Developmental Neuro Final Brain Story Certificate

Executive function skills finish maturing at about what age?

25

Between what ages do executive function skills show the most dramatic period of growth?

3-5 years

Which key factor is unique to a pre-emptive approach to mental disorders?

A biologically-based theory of the disorder that allows for personalized, predictive tools such as biomarkers.

Key elements of successful prevention programs are:

A focus on two generational approaches with a population impact.

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

A person takes a drug at a party, feels their social anxiety ease, and then takes the drug again.

What does Dr. Felitti recommend when taking an ACE history in health care settings?

Acknowledge how ACEs might have impacted the patient's life by asking: "How has this affected. you later in life"?

What mechanism helps to explain the association between ACEs and cardiovascular disease in adulthood?

Activation of inflammatory pathways.

What explanation does Dr. Felitti give for the cause of addiction?

Addiction is a solution to a problem caused by exposure to stressful life experiences, particularly in childhood

Which of the following is a unique characteristic of the Healthy Steps Program?

Adults are treated in pediatric primary care settings

Building adult skills through training and mentoring can lead to better outcomes for children because:

All of the above

How do social interactions with attentive adults support learning in children?

All of the above

It is important to provide prevention programs for children of parents. with depression because:

All of the above

The interpersonal dysfunction that is part of PTSD includes:

All of the above

What is the answer that best describes what is included in the Modular Approach to Treatment for Children (MATCH)?

All of the above

What role do adults play in helping children build their executive function skills?

All of the above

What is one of the main regions involved in the withdrawal/negative affect stage of the addiction cycle?

Amygdala

Children with a stable behavioural inhibition temperament are at greater risk of developing which specific disorder later in life?

Anxiety disorder

Why do problems like substance misuse, disordered eating, and self-harm behaviours often accompany complex PTSD?

Because they help regulate intense emotional states.

Ultimately, developing a theory of change for an intervention:

Contributes to confidence in what is being targeted in the intervention and how it will be evaluated

What is one of the main neurotransmitters involved in the binge/intoxication stage of the addiction cycle?

Dopamine

Which of the following adverse childhood experiences was not included as part of the ACE Study?

Growing up in a neighbourhood with community violence

Compared to usual care, an evidence-based therapy (EBT)

Has been tested sufficiently through research to be called an evidence-based therapy.

An individual with a high ACE score is more likely to:

Have multiple, lifetime mental health diagnoses

Which skill does the program called Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) focus on improving through the translational research cycle?

Improving serve and return

The application of EBTs in real-world clinical settings can be improved by:

Integrating various EBTs to address co-morbidity, clinical caseload, and the need to potentially adjust treatment while underway.

According to Dr. Felitti, what were the benefits of asking about ACEs in Kaiser Permanente's patient medical history?

It allowed them to better understand and treat many problems that had previously seemed intractable.

What is the main benefit of the Healthy Steps Program?

It gives parents with ACEs the care they need to support their child and keep the child's ACE score as low as possible.

What does Dr. Briggs emphasize as an important part of obtaining a parent's ACE history?

It is done universally, for all parents, not just those who the staff suspect may have ACEs.

What would be the least helpful when implementing an executive function curriculum in an early education program?

Keeping executive function activities separate from other academic content

Which of the following is NOT a factor that increases vulnerability for PTSD?

Male gender

Which aspect of development is NOT affected by social interactions?

None of the above

Which of the following is NOT a parental capacity that is mediated by the executive function system?

None of the above

What is one of the main brain regions involved in the binge/intoxication stage of the addiction cycle?

Nucleus Accumbens

Which of the following behaviors is NOT typically shown by behaviourally inhibited children?

Poor impulse control

What is one of the main brain regions involved. in the preoccupation/anticipation stage of the addiction cycle?

Prefrontal cortex

Which answer best describes resilience?

Resilience is a positive outcome of the interaction between genes and the environment beginning in early childhood.

What common signaling system most likely underlies the strong association between depression and physical illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity?

Stress system

What brain region has been shown to be overactive in behaviourally inhibited children?

The amygdala

Two key brain structures involved in. depression are:

The amygdala and hippocampus

All of the elements below characterize the translational research cycle except:

The cycle is static and does not contribute to practice innovation.

In video 2 of this module, what does Dr. Koob refer to as "the dark side of addiction"

The fact that addiction is characterized by the emergence of a negative emotional state.

What predicts how much oxytocin a mother releases in response to her own baby?

The mother's attachment style

Imaging studies have shown grey matter increases in mothers' brains from 2-4 weeks to 3-4 months postpartum. What best predicts this increase?

The mother's positive perception of her baby

What is the major event that characterizes the withdrawal/negative affect stage of addiction?

The stress system is engaged

What is one attribute of trauma-informed schools?

They know the prevalence of ACEs in their student population

What reason does Dr. Felitti give to explain why addiction is so challenging to treat?

Treating the solution to someone's problem may be threatening and cause them to flee treatment

Of thee answers below, which one. is the most important to remember when considering an ADHD diagnosis for a child?

Whether they are high on either inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity dimensions compared to other children of the. same age and sex

What element of executive function is the most important in following multi-step processes?

Working memory

Resilience is best built in a child by:

Working to improve the child's whole environment of protective factors, including the capacity of adult caregivers

Emotional over-modulation in PTSD is associated with:

a decrease in amygdala activation

Substance misusing mothers typically withdraw from their baby's distress and show more negative affect and heightened physical provocation in interactions. What is this most likely due to?

a heightened stress response

What system is activated when a parent views images of their own baby?

both A and C

Which set of adult outcomes are associated with low childhood inhibitory control?

criminal convictions, physical health problems, and substance misuse disorders

If ACEs could be prevented, which of the following would most likely also occur?

economic productivity would increase

What behavioral dimension in children best predicts both academic failure and substance misuse disorders in adolescence?

inattention

Which of the following is NOT a risk factor for extremes of inattention and impulse control problems in children?

insecure attachment

Human infants need to be taught how to react to social cues by:

nothing-infants have an innate ability to respond to social cues

Which of the following are core symptoms of PTSD?

numbing, hyperarousal, functional impairment

Dr. Mayes describes the attachment system as performing what key function for a child?

regulating stress

According to research from Washington State University, elementary school students with three or more ACEs are more likely to:

score lower on standardized tests and have language difficulties

Which of the following factors is most likely to increase the quality and quantity of serve-and-return interactions for a child?

secure attachment

In the study described in Video 6, what two factors predicted whether 3 to 4 year old children who already scored high on measures of inattention and impulsivity went on to develop ADHD?

severity of symptoms and negativity of parent-child interactions

What brain region is most involved in behavioural inhibition?

the amygdala

In child development, joint attention refers to:

the infant co-ordinates his or her attention with an adult and another object in the environment