Developmental Psych
Experience-Expectant-Plasticity
-"normal" process of brain wiring that occurs from general experience -every human in a reasonably normal environment will have these experiences -Ex: visual stimulation, auditory stimulation, etc. -Sensitive Periods are crucial for this type of plasticity (e.g., language)
Talking about the past
-3-year-olds include brief references to past events. -5-year-olds produce narratives: descriptions of past events that have the basic structure of a story. -Parents scaffold their young children's narratives by asking for elaboration.
Undernutrition
-40% of the world's children under age 5 are undernourished -Undernutrition and malnutrition are almost always associated with poverty -Malnutrition affects development directly and indirectly by leading children to withdraw from their environments to reduce energy expenditure
Observational learning/ Imitation
-6 months: Imitation of tongue protrusions -6-9 months: Imitation of some observes, novel actions. Even after a 24-hour delay -14 months: Imitation of expert peers. Even after a 48-hour delay -15 months: Imitation of adult actions performed on television -18 months: Imitation of what adult intended to do , not what was actually done -Infants will imitate actions of people but not machines
Pragmatic development
-Acquiring knowledge of how language is used, which includes understanding a variety of conversational conventions -Ex: saying "Yes?" after someone calls your name
Phonological Development
-Acquisition of knowledge about phonemes, the elementary units of sounds that distinguish meaning -Ex: knowing the sounds that "th," "ure," and "sh" make
Piaget's Theory: Stage 4, Formal Operational Stage
-Ages 12+ -Cognitive development culminates in the ability to think abstractly and to reason hypothetically. They can reason about what is and what might be. -Individuals can imagine alternative worlds and reason systematically and problem solve about all possible outcomes of a situation. E.g., Piaget's sandwich task. -Can think about deep questions. E.g, truth, justice, morality. -Attainment of the formal operational stage, in contrast to other stages, is not universal: Not all adolescents or adults reach it.
Piaget's Theory: Stage 3, Concrete Operational Stage
-Ages 7 to 12. -Children begin to reason logically about concrete objects and events in their world. They are able to solve conservation problems. -Children cannot think in purely abstract terms or generate systematic scientific hypothesis-testing experiments. -Understand conservation. E.g, liquid, solid, and number. -Can solve problems with multiple dimensions. E.g., balance scale task. -Lack systematic thinking skills. E.g., children will use guess and check type strategies, instead of systematically trying to figure something out. -Can be measured with the Sandwich Combination Task: How many combinations can you make with the ingredients? Children in this stage use more of a guess and check method and do not always think of all the options available.
Empiricists and Object perception
-All knowledge arises from experience -Perception of constant size and shape of objects develops as a function of spatially experiencing our environment -Ex: the only reason you know that objects stay the same is because you learn it by experience
Five Fundamental Relations: Relation 5 (Influence of child's environment on his/her genotype)
-Although structure of DNA remains fixed, certain epigenetic mechanisms, mediated by environment, can alter gene functioning and create stable changes in their expression: -Differences in identical twins -Poor maternal care, methylation level differences, and stress coping
Sensorimotor Stage: Deferred Imitation
-Appears at the last half of the stage. -Mimicking the behavior of another person after time has passed since the behavior was observed -Ex: mom is on the phone and a couple of hours later the baby picks up a phone and tries playing with it
Overlapping-Waves Theory
-At any one age, children use multiple strategies. -With age and experience, they rely on more advanced strategies. -Development involves changes in use of existing strategies as well as discovery of new approaches
Language Production: Coding
-At around 6 to 8 weeks of age, infants begin producing drawn out vowel sounds. -As the repertoire of produced sounds expands, infants become increasingly aware that their vocalizations elicit responses from others and they begin to engage in dialogues of reciprocal sounds with their parents
Vision: Faces timeline
-At birth: Infants are drawn to faces because of a general bias toward configurations with more elements in the upper half than in the lower half; More attracted to faces that are right side up (not upside down); Prefer left column faces -After 12 hours of exposure: From paying attention to real faces, the infant comes to recognize and prefer his or her own mother's face; They also come to prefer their mother's face over other women's faces. -Over first few months: Detailed face prototype emerges to help the infant to discriminate between faces. -At 6 months: Can discriminate between different human faces and monkey faces. -At 9 months: Lose ability to discriminate between monkey faces.
