infant and child development quizzes
Zoe noticed that, while sleeping, she rarely dreams and does not change position in her bed. Zoe is likely to be mostly in what type of sleep?
Non-REM
Early philosopher John Locke viewed children as a tabula rasa, meaning they were
a blank slate.
In contrast to cultural practices of sleep in the United States, the Kipsigi community in rural Kenya practice
allow infants to take many naps and wake several times throughout the night to nurse on demand.
Electrical impulses travel from the cell body to _______ where neurotransmitters are released to send signals to other neurons.
axon terminals
Synaptogenesis begins prenatally and is especially rapid
before and after birth.
The process of implantation involves the
blastocyst becoming firmly embedded in the lining of the uterus.
The part of a neuron responsible for receiving neural transmissions is the
dendrite
Champagne and Meaney's study of rat licking provided evidence that
early experience may alter gene expression.
A pregnant mother who spends more than half of her time sedentary behaviors during pregnancy is more likely to
have a macrosomic infant.
The death of superfluous neuronal connections is referred to as
pruning
The Apgar scale is an assessment of newborn health and is based on ratings including neonate
pulse, grimace, and respiration.
Klinefelter syndrome and Turner syndrome provide evidence that
random negative mutations can occur.
During the time when a woman's egg leaves an ovary and travels into the fallopian tube, is when the egg
releases a chemical substance that attracts a man's sperm.
Research in brain growth and functioning has led to greater understanding of why some children are _______, while others suffer great harm under adverse environmental conditions.
resilient
Learning a language is substantially easier up until the age of 12. This is evidence of
sensitive periods.
During Meredith's pregnancy, Meredith had a procedure performed that resulted in an image of her fetus. This technique is called
ultrasonography.
Which theorist claimed that children have an innate ability to rapidly acquire language?
Chomsky
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development is best characterized by which example?
A child counts to five, but the teacher helps the child count a few more numbers to 10.
How do we know that a fetus has some awareness that it is moving a certain body part?
A fetus will open its mouth before rather than after its hand arrives to the mouth, indicating that it anticipates that the hand is approaching the mouth rather than another part of the body. After the hand arrives at the mouth, the fetus often sucks its thumb in what may be considered the first goal-directed actions of human development.
Policies and programs are developed to improve and enhance the lives of families and children. Which national program has been implemented to benefit children's learning?
A library reading program that encourages children to explore many books
A child is confronted by an unfamiliar barking dog. The child's heart starts to race as he runs away. Which part of the brain helps prepare for this response to a fearful situation?
Amygdala
_______ appear(s) to adjust in line with human experience and can serve to accelerate or delay the opening of a sensitive period.
Brain plasticity
Lilly and Max are dizygotic twins. A doctor once explained to their parents that Max has a higher chance of inheriting color blindness than Lilly. Why would that be?
Color blindness is a sex-linked trait associated with the X chromosome.
_______is (are) characteristic of the first stage of labor, while _______ is (are) characteristic of the second stage of labor.
Contractions; pushing
Which approach would limit the generalizability of study findings to the population of interest?
Convenience sampling
A researcher wants to measure the frequency of cyberbullying at different grade levels at an elementary school. Which type of study should be applied?
Cross-sectional study
A child has difficulty processing information early on, leading to challenges in making friends and later experiences of being bullied. What are these related effects called?
Developmental cascades
A researcher wishes to study the electrical brain activity of infants as they process stimuli. They are likely to use which technology to record the electrical activity in the surface of infants' brains?
EEG
While pregnant, Chloe suffered from depression. Her infant is likely to exhibit which of the following characteristics?
Elevated heart rate, suppressed motor activity, high irritability
Darius and Xavier are identical twins. At age 20, Darius was diagnosed with cancer but recovered with treatment. The two men are now 50 years old and Xavier has never been diagnosed with cancer. What concept might explain this difference?
Epigenetics
Which is an accurate description of the hindbrain?
It is responsible for regulating many basic life functions such as heart rate and digestion.
Bridget and Theo are parents of an infant. A friend encourages them to buy a learning system for their infant, citing the "use it or lose it" concept of maintaining existing neural connections. Is this the best advice?
No, pruning away excess neurons will improve the child's neural communication.
As an infant, Bryan started using his hands to grasp objects with his whole hand before he was able to use his fingers to press small buttons and turn knobs. The ability to grasp objects before being able to use fingers individually is an example of what principle of growth?
Proximodistal development
A group of researchers attempted to recreate several studies with identical procedures. These researchers discovered that most repeated studies were unable to match the original results. This shows a problem in which phenomenon?
