Midterm 2: Chapters 5-7

Understand environmental influences on early mental development, including home, child care, and early interventions for at-risk infants and toddlers. (pp. 227-230)

-SES of home, type of neighborhood -quality of child care -presence of early interventions -quality of nutrition

What are the sequelae of attachment? What is the association between security of attachment in infancy and cognitive, emotional, and social competence in childhood. (Presentation 12; pp. 274- 275)

-implications of attachment Secure Attachment: -greater self confidence -greater self esteem -greater social competence -better able to cope with challenges -greater sense of curiosity -better relationships with peers and adults Anxious Avoidant Attachment: -lower on all above dimensions -aggressiveness with peers Anxious Resistant Attachment: -lower on all above dimensions -dependency Disorganized Attachment: -most represented in clinical populations

Understand how development of the prefrontal cortex and cognitive development (language and gains in representation) contribute to the development of self-regulation. (Presentation 10; p. 252- 253)

-increases baby's tolerance for stimulation -bw 2&4 months, caregivers build on this capacity by initiating face-to-face play and attention to objects. -4-6 months baby can shift attention away from unpleasant events and engage in self-soothing to control their emotions

How can child-rearing practices affect the course of extremely inhibited or emotionally reactive baby. (Wingert & Brant, 2005; Presentation 10; pp. 256)

-most extremely shy or sociable children inherit a physiology that biases them toward a particular temperamental style -warm/supportive parents reduce shy infants' intense physiological reaction to novelty

What are attachment behaviors? What is their purpose? (Presentation 11 and 12)

-use of parent as a secure base -signs of missing parent -soothed once parent returns -degree of exploration

Describe the 3 Hallmarks of attachment (Presentation 11)

...

Explain what researchers mean by "organized" patterns of attachment. Is it true that both insecure and secure patterns of attachment can be considered organized patterns of attachment? Are there exceptions to these organized patterns? (Main, 2000 reading; Hesse, 2000 reading; Presentation 11, 12)

...

How do attention and memory play a role in the habituation process? (Presentation: 8, pgs. 178- 179, 218-219)

...

The development of emotion regulation is described as both a social process and an individual process. In lecture and in the readings we reviewed multiple ways in which emotional reactions can be regulated both by the self and by the environment. Explain how these strategies change over time and understand examples of other-directed and a self-directed emotional regulation strategy for newborns, infants, and children. (Presentation 10)

...

Understand stability of attachment and the factors that affect attachment security. (Presentation 12; pp. 264-269 - environmental stability is related to stability of attachment relationships; change in social support, resources, family stress is related to change in quality of attachment relationship)

...can make a guess

Describe the Strange Situation for measuring the quality of attachment between an infant and his/her caregiver, and know the four patterns of attachment that are assessed. Describe the procedure, and understand the premise on which it was based, (Main, 2000 reading; Hesse, 2000 reading; Presentation 11, 12; handout posted on Canvas; pp. 263-264)

A widely used lab technique for assessing the quality of attachment between 1-2years of age - Ainsworth said that securely attached infants and toddlers should use the parent as a secure base from which to explore in an unfamiliar playroom, When the parent leaves, an unfamiliar adult should be less comforting than the parent.

neurophysiological methods of measuring brain functioning (pp. 163-164, Presentation 7)

Brain Electricity (EEG & ERPs) vs Brain Chemistry (MRI & fMRI)

What are the two language-specific areas of the brain, and what is the function of each? (Presentation: 9; p. 232-233)

Broca's area: language production Wernicke's area: language comprehension & word meaning

What is the effectiveness of early intervention programs for infant and toddler cognitive development? (Presentation 8; pp. 229-230)

Children in poverty are likely to show a gradual decline in IQ scores. -if enrolled in early intervention programs, the children can get much higher scores, and maintain these scores throughout college (21yrs)

Two categories of associative learning

Classical & Operant conditioning

Classical vs Operant Conditioning

Classical: builds on natural reflexes (little albert) Operant: builds upon things in the infants environment