Self-locomotion: Scaling Errors
-Attempts to do something with a miniature replica object that is far too small for the action to be at all possible -Ex: toddler trying to sit down on a Barbie's chair -Hypothesized to result from failure to integrate visual information represented in different areas of the brain
Language Production: Babbling
-Begins sometimes between 6 to 10 months of age. -Includes repetitions of strings of sounds comprising of a consonant followed by a vowel. -Involves reception of feedback about the sounds one produced. -Is late occurring and limited in congenitally deaf babies. But, deaf babies are still able to babble through sign language. -With practice, conforms more to the sound, rhythm, and intonation patterns of the language heard daily.
Relation 5: Behavior Genetics
-Behavioral genetics is concerned with how variation in behavior and development results from the combination of genetic and environmental factors -behavior patterns should run in families -individuals reared together should be more alike than those reared apart -behavioral geneticists believe that most traits of interest are multifactorial
Infant Feeding
-Breast milk is nutritionally superior -Cognitive benefits associated with breastfeeding -Many U.S. infants are exclusively or predominantly formula-fed
Understanding Causality
-By 6 months: Infants perceive causal connections among some physical events, such as those involving collisions -By 9-11 months: Infants can usually reproduce actions that are causally related; causally unrelated actions can be reproduced by 20-22 months -By end of 24 months: Children can infer causal impact of one variable from indirectly relevant information
Nativists and Object perception
-Certain aspects of knowledge are hardwired -Perceptual regularity stems from inherent properties of the nervous system -View supported by evidence of newborn perceptual constancy
Dynamic-systems theories: Central Development Issues (How Change Occurs)
-Change occurs through mechanisms of variation and selection that are analogous to those that produce biological evolution. -Variation: using different behaviors to produce the same goal. -Selection: getting better at using effective behaviors to reach the goals and decreasing the choices of less effective behaviors.
Blicket Detector Test
-Child has to decide which object is "blicket" depending on what makes the box play music -19-month-olds chose A as often as they did B shows they did not draw correct inference about subject B
Sensorimotor Stage: A-not-B-error
-Child looks for object where it was originally discovered as opposed to where the object was actually hidden -Ex: placing something under a blanket, taking it out, and placing it under a different blanket. Child will look for object under the first blanket.
Five Fundamental Relations: Relation 4 (Influence of child's phenotype on his/her environment)
-Children are active creators of the environment in which they live -By virtue of their nature and behavior, they evoke certain kinds of responses from others -They also actively select surroundings and experiences that support their interests, talents, and personality characteristics
Learning first words and language
-Children learn words through social interactions -Can help children learn words by using a referent object and labeling -E.g., holding up a leaf and saying "this is a leaf". -Most infants produce their first words by 10-15 months. -Infants first recognize words, then comprehend them, then begin to produce them.
Critical-Period Hypothesis
-Children must also be exposed to other people using signed or spoken language -Sometime between age 5 and puberty, language acquisition becomes much more difficult and ultimately less successful
Physical Growth and Development
-Compared with most other species, humans undergo a prolonged period of physical growth, which occurs during about 20% of the life span -Growth is uneven across age, occurring most rapidly during the first 2 years of life and early adolescence -Growth is also uneven over different parts of the body -Great variability occurs across individuals and groups in all aspects of physical development
Self-locomotion: Slope experiments
-Crawling infants first crawl down slopes that are too steep for them and must be caught by researcher at the bottom of the slope. -Eventually, they use strategies to crawl down the steep slope (E.g., turning around and cautiously inching backward down the slope). -These strategies are not transferred to walking; the infants began misjudging slopes again
Broca's Aphasia
-Damage to Broca's area -Broca's area is near the motor cortex -Damage is associated with difficulties in producing speech -Know what they want to say, but can't produce speech very well
Wernicke's Aphasia
-Damage to Wernicke's area -Wernicke's area is near the auditory cortex -Damage is linked to difficulties with meaning -Can speak, but very chaotic and random
Depth Perception: Optical Expansion
-Depth cue in which an object occludes increasingly more of the background, indicating that the object is approaching (1 month)
Motor development: Reaching
-Development of reaching sets off a "miniresolution": For the first few months, infants are limited to prereaching movements (clumsy swiping movements toward nearby objects). Successful reaching for objects begins at around 3 to 4 months of age. -At about 7 months, as infants gain the ability to sit independently, their reaching becomes quite stable. -Reaching shows signs of anticipation, and by 10 months of age, infants' approach to an object is affected by what they intend to do with the object
Infant-Directed Talk (IDT) or 'Motherese"
-Distinctive mode of speech that adults adopt when talking to babies and very young children. -Common throughout the world, but not universal. -Includes warm and affectionate tone, high pitch, extreme intonation, and slower speech accompanied by exaggerated facial expressions. -Preferred by infants
Objects
-Dividing the objects children encounter in the world into categories helps children answer two questions: 1. What kinds of things are there in the world? 2. How are those things related to each other? -Young children attempt to divide the objects they perceive in 3 categories: 1. Inanimate Objects 2. People 3. Living Things
Information Processing Theories (IPT): Distinctive features
-Emphasis on learning, processes, and structures. -Continuous theory: Changes occur constantly and growth is small and incremental. -Child as a computation system; Active problem solvers. -Precise specification of the processes involved in children's thinking is used. -Task analysis used to help information-processing researchers understand and predict children's behavior. -Emphasis on structure (organization of cognitive system) and processes (specific mental activities) is employed.