Scientific replicability
Robyn and Marlene climbed the neighbors' fence to use their trampoline. Robyn's mom got angry and put Robyn on a timeout before giving a chore to Robyn. Marlene saw Robyn get scolded and punished and never climbed the fence again. Why?
She saw what could happen to her (vicarious reinforcement learning).
How does a mother's sleep and wake routine influence the circadian rhythm of the fetus?
The fetus's circadian rhythm develops in response to signals from the mother, whose body releases the hormone melatonin when regulating sleep. Thus, pregnant mothers who go to sleep and wake up at consistent hours support circadian adaptations in their fetuses.
Describe factors that lead to cell specialization.
The function of cells depends on the subset of genes that are turned on and expressed. The location in the body also influences cell specialization. The timing of cell specialization also influences the ultimate role of a cell.
The first six weeks after childbirth is what period of development?
The postnatal period
Talia took the drug Thalidomide while pregnant in 1958. The probability that her infant will suffer deformities because of exposure to this drug would depend on which factor?
Whether the mother took the drug during the period that exposes the fetus to harm
Describe some of the contextual influences on a mother's choice to breastfeed her infant.
Women with higher family incomes, higher education levels, partners with higher education levels, and women who hold or whose partners hold professional occupations are more likely to breastfeed than their counterparts who are low in income, education, and/or occupation. When multiple factors are considered together, the strongest predictor of breastfeeding in the United States is maternal and paternal education.
The part of the brain responsible for higher-order skills and that distinguishes humans from other animals is the
cerebral cortex.
Much of what is known about experience-dependent plasticity is a result of
correlational studies of children in various home environments.
Talia is a very active preschooler who loves sports and active play. Her parents recognize her need to be active and choose to enroll her in a few programs at their local YMCA. The parent's reaction to Talia's activity level is an example of
evocative effects.
The spread or variability among children in various aspects of development is called
individual differences.
A(n) _______ has been used to describe the unique components and interactive influence genetic and environmental aspects have on human development.
library metaphor
An experiment that follows the same group of children over a period of time is called a _______ study.
longitudinal
During the embryonic period, cells of the embryo begin to fold into three layers. The layer that contains cells for bone tissue is called the
mesoderm
By the end of the first year, infants have a distinct _______, which continues to develop until around 3 years of age.
microbiome
A condition in which an infant is born with an abnormally small head and brain is called
microcephaly.
Imani grew up in a region of Africa where malaria is prevalent. Many in her community that have lived there for generations seem to have increased resistance to the disease compared to families who have recently moved to the area. However, others moved away from Africa to areas without malaria where the gene was not needed to protect against the disease. This instance is an example of a
mixed mutation.
The weeks that precede and follow an infant's birth is known as the
perinatal period.
Rutter (1981) conducted a study on children from an orphanage: When infants received adequate care in adoptive homes, they became more affectionate, more cheerful. This is an example of
plasticity—infants can adapt and even change in response to improved environments or experiences.
Children whose mothers consumed high levels of fish oil (DHA) while pregnant are more likely to
show advantages on visual attention and processing speed at 24 months.
The main difference between premature infants and small-for-date infants is that
small-for-date infants weigh less than expected at birth based on the time they spent in the womb.
A child has the impulse to hit other children when he gets upset. However, the child realizes such behaviors are inappropriate and unacceptable, and therefore the child refrains from hitting. According to Freud's theory, the
superego is imposing societal demands on the id.
The brain's volume gradually increases over childhood through the processes of
synaptogenesis and myelination.
A large influence on U.S. parents' avoidance of co-sleeping with their infant stems from
the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation for infants not to share a bed to minimize the risk of SIDS.
Scientists' ability to locate a gene thought to be involved in an inherited disease has greatly increased because of
the Human Genome Project.
A boy brings a doll everywhere he goes. He sees other boys playing with blocks and never dolls. The boy puts his doll away and joins the other boys. According to Bandura, the boy did this because
the boy learned that other boys prefer playing with blocks to dolls and chose to do the same.
Behavioral genetic studies generally involve observing
the same participants over time, typically months or years.
In comparing both animal studies and twin studies, researchers feel confident in the finding that
the same principles of gene-environment interactions observed in animals apply to humans.
Fred and Ted are identical twins. This means
the zygote split in half soon after conception.
A person's _______ has a higher degree of phenotypic plasticity than their _______.
weight; eye color
Fetal alcohol syndrome is characterized in children by
a small forehead, short nose, and thin upper lip.
What might be an outcome of an infant being exposed to heroin prenatally?
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)