EEG vs ERP

EEG: measures electrical activity in brain ERP: measures electrical activity in the brain in response to specific stimuli -- allows identification of general regions of stimulus-induced activity

Define effortful control and explain why it is important. (pp. 254-255)

Effortful Control: capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response

Know concepts social smile, stranger anxiety, emotional contagion, social referencing and their function (Presentation 10; chapter 7)

Emotional Contagion: tendency for two individuals to emotionally converge - can be done through automatic mimicry and synchronization of one's expressions, vocalizations, postures and movements with those of another person.

These days, the most influential model of temperament is Mary Rothbart's model of temperament. What are the dimensions of her model? How do individuals differ on these dimensions? (pp. 254- 255)

Reactivity 1. activity level 2. attention span/persistence 3. fearful distress 4. irritable distress 5. positive affect Self Regulation 6. effortful control

Understand concepts, such as underextension, overextension, telegraphic speech (p. 237-238)

Under-extension: application of a word too narrowly (bear is only used to describe one particular bear) Over-extension: application of a word too widely (car for buses, trains, and trucks) Telegraphic speech: focus on high content words (more cookie, go car)

Discuss individual and cultural differences in early language development, including factors that influence these differences. (pp. 239-240)

When a child says their first words is dependent on their individual temperament (shy children wait till they understand much more), gender, caregiver-child conversations, SES Referential Style: vocabularies consist of mainly words that refer to objects (young children) Expressive Style: compared to referential style, these children pronounce many more social formulas and pronouns (thank you, done, i want it)

How can caregivers support conversational give-and-take in babies? (p. 236)

around 3 months - infants and mothers mutually imitate the pitch, loudness, and duration of each other's sounds. Exchanges allow baby to practice turn taking in human conversation and mature the baby's language

Early speech perception; Given the complexity and variability of speech, how do infants figure out the particular sound distinctions that matter in their native language? Example of the Japanese 'r' vs. English 'r' (Presentation 7 & 9, pgs. 187-189)

babies take statistics of what they hear and can categorize the percentage of certain sounds in languages. english r & l vs Japanese r

Explain brain plasticity, and when it is most plastic? What are the positive and negative consequences of brain plasticity? (pp. 165-167, Presentation 7)

brain being shaped by experience. younger the child, the more plastic their brain is. Pros: positive input can enhance brain development Con: negative input can hinder brain development.

adaptation

building schemes through direct interaction with the environment

Indication of the development of some complex emotions, such as empathy, begin as early infancy. What is the evidence? (Wingert & Brant, 2005; Presentation 10)

empathy: cry when they hear another baby's cry but not their own jealousy: ~6+ months get jealous when their mom is holding a toy baby

Understand the goodness-of-fit model. (pp. 259-260)

explains how temperament and environment can together produce favorable outcomes. Goodness of fit involves creating child-rearing environments that recognize each child's temperament while simultaneously encouraging more adaptive functioning

synaptogenesis

formation of synapses

intentional behavior

goal-directed substage 4 object permanence (babies still make A-not-B search errors)

Explain "neural commitment" and how it supports learning of language. (Presentation 9)

more plasticity prior to neural commitment - able to learn languages more easily - after synaptic pruning, less available neurons to learn new language

disequilibrium

prompts ACCOMMODATION. cognitive discomfort

Why do girls tend to mature faster than boys at birth? (pp. 161).

sexes differ by about 4-6 weeks (gap widens during childhood), girls have more developed organs

What is lateralization, and why does it occur? (pp. 165-167, Presentation 7)

specialization of the two hemispheres - occurs bc it permits a wider array of functions to be carried out effectively than if both processed info the same way

mirror neurons

specialized cells in motor areas of cerebral cortex - imitative capacities - mirror neurons fire identically when a primate hears or sees an action and when it carries out that action on its own