First Sentences and Telegraphic Speech
-End of second year: most children begin to combine words into simple sentences. -Telegraphic Speech: children's first sentences in which nonessential elements are missing. -Around 2 ½ years of age: four-word sentences which often contain more than one clause
Early Drawing
-Even though drawings that young children make appear to be just scribble to adults, children can explain their drawing. -Ex: child that draws a bunch of wavy lines will explain them as "water". -Creating pictures is a common symbolic activity encouraged by parents in many societies. -Most common figure for young children to draw is the human figure, with simplified early attempts and additional elements added as skill is developed -Children's artistic ideas are often greater than their motor and planning capabilities -Drawing skills improve, but they may still be some problems representing accurate complex spatial relations.
PKU (phenylketonuria)
-Example of genotype-environment interaction -children with PKU (a disorder that is related to a defective gene on chromosome 12) are unable to metabolize phenylalanine -with early diagnosis and a properly restricted diet, mental retardation resulting from PKU can be avoided
Issues with infant feeding
-Formula feeding results in negative outcomes in underdeveloped countries: -Polluted water supply and unsanitary containers for mixing formula can lead to infections and disease -Mothers may dilute formula in order to make the formula last longer, leading to less nutrients for the infant
Understanding Space
-From early in infancy, children code the locations of objects in relation to their own bodies. -Increasingly lasting objects representation to brain maturation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. -Space independent of self is related to self-locomotion and system interconnectedness. -Infants can form egocentric spatial representation (Piaget). Infants really only see space from their perspective. -Children who played with puzzles more often between their 1st and 4th birthdays than their peers were found to be more successful as 40-year-olds on a spatial transformation task. -Representing Space Relative to the External Environment: -Use landmarks as early as 6 months of age -Represent an object's position in relation to multiple landmarks by age 5 -Show ability to keep track continuously of one's location -Have culturally-influenced spatial skills
Concepts
-General ideas or understandings used to group together objects, qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way -Crucial for helping people make sense of the world
Obesity: Genetic and Environmental Factors
-Genetic: the weight of adoptive children is more strongly correlated with their biological parents than with their adoptive parents; identical twins are more similar in weight than fraternal twins -Environmental: higher proportion of the U.S. population is obese today than earlier; Americans have a taste for high-fat, high-sugar foods in large portion sizes; children get less exercise at home and school
Perceptual Categorization
-Grouping together of objects that have similar appearances -Ex: size, color, and movement -Often their categorizations are based on parts of objects rather than on the object as a whole
Auditory Perception
-Human auditory system is relatively well developed at birth; hearing does not approach adult levels until age 5 or 6. -Newborns turn towards sounds, a phenomenon referred to as auditory localization. -Infants are remarkably proficient in perceiving subtle differences in human speech. -Music perception: Infants share the strong preferences adults have for some musical sounds over others; Infants also respond to rhythm in music and are sensitive to melody, showing habituation to the same tune regardless of pitch
Information Processing Theories (IPT): View of Children's Nature
-IPT view children as undergoing continuous cognitive change. -Important changes are viewed as constantly changing. -Cognitive growth is viewed as typically occurring in small increments. -Children as computation systems. -Cognitive development arises from: increasing efficient execution of basic processing, expanding memory capacity, and acquisition of new strategies and knowledge. -Assumption that children are active problem solvers is central to this idea
Twin Studies
-Identical twins reared apart: researchers found similarities in traits like IQ, reaction to stress, and traditionalism -these similarities may be influenced by selective placement and similarities in fostering environments, as well as b genetic factors
Five Fundamental Relations: Relation 3 (Contribution of child's environment to his/her phenotype)
-Impact of environment on child's phenotype -Develops differently in different environments because of continuous interaction of genotype and environment -Norm of reaction: All phenotypes that could theoretically result from a given genotype, in relation to all the environments in which it could survive and develop
research methods: Habituation and dishabituation
-Infant is repeatedly presented with a given stimulus until the response declines. Infants get "bored" with the object. -For infants to have habituation, they have to: Be able to see, Be able to control their gaze (seems like infants are able to do this from the moment they are born), and Be able to remember the object they saw, using their memory. -Dishabituation: Switching objects and going back to the original object. The infant will start looking at the object a longer period of time again
Motor development: Self-locomotion
-Infants are remarkably good at finding ways to get around prior to being able to walk -At around 8 months: Infants become capable of self-locomotion for the first time as they begin to crawl -At around 11-12 months: Infants being walking independently, using a toddling gait
Understanding Time
-Infants have a rudimentary sense of time, including perception of the order and duration of events, and the order in which events occur. -Estimating the duration of events occurs later. -By age 5, children can learn to accurately estimate periods of 3 to 30 seconds if given feedback about the length of the time period. -Through middle childhood, children continue to develop the ability to more precisely distinguish among the timing of events. -A similar development sequence is apparent with regard to the timing of future events.
