” adolescent behaviours?

Answer 16

adolescents are more likely to respond to stimulation of limbic system than it is to have the prefrontal cortex be functioning at a high level

Question 17

Brain Development in Adolescence

What are “typical” adolescent behaviours?

Answer 17

• judgement is not good, specifically in situations where there can be a good judgement reward
• adolescents are more likely to be risk-takers, unrealistically emotional, aggressive because the limbic system is more advanced that prefrontal cortex

Question 18

Gross Motor Development

What are gross muscles?

Answer 18

larger muscles

Question 19

Gross Motor Development

What is gross motor development?

Answer 19

ability to control the large movements of the body

• actions that help us move around in our environment (rollover, sit up, crawl, walk)
• gains in coordination

Question 20

Gross Motor Development

What is cephalocaudal progression?

Answer 20

motor control moves from the head down

- evolve in a predictable sequence

Question 21

Fine Motor Development

What is fine motor development?

Answer 21

• ability to control small movements of the fingers such as reaching and grasping
• opportunities to practice all motor skills

Question 22

Fine Motor Development

What is child-rearing context?

Answer 22

are parents and caregivers providing opportunities to practice these motor skills?

Question 23

Fine Motor Development

How do different cultures see motor development?

Answer 23

• different cultures, different techniques are used to encourage motor development
• some types of motor development is more important than others

Question 24

What is sensation?

Answer 24

occurs when one of the five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) detects a stimulus

Question 25

What is perception?

Answer 25

the sense our brain makes of the stimulus and our awareness of it - brain needs to understand the sense

Question 26

What is visual acuity?

Answer 26

sharpness of vision (perfect vision: 20/20) - newborn can see, but not well (vision: 2400/20) - 6-12 months (end up with 20/20 vision)

Question 27

What is visual tracking?

Answer 27

follow movements with eyes | - improves with age

Question 28

Describe hearing in infancy.

Answer 28

- the most well-developed sense at birth - capacity to hear develops in utero - newborns are attentive to voices and prefer speech sounds over non-speech sounds (know the difference between speech sounds and non-speech sounds), they would rather hear you talk than hear music ie. some parents talk to the baby, read, play music

Question 29

Describe touch in infancy.

Answer 29

(especially with the mouth) is a critical means of learning about the world - children are always putting things in their mouth

Question 30

What can reduce stress responses in infants?

Answer 30

- caregiver’s massage | - preterm and low weight babies can gain weight through massage

Question 31

What is the analgesic effect?

Answer 31

reducing infants’ pain response

Question 32

What sense has an analgesic effect?

Answer 32

touch: skin-to-skin contact

Question 33

Describe smell in infancy.

Answer 33

- well developed at birth - can discriminate between 2 different smells - can recognize mother’s odor (which has a calming effect)

Question 34

Describe taste in infancy.

Answer 34

- well developed at birth - can discriminate between 2 different tastes - show innate preferences for some tastes

Question 35

How do infants show innate preferences for some tastes?

Answer 35

- newborns can tell the difference between human milk and formula, prefer human milk - prefer sugary foods - experiences modify their taste preferences (ie. according to different familial, cultural environments)

Question 36

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 2 months?

Answer 36

- lift head | - holds head steady when held upright

Question 37

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 3 months?

Answer 37

- pushes head and chest up from arms | - rolls from stomach to back

Question 38

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 4 months?

Answer 38

grasps cube

Question 39

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 6 months?

Answer 39

sits without support

Question 40

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 7 months?

Answer 40

- rolls from back to stomach - attempts crawling - uses opposite thumb to grasp objects

Question 41

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 8 months?

Answer 41

- achieves sitting position alone | - pulls to a stand

Question 42

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 9 months?

Answer 42

"cruises" by holding on to furniture

Question 43

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 10 months?

Answer 43

plays patty-cake

Question 44

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 11 months?

Answer 44

stands alone

Question 45

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 12 months?

Answer 45

walks alone

Question 46

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 14 months?

Answer 46

- builds tower of two cubes | - scribbles

Question 47

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 17 months?

Answer 47

walks up steps

Question 48

Gross Motor Development What motor skill is achieved at age 18 months?

Answer 48

runs

Question 49

Fine Motor Development What gross motor skills and fine motor skills are achieved at age 2-3?

Answer 49

Gross: walks more smoothly, runs but cannot turn or stop suddenly, jumps, throws a ball with a rigid body and catches by trapping ball against chest, rides push toys using feet Fine: unzips large zippers, puts on and removes some clothing, uses a spoon

Question 50

Fine Motor Development What gross motor skills and fine motor skills are achieved at age 3-4?

Answer 50

Gross: runs, ascends stairs alternating feet, jumps 15-24 inches, hops, pedals and steers tricycle Fine: serves food, can work large buttons, copies vertical line and circle, uses scissors

Question 51

Fine Motor Development What gross motor skills and fine motor skills are achieved at age 4-5?

Answer 51

Gross: runs more smoothly with control over stopping and turning, descends stairs alternating feet, jumps 24-33 inches, ski[s, throws balls by rotating the body and transferring weight to one foot, catches ball with hands, ride tricycles, and steers effectively Fine: uses scissors to cut along a line, uses fork effectively, copies simple shape and some letters

Question 52

Fine Motor Development What gross motor skills and fine motor skills are achieved at age 5-6?

Answer 52

Gross: runs more quickly, skips more effectively, throws and catches a ball like older children, makes a running jump of 28-36 inches, rides bicycles with training wheels Fine: ties shoes, uses knife to cut soft food, copies numbers and simple words