What is the ethological theory of attachment. (Presentation 11, pp. 261-262)

theory which recognizes the infant's emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved response that promotes survival - the most widely accepted view *Baby monkey experiment showed that infants don't become attached bc of feeding, but because of the nurturing and comfort provided

assimilation

use our current schemes to interpret the external world

equilibrium

when children aren't changing much, and they ASSIMILATE more than they accommodate

What is joint attention, and how does it contribute to early language development? (p. 236)

when the child attends to the same object or event as the caregiver - the caregiver often labels it so the infant begins to comprehend more language and understand meaningful gestures

synaptic pruning

(developmental reorganization) at first, a child is born with all the necessary tools for any language, etc. but neurons that are rarely stimulated are lost to make room for the needed neurons

Describe the development of basic emotions, including happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, over the first year, noting the adaptive function of each. (Presentation: 10; pp. 247-250)

Happiness: expressed in smiles, then laughs. Binds parent and baby into warm, supportive relationships that fosters the infant's development. *Social Smile: bw 6&10 wks, parent's communication evokes a broad grin. Laughter appears around 3-4 months. Anger/Sadness: newborns respond with generalized distress to many unpleasant experiences (hunger, pain, changes in body temp, too much or too little stimulation, etc). Angry reactions increase with age - as they become capable of intentional behavior they want to control their own actions leading to more frequent upsetting situation. Fear: arises around 6 months. Stranger anxiety is most common expression of fear. Secure base helps with fear and development with parent.

Different levels of emotion regulation - what is being regulated and how is it measured? (Presentation 10)

Measured via -self report -observation -biological markers (HR, BP, pupils)

With respect to daycare and attachment - what are factors that can influence the quality of the attachment relationship (between child and parent) both positively and negatively. P. 270

Negative Impact: -long hours in child care -inadequate child care Positive Impact: -high quality -part time employment instead of full time

What is a sensitive period for language development? (Presentation 9; p. 233)

People who learn language during early childhood are much more proficient at it than those who learn it during childhood or later in adulthood. biologically based timeline for optimum language development

What is the best way to estimate a child's physical maturity? (pp. 161).

Skeletal age: measure of bone development - xray long bones to see growth plates

accomodation

adjusting old schemes & creating new ones to better fit the environment

**Understand the link between parents' internal working model and quality of attachment with baby. (Presentation 12,Hand-out on Canvas, p. 268-269).

*parents bring their own history of attachment experiences from which they construct internal working models that they apply to the bonds they establish with their babies. *reconstructed memories affected by many factors - must not assume any direct transfer of parents' childhood experiences to quality of attachment with their own child -asked to evaluate childhood memories of attachment experiences -parents who discuss their childhoods with objectivity and balance, regardless of if it was + or -, tend to have securely attached infants and to behave sensitively towards them -parents who dismiss the importance of early relationships or describe them in angry, confused ways, usually have insecurely attached children and are less warm, sensitive, and encouraging of learning and mastery Z LOOK AT WORKSHEET

The reciprocal nature of infant-mother face-to-face interaction has been tested and demonstrated using Tronick's "Still Face Paradigm". Describe this experimental procedure. How might these findings pertain to research on the effects of postnatal depression on mother-infant interaction, and problems in mother-infant interaction? (Presentation 10)

-When one member of the dyad does not engage in expected protocol of turn-taking -Depressed moms - chronically unresponsive - difficulty picking up the infant's cues

Be familiar with research findings related to sensitive periods in brain region development, and note evidence of brain growth spurts and the need for appropriate stimulation. (pp. 167-168, Presentation 7)

-babies deprived in early suffer -orphanages: limited social contact w/ adults & lack of stimulation = decreased cognitive and social skills -babies adopted before 6months old were able to catch up bc of plasticity.