Touch perception
-Infants learn about the environment through active touch -oral exploration dominates for the first few months -Around 4 months of age, infants gain greater control over their hand and arm movements -Manual exploration gradually takes precedence over oral exploration
Information processing theories: Long-term memory
-Information retained on an enduring basis. -Retains an unlimited amount of information indefinitely, and the contents of long-term memory increase enormously over development. -Capacity: infinite -Duration: permanent
Information processing theories: executive functioning
-Inhibiting tempting, counterproductive actions -Enhancing working memory through use of strategies -Ex: chunking things together that are similar -Being cognitively flexible
Motor Development: reflexes
-Innate, fixed patterns of action that occur in response to particular stimulation. -In newborns: Some reflexes have clear adaptive value -E.g., sucking, rooting (touching a side of their cheek, they move towards that side and open mouth), and grasping -Others have no known adaptive significance -E.g., tonic neck reflex: Twist their head to one side, that same leg will move inward and the other leg will stretch outward
sociocultural theories: Social scaffolding
-Involves a process in which more competent Social people provide a temporary framework that supports children's thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own. -Adult is teaching a child how to do something that they can not quite do yet, but will be able to soon in the future.
Sociocultural theories: Intersubjectivity
-Involves mutual understanding that people share during communication. -Serves as the foundation of human cognitive development. -Sets the stage for joint attention. -Continues to develop will beyond infancy.
Intermodal Perception
-Involves the combination of information from two or more senses. -Is present from very early in life. -Very young infants: Link sight and sound, oral and visual experience, and visual and tactile experience. -Ex: two TV screens and one speaker hidden in the middle. One tv screen has the video synced correctly with the sound, the other screen is not synced. Infant prefers the screen with the sound synced correctly
Visual Acuity
-Involves the sharpness of visual discrimination -Develops rapidly -Can be estimated by comparing how long infant looks at research patterns -Preference for looking at patterns with high visual contrast -Ex: like large, bold stripes -They have poor contrast sensitivity: The cones of the eye, which are concentrated in the fovea, differ from adults' in size, shape, and spacing. They also have limited color vision until 2-3 months of age
Tests of critical-period hypothesis
-Korean and Chinese immigrants who came to the U.S. before age 7 performed at the same level as native English speakers on an English grammar test. -Difficulties feral children (such as Genie) have in acquiring language in adolescence. -Comparisons of the effects of brain damage suffered at different ages on language. -Language capabilities of bilingual adults who acquired their second language at different ages. -Infants' ability to discriminate between speech sounds not in their native language declines between 6 and 12 months of age
Language and the Brain
-Language processing involves a substantial degree of functional localization in the brain. -Located in the left hemisphere; increased hemispheric specialization for language. -Studies of individuals with brain damage resulting in aphasia provide evidence of specialization for language within the left hemisphere
Planning
-Leads to successful problem solving. -Children begin to form simple plans by their first birthday. -With age, they make a greater variety of plans, which help them solve a broader range of problems. -Young children fail to plan in situation in which they would benefit from doing so because of: Incomplete maturation of frontal lobe; Over-optimistic about abilities and incorrect belief that they can succeed without planning; Might not be the best plan
Semantic Development
-Learning the system for expressing meaning in a language, beginning with morphemes, the smallest unit of meaning in a language -Ex: unfriendly, befriend, friendlier
Bilingual Children
-More than half of the world's children are exposed to more than one language -Children who are acquiring two languages do not seem to confuse them -Bilingual children perform better on a variety of cognitive tests than do monolingual children
Childrens' reactions to magic tricks
-Most 3- and 4-year olds fail to see the point of magic tricks because they did not understand cause and effect anyway -Older children are fascinated with them because they understand that even strange events must have causes
Disorders affecting the myelin sheath
-Multiple Sclerosis: immune system attacks myelin -Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder: defects in gene that regulates myelin production
Neurons
-Neurons: specialized cells that are the basic units of the brains information system -made up of cell body, dendrites, and axon -number around 100 billion before birth -migrate to their destinations, where they grow and differentiate -can be inhibited by stress
Category Hierarchies: The General, Superordinate Level
-Not all objects will share many common characteristics (e.g., animals: cat and fish)
Word Learning: Mutual Exclusivity Assumption
-Novel name-nameless category principle: leads children of expect that a given entity will have only one name. -If given two objects, one that they know what it is called and one that they do not, and someone asks them for the unknown object, they will know what the person is asking for by process of elimination.
