Chapter 8

What does the hypothalamus do?

Produces hormones that help to regulate emotional responses.

Do most people use both sides of their brains for every skill?

Yes

Fine motor skills mature about _____ months earlier in girls than in boys.

6

Four-year-old Hayden MOST likely can NOT:

Catch a small ball

The _____ is a band of axons that connects the brain's right and left hemispheres.

Corpus Callosum

Gardner is a left-handed adult. It is most likely that he has a thicker-than-normal:

Corpus callosum.

Large body movements, such as running, climbing, jumping, and throwing, are called _____ skills.

Gross motor

The tendency for each side of the brain to specialize in certain functions is called:

Lateralization.

The process by which axons become coated with a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron is called:

Myelination.

Body mass index (BMI) is MOST likely _____ correlated with annual family income

Negatively

Many fine motor skills require two hands and thus two sides of the brain. Therefore, it is MOST likely that an immature _____ and less myelination may underlie many of the problems that children have in developing these skills.

Prefrontal cortex

Another term for lateralization is:

Sidedness

Which body part is part of the limbic system?

The amygdala

Which part of the brain is crucial for the expression and regulation of emotions?

The limbic system

The _____ is the brain structure and part of the limbic system that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety.

amygdala

An underdeveloped prefrontal cortex can be responsible for _____ in young children.

impulsiveness

To what does the developmental term perseveration refer?

the tendency to stick to one thought or action