Define Attachment (Presentation 11, p. 261)

-enduring emotional tie bw infant & caregiver -two way relationship -product of repeated daily interactions -can be attached to more than one person

What does it take for an infant to learn a word? (Presentation 9)

-extract the word from the speech stream -encode the sound pattern well enough to recognize it again -figure out whether it links to something in the present context -if so, figure out what respect it is relevant to in the present context -figure out why the speaker is using it; what it is being used to communicate

Understand evidence that the quality of a child's attachment depends more on the caregiving she has received than on her temperamental qualities. How, then, does temperament influence attachment? (Presentation 12)

...

What is the video deficit effect? What is an explanation for this phenomenon? (Presentation: 8; p. 210).

...

***What is the Adult Attachment Interview? What are the four adult representations of attachment that are classified? (Presentation 12)

... DO THIS

Mary Main's theory postulates that infants' patterns of attachment reflect strategies for maintaining proximity to a caregiver that emerge from specific experiences with their caregiver. Describe and explain. Understand the strategies (or the lack of strategy) and specific parenting experiences that led to the specific strategy, for each of the 4 classifications of attachment. (Presentation 12, lecture 12)

......

**Understand the 4 phases of the development of attachment (Presentation 11, p. 262)

1. Preattachement Phase (birth - 6weeks): built in signals - grasping, smiling, crying, and gazing into the adult's eyes - help bring newborn babies into close contact with other humans who comfort them. Recognize mom's voice, smell, face, but are not yet attached to her (don't mind being left with an adult) 2. "Attachment in the Making" Phase (6wks-6-8months): infants respond diffferently to a familiar caregiver than to a stranger. Develop a sense of trust as they learn their actions affect the behavior of those around them (cry, mom picks them up, they feel better) 3. "Clear-cut" Attachment Phase: (6-8 -18-24months): now attachment to the familiar caregiver is evident. Babies display separation anxiety. 4. Formation of a Reciprocal Relationship (18-24months on): rapid growth in representation and language enables toddlers to understand some of the factors that influence the parent's coming and going and to predict their return - as a result, separation protests decline.

4 Patterns of Attachment

1. Secure Attachment -infants use parents as a SB -may/may not cry when parent leaves -express clear pleasure when parent returns 2. Insecure-Avoidant Attachment -unresponsive to parent when she is present -when parent leaves they are usually not distressed -react to the stranger similarly to parent -during reunion, they avoid or are slow to greet the parent -when picked up, often fail to cling 3. Insecure-Resistant Attachement -before separation, infants seek closeness to the parent and often fail to explore -when parent leaves, they are usually distressed -on return they combine clinginess with angry, resistive behavior or with an anxious focus on the parent -may continue to cry after being picked up and cannot be comforted easily 4. Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment -pattern reflects greatest insecurity -at reunion, infants show confused, contradictory behaviors (eg looking away while parent is holding them or approaching the parent with flat, depressed emotion) -most display a dazed facial expression -a few cry out unexpectedly after having calmed down or display odd, frozen postures

What are the implications (new capacities) that result from the ability to create mental representations (Presentation 8; pp. 205)

1. images 2. concepts/categories diferred imitation (someone/something that isn't in the room) make-believe play

Describe the major cognitive achievements of Piaget's sensorimotor stage. (Presentation 8; pp. 203- 205)

1. repeating chance behaviors 2. intentional behavior 3. mental representation

Summarize major milestones of language development in the first two years, individual differences, and ways adults can support infants' and toddlers' emerging capacities. (pp. 235-241)

2 months: coo/vowel sounds 4 months on: infants observe with interest as the caregiver plays turn-taking games 6 months on: babble& consonants / repeating syllables. Begin to comprehend a few commonly heard words 8-12 months: actively participate in turn taking, preverbal gestures- pointing towards goal 12 months: babbling includes sound and intonation patters, speed and accuracy of word comprehension increases rapidly, toddlers say 1st recognizable word 18-24 months: spoken vocabulary expands from 50-200/250 words. Toddlers combine 2 words

Discuss the three underlying components of temperament, and identify three types of children described by Thomas and Chess. Which pattern places children at highest risk for adjustment problems? (pp. 254)