Word learning: Mutual Exclusitivy
-Novel name-nameless category principle: leads children to expect that a given entity will have only one name -If given two objects, one that they know what it is called and one that they do not, and someone asks them for the unknown object, they will know what the person is asking for by process of elimination
Category Hierarchies: The very specific, Subordinate Level
-Objects may be hard to distinguish between (e.g., gold fish and puffer fish)
Category Hierarchies: The one in between, The Basic Level
-Objects share many same characteristics and are easy to distinguish between (e.g., fish: most fish are animals that share common characteristics and they are easy to distinguish a fish from another animal). -Children usually learn the basic level category first because objects at this level share many common characteristics and because category members are relatively easy to discriminate.
Piaget's Theory: Stage 2, Preoperational Stage
-Occurs between about age 2 to age 7 -Toddles and preschoolers begin to represent experiences in language and mental imagery. -A notable acquisition is symbolic representation, the use of one object to stand for another, which makes a variety of new behaviors possible: Ex: using a banana as a phone.
Piaget's Theory: Stage 1, Sensorimotor Stage
-Occurs between birth and age 2. -At first, infants' activities center on their own bodies. -Early goals are concrete. -Intelligence expressed through sensory and motor abilities are bound to immediate perceptions and actions. -Abilities facilitate learning about objects and people and to construct rudimentary forms of fundamental concepts such as time, space, and causality. -Reflexes are modified to make them more adaptive. -Learning is initially focused on self and gradually shifts to interest in large world (often through repetition of actions on environment).
Preoperational Stage: Egocentrism
-Perceiving the world solely from one's own perspective. -Ex: children describe what they see from their point of view, but will not be able to describe what someone else sees.
Vision: Object Perception and Perceptual Constancy
-Perceptual constancy: -Perception of objects as being of constant size, shape, and color, in spite of physical differences in the retinal image of the object -Ex: again, looking at something from far away vs. up close
Dynamic-systems theories: view of children's nature (Centrality of actions)
-Pervasive emphasis on how children's specific actions shape their development: Reaching and grasping. -Ex: study where children wore velcro gloves and grasped for times. Children who wore the gloves were more likely to grasp for items, even when they were not wearing the gloves. -Categorizing -Aiding vocabulary acquisition and generalization -Shaping memory
Magical Thinking and Fantasy
-Preschoolers and young elementary school children live in a world infused by fantasy and reality -Ex: most 4- to 6- year olds believe they can influence other people by wishing -Aspects of magical thinking remain among older children -Ex: many 9-year-olds and some adults in one study reverted to magical explanation when confronted with a trick that was difficult to explain
Piaget's Theory: Sources of Continuity (Accommodation)
-Process by which children adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences. -Ex: child nows creature with 4 legs is a dog → someone tells child that this new creature with 4 legs is a cat → child learns that not all creatures with 4 legs are dogs.
Piaget's Theory: Sources of Continuity (Equilibration)
-Process by which children balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding. -Includes 3 stages: 1. children are satifisfied with their understanding of a particular phenomenon. 2. new information leads them to perceive that their understanding is inadequate. 3. they develop a more sophisticated understanding that eliminates the shortcomings of the old one, creating a more advanced equilibrium
Piaget's Theory: Sources of Continuity (Assimilation)
-Process by which children translate incoming information into a form they can understand. -Ex: child sees a new creature with 4 legs → child uses existing knowledge that a creature with 4 legs is a dog → child identifies creature to be a dog.
Experimental Designs: Random Assignment vs. Random Selection
-Random Selection: Large population and you have a small sample of randomly selected people; Generalizability -Random Assignment: Have a sample and make a control group and a treatment group; Causality
Random Assortment & Crossing Over
-Random assortment: shuffling of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the sperm and egg; chance determines which member of the pair goes into the new sperm and egg Crossing Over: process by which sections of DNA switch from one chromosome to another during meiosis, further increasing genetic variability
Word Learning: Fast Mapping
-Rapidly learning a new word simply from the contrastive use of a familiar and unfamiliar word.
Relation 2: Gene Expression (Developmental changes)
-Regulator genes largely control the continuous switching on and off of genes that underlie development across the lifespan -A given gene influences development and behavior only when it is turned on -External factors can affect the switching on and off of genes
Ethical Issues in Child Development Research
-Researchers must: -inform parents about the purpose and what will occur in the study -obtain consent from parents -obtain assent from children -protect the anonymity of participants and secure sensitive data -counteract any negative consequences that occur during the study -debrief participants and correct any misunderstandings
Multiple-Risk Model
-Risk factors tend to occur together -A negative outcome is more likely when there are multiple risk factors
Dynamic-systems theories: Central Development Issues (Self-Organization)
-Self-organization involves: Bringing together and integrating components as needed to adapt to a continuously changing environment and is also seen as flexible; changes through time and different situations. -The organizational process is sometimes called soft assembly, because the components and their organization change from moment to moment and situation to situation
Taste and Smell Perception
-Sensitivity to taste and smell develops before birth -Newborns have an innate preference for sweet flavors -Newborns prefer the smell of breast milk and by two weeks of age appear to be able to differentiate the scent of their own mothers from that of other women
Information Processing Theories: Development of Memory (Sensory memory)
-Sights, sounds, and other sensations that are just entering the cognitive system and are briefly held in raw form until they are identified. -Can hold a moderate amount of information for a fraction of a second. Its capacity is relatively constant over much of development. -Capacity: 3-7 units -Duration: 0.5-3 seconds
Sociocultural theories: joint attention
-Social partners focus on common reference in the external environment -Adult and child pay attention and interact to the same thing together
Sociocultural theories: children are products of their own culture
-Sociocultural theorists believe that many of the processes that produce development are the same in all societies. However, the content that children learn vary greatly from culture to culture. -Children's memories of their own experiences also reflect their culture. -Children are products of their own culture.
Symbols
-Symbols are systems for representing thoughts, feelings, and knowledge, and communicating them to others -Symbols use is the creative and flexible capacity that most sets humans apart from other species
Self-locomotion: Visual Cliff
-Tests depth perception of infants -6 to 14 month-old infants would not cross the deep part of the cliff -Shows a link between depth perception, locomotion, cognitive abilities, emotion, and the social context of development -Ex: there is a plexiglass floor, with one side looking like a deep cliff. The infant will not want to crawl over the "cliff," especially if their caregiver gives them a nervous look
Brain Damage and Recovery
-Timing and plasticity play important roles -The worst time to suffer brain damage is when neurogenesis and neuron migration are occurring: During prenatal development and the first year after birth -The greatest plasticity is observed when synapse generation and pruning are occurring during early childhood
Visual Tracking and Scanning
-Tracking: Although infants begin scanning the environment right away, they cannot track even slowly moving objects smoothly until 2-3 months of age. -Scanning: -One-month-olds: They scan the perimeters of shapes. Ex: look at chin, eyes, top of head -Two-month-olds: They scan both the perimeters and the interiors of shapes. Ex: looks all over the face, not just the perimeter
Vision: Pattern Perception
-Two-month-old infants can analyze and integrate separate elements of a visual display into a coherent pattern. -Infants are also able to perceive coherence among moving elements. -Accurate visual perception requires acuity, systematic scanning, and analysis and integration of separate elements of visual display into a coherent pattern. -Seven-month-olds also see the overall of objects as being of constant size, shape, color, etc., in spite of physical differences in the retinal image of the object. Ex: if we see something from far away, it looks smaller. As it grows closer, it looks bigger
Dual Representation
-Understanding that the artifact is represented mentally in two ways at the same time, both as a real object by itself and as a symbol for something other than itself -E.g., a map is a representation of a town that you are trying to navigate
Dual representation: Scale Models
-Very young children have great difficulty with dual representation, as demonstrated in tasks in which a child is asked to use a scale model to locate a hidden toy in a room. -Although 3-year-olds typically succeed in such tasks, 2 ½ year-olds rarely do. -Ex: tested by creating a doll house-sized model of a room and showing the child where you hid an object. Then hide the real object in the real room. Children 2 ½ and under are not able to find the real (big) object in the life-sized room
Depth perception: Stereopsis
-Visual cortex combines the differing neural signals caused by binocular disparity, resulting in the perception of depth -appears around 4 months; completed few weeks
Learning grammar: Overregularization
-When children treat irregular forms of words as regular forms -E.g., "I growed up," instead of I grew up
Perspectives on concepts
-Widespread agreement that conceptual development reflects the interaction of nature and nurture, but the particulars of this interaction are hotly debated. -Nativists argue that innate understanding of concepts plays a central role in development. -Empiricists argue that concepts arise from basic learning mechanisms.