3 Underlying Components of Temperament: 1. Emotion (fearful distress, irritable distress, poitive affect) 2. Attention (attention span/persistence) 3. Action (activity level) 3 Types of Children: 1. Easy Child: quickly establishes regular routines in infancy, is generally cheerful, and adapts easily to new experiences 2. Difficult Child: irregular in daily routines, slow to accept new experiences, tends to react negatively and intensely 3. Slow-to-warm-up Child: inactive, shows mild, low-key reactions to environmental stimuli, is negative in mood, and adjusts slowly to new experiences

What is Vygotsky's view on make-believe play? Understand cultural differences regarding who encourages the development of make-believe play. (p. 224)

Believed society provies children with opportunities to represent culturally meaningful activities in play - MBP, like other complex mental activities, is first learned under the guidence of experts Western: middle SES family - older siblings less often teach deliberately but still serve as influential models Indonesia/Mexico: extend-family households & siblings , mbp is more frequent and complex with older siblings than with mothers

Describe the body growth patterns of infants, i.e., the cephalocaudal trend and the proximodistal trend. (pp. 160-161)

Cephalocaudal trend = during the prenatal period, the head develops more rapidly than the lower part of the body Proximodistal trend = growth from the center of the body, outward. Hands and feet grow last

How does Patricia Kuhl's work provide evidence for a critical period of learning a language? What is this period? (Presentation 9; Wingert & Brant, 2005)

Developmental reorganization: progressive neural commitment to the statistical structure of the native language

Freud believed that "drive reduction" was the basis of the formation of attachment in infancy. Similarly behaviorists emphasized associative learning to explain the development of attachment relationships. Describe Freud's hypothesis, and a behaviorist's theory. How did Harlow test these hypotheses using infant monkeys? What did Harlow find, and were the psychoanalytic and behaviorist theories supported or refuted? (Presentation 11; p. 261).

Drive Reduction: emotional attachment to mother founded on feeding Behaviorist Theory: attachment is formed through association with feeding Harlow: monkeys became more attached to the warm mother than to the mother with the bottle

What is emotion regulation? (Presentation 10)

Emotional self-regulation: strategies used to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so we can accomplish our goals - Dynamic process -Involves maintenance, inhibition, or enhancing emotions -Important for social strategies, cognitive performance, management of stressful experiences

Explain how language development begins to develop in utero. How do we know? And when does it begin? (Presentation: 9)

Fetus begins to take statistics of sounds/language

What can and can't a fetus learn about language in utero? What properties of language come through? Understand their language preference at birth. (Presentation: 9)

Fetus can learn rhythmic/melodic properties of language (stress patterns or native language) Can't learn consonant system/word meaning

Summarize changes that occur during the first two years in understanding others' emotions. (pp. 250-251)

First few months babies try to match the feeling tone of the caregiver in face-to-face communication via emotional contagion. ~3 months: sensitive to structure and timing of face-to-face interactions ~4/5 months: distinguish positive from negative motion in voices and soon after, in facial expression ~7+ months: realize emotional expression has meaning but is also a meaningful reaction to a specific object or event Social referencing to compare others' reactions with their own

Explain how child-directed speech and conversation support early language development. What is motherese? Is it useful? (Presentation: 9; pp. 240-241)

Infant Directed Speech: form of communication made up of short sentences with high-pitched, exaggerated expression, clear pronunciation, distinct pauses bw speech segments, clear gestures to support verbal meaning, and repetition of new words in a variety of contexts. vowel stretch. Motherese: intonation of speech sounds of infant directed speech are exaggerated, and overall average pitch is higher. Infants are especially attentive to such highly social input and learn best from it.