Vision: Faces continued and Other Rare Effect (ORE)
-With experience, infants develop preference for the type of face they see most often and begin to understand the significance of different facial expressions. -From birth onward, infants look longer at and interact more positively with faces that adults find more attractive. -Other rare effect (ORE): Posits that it is easier to distinguish between faces of those from own racial group; Emerges in infancy; Is driven by access of facial features in individual environment; Over the second half of the first year, infants' face processing continues to become more specialized, as shown by the emergence of the ORE; By 9 months of age, infants have more difficulty discriminating between other-race faces than between own-race faces
Information processing theories: Working memory
-Workspace in which information from the environment and relevant knowledge are brought together, attended to, and actively processed. -Limited in both capacity and duration. Its capacity and speed of operation increases greatly over childhood and into adolescence. -Capacity: 7-9 units -Duration: 5-15 seconds (without rehearsal)
Vision: Pictorial Representation
-Young children and adults perceive pictures in similar ways but understanding of meaning develops later -Newborns: recognize 2D versions of 3D objects. Ex: infants respond to pictures as if they were real objects -Five-month-olds: recognize people and objects in pictures and drawings
MAOA Gene
-Young men who had experienced sever maltreatment were in general more likely to engage in antisocial behavior than those who had experienced none -however, the effect was much stronger for those individuals who had relatively inactive MAOA gene -People with MAOA gene that had normal childhoods were not seen to have this aggression
Methylation
-a biochemical process that influences behavior by suppressing gene activity and expression. -involved in regulating reactions to stress.
Failure-to-Thrive
-a condition in which infants become malnourished and fail to grow or gain weight for no obvious medical reason -associated with disturbances in mother-child interaction that are thought to stem from characteristics of both child and mother
Axon
-a fiber that conducts electrical signals away from the cell body to connections with other neurons -connections are called Synapses
Subitizing
-a process by which adults and children can look at a few objects and almost immediately know how many objects are present
Heritability
-a statistical estimate of the proportion of the measured variance on a trait among individuals in a given population that is attributable to genetic differences among those individuals
Relation 2: Gene Expression (Dominance Patterns)
-about 1/3 of human genes have two or more different forms, known as alleles -the dominant allele is the form of the gene that is expressed if present -the recessive allele is not expressed if a dominant allele is present -Homozygous: Two same alleles for a trait -Heterozygous: Two different alleles for a trait
Sociodramatic Play
-activities in which children enact mini-dramas with other children or adults, emerges at about 30 months and continues for many into preteen years; this can incorporate pretend play, but more social
Play
-activities pursued for their own sake -pretend play -sociodramatic play -imaginary companions
Sociocultural theories: Guided participation
-adults help children accomplish immediate goals and learn skills -adults teach children
Hormones
-all fetuses have the potential to develop male or female genitalia -androgens present --> male -androgens absent --> female
Five Fundamental relations: Relation 2 (Contribution of child's genotype to his/her own phenotype)
-although every cell in your body contains copies of all the genes you received from your parents, only some of those genes are expressed
Pragmatic Cues
-aspects of the social context used for word learning -Ex: experimenter tries to "find" an object and use facial cues when they find it or not. The child will use those cues to figure out which object is the one the experimenter is looking for
Plasticity
-capacity of the brain to be affected by experience -two kinds of plasticity: -General experiences: universal human infant experiences that all human infants have (e.g., all children eat) -Idiosyncratic experiences: results of particular life experiences (e.g., children of different cultures eat different food)
Cell processes in embryonic period: cell migration
-cells start migrating away from the center point (the original zygote cell) and spread out
Piaget's Theory: View of Children's Nature
-children are seen as: -active learners -learning many important lessons on their own (through trial and error) -intrinsically motived to learn -children's most important constructive processes are generating hypothesis, performing experiments, and drawing continuity
Language Comprehension and Production
-children master basic structure of their native language, whether spoken or mutually signed by age 5. -Language requires comprehension and production. -Comprehension: being able to understand language -Production: being able to use language -Comprehension precedes production
Sociocultural Theories: Vygotsky's Theory
-children viewed a social beings and social learners. -development seen as continuous, with quantitative changes (unlike Piaget). -humans are inclined to teach each other and learn from each other. -believed that thought is the process in which speech is internalized: First, behavior is controlled by other people's statements. Then, behavior is controlled by own private speech (tell themselves what to do aloud). Finally, speech goes underground (becomes thoughts).