Compare an inhibited child and uninhibited child physiologically and behaviorally. What area of the brain does Kagan believe contributes to these individual differences? (Presentation 10; p. 256)

Inhibited/Shy Children: react negatively to and withdraw from novel stimuli -higher heart rates -higher levels of cortisol (stress hormone) in saliva -greater pupil dilation -higher blood pressure Uninhibited/Social Children: display positive emotion and approach novel stimuli -opposite of above

Describe the characteristics of infants' first words and two-word phrases, and explain why language comprehension develops ahead of language production. (pp. 237-238)

Language comprehension develops first - around 5 months they respond to their own name. First spoken word is around 12 months. Language production requires more motor abilities than language comprehension.

MRI vs fMRI

MRI = structure of brain based on density fMRI = location of activation in brain while it engages in a task -- high degree of spacial resolution

Describe differences in caregiving experience related to each type of attachment relationship (Main, 2000; Hesse, 2000; Presentation 12; p. 266-267)

Secure Babies: attentive caregiver Avoidant Babies: tend to receive overstimulating, intrusive care. Resistant Babies: experience inconsistent care Disorganized/Disoriented Babies: mothers engage in frightening, contradictory and unpleasant behaviors (looking scared, teasing baby)

Understand concepts, such as secure base, separation anxiety, internal working model (Presentation 11, pp. 262-263)

Secure Base: point from which to explore, venturing into the environment, and then returning for emotional support Separation Anxiety: becoming upset when their trusted caregiver leaves Internal Working Model: set of expectations about the availability of attachment figures, their likelihood of providing support during times of stress, and the self's interaction with those figures. The internal working model becomes a vital part of personality, serving as a guide for all future close relationships

What are the standards for developmentally appropriate practice to determine high quality infant and toddler child care? (Presentation 8; pp. 227-228)

Standards specify program characteristics that seve young children's needs

What is temperament? (p. 253-254)

Temperament: early-appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self regulation. Reactivity: quickness & intensity of emotional arousal, attention, and motor activity Self Regulation: refers to strategies that modify reactivity

Substages of sensorimotor (Presentation 8; pp. 203- 205)

age 0-2. 6 substages. 1. reflexive schemes 2. primary circular reactions (centered around the baby's own body - sucking thumb) 3. secondary circular reactions (touching dog) 4. coordination of secondary circular reactions (intentional, goal directed) 5. tertiary circular reactions (exploring/imitating) 6. mental representation (internal depictions - make believe play)

Distinguish between experience-expectant and experience-dependent brain growth. (p. 169, Presentation 7)

expectant: young brain's rapidly developing organization - depends on ordinary experiences & opportunities to explore the environment, people, languages dependent: occurs throughout life - additional growth and refinement of established brain structures as a result of specific learning experiences that vary widely across individuals & cultures

habituation & recovery (dehabituation)

habituation: gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to a repetitive stimulus recovery: once habituation happens, a new stimulus can cause the high level response. recovery demonstrates that the infant has a 'recent memory' because it recognizes that the two things are not the same

Describe Piaget's view of cognitive development, noting how schemes change over the course of development. (Presentation 8; pp. 201-202).

hands on

Influences on early physical growth, especially nutrition - including breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding (pp. 171-173)

heredity/nutrition (breast vs bottle) can shape early physical growth and health

What is infantile amnesia? What explains it? (Presentation 8; p. 220)

hippocampus adding new neurons & most memories are non-verbal which don't fit well into long term storage

Implications of malnutrition (pp. 175)

learning & behavior altered - reduced brain weight, less neurotransmitters produced.

What is the cerebral cortex and its purpose? (pp. 164-165, Presentation 7)

outer layer of the brain, folded into sulci - 85% of brain's weight. last part of the brain to stop growing, so very long sensitive period

oganization

process that occurs internally, apart from direct contact w/ the environment. Once children form new schemes, they rearrange them, linking them w/ other schemes to create a strongly interconnected cognitive system ADAPT SCHEMES

Explain Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development, and explain the concept of scaffolding. (Presentation 8; pp.222-223)

zone of prox devel: tasks child cannot do alone, but can learn to do with help. scaffolding promotes learning at all ages