Classical Conditioning
-consists of associating an initially neutral stimulus with a stimulus that always evokes a reflexive response -involves a neutral stimulus, an unconditioned stimulus, an unconditioned response, and then a conditioned stimulus.
Cell body
-contains the basic biological material that keeps the neuron functioning
Relation 5: Nonshared environment effects
-effects include experiences unique to the individual -sharp difference in experiences within the same family and outside the family -non-shared environmental factor increases differences among family members -behavioral geneticists have found little effects of shared environment on some aspects of development
Dynamic-systems theories: view of children's nature
-emphasize children's innate motivations to explore the environment (Piaget). -emphasize precise analysis of problem-solving activity. -emphasize early emerging competencies (core-knowledge). -emphasize the formative influence of other people (socioculture).
Dynamic-System Theories
-emphasize how varied aspects of the child function as a single, integrated whole to produce behavior. -view how change occurs over time in complex systems. -focus on relations among motor activities, attention, and other aspects of children's behavior.
Dendrites
-fibers that receive input from other cells and conducts it towards the cell body in the form of electrical impulse
Embryo at 4 weeks
-four folds in front head develops -primitive heart beating and circulating blood -arm and leg buds
Five fundamental relations: Relation 1 (Parent's genetic contribution to child's genotype)
-genetic material is passed on as chromosomes from parent to offspring -genes are 2% of human genome -XX fo females -XY for males -DNA molecules carry all the biochemical instructions involved in the formation and functioning of an organism
Glial Cells
-glial cells are the brains White Matter -outnumber neurons 10 to 1 -provides a variety of critical supportive functions -plays a role in communication within the brain -adds formation of myelin sheath
Cerebral Cortex: Parietal Lobe
-governs spatial processing -integrates sensory input with information in memory -involved in integration of information from different sensory modalities
fetus at 16 weeks
-growth in lower body accelerates -movement increases, breathing movements, and some reflexes -external genitalia developed
fetus at 11 weeks
-heart achieves basic heart structure -spine and ribs are visible -major divisions of brain
Bioecological Model: Chronosystem
-historical changes that influence the other systems in the bioecological model
Theme: The Active Child
-idea that children are active agents in their development. -shape their own development through their selection of what to pay attention to. -starts with first observations -form preferences -make choices -influences attention, language use, and play
End of week 1 of Germinal Period
-implantation in uterine lining -zygote attaches to uterine lining -receives sustenance from mother -completely embedded in uterine wall before week 2
Research methods: Preferential-looking technique
-infants are shown two patterns or two objects at the same time to see if they have a preference for one over the other. -infants will spend more time looking at the object they prefer
Vision: Depth Perception
-infants use depth and distance cues to navigate their environment
Very Low Birth Weight
-infants weighing less than 3.3 pounds -higher rates of physical and developmental outcomes
Cerebral Cortex: Temporal Lobe
-involved in memory, visual recognition, speech and language, and the processing of emotion and auditory information
Cerebral Hemisphere & Cerebral Lateralization
-involves division of two separate halves of cortex -communicates through a dense tract of fibers called the Corpus Callosum -Cerebral lateralization: the specialization of the hemispheres of the brain for different modes of processing
Holophrastic period
-involves one-word utterances
Sensorimotor Stage: Object Permanence
-knowing that an object exists even though it has disappeared from sight
Inanimate Objects
-learn informal Theories of Physics. -children learn their basic concept of physics and the physical world through inanimate objects
Living Things
-learn informal theories of biology -LOOK AT NOTES -Both 9- and 12- months olds show surprise when they see inanimate objects move on their own, suggesting that they understand that self-produced motion is a distinctive characteristics of people and other animals -Children between ages 4 and 10 often believe that plants and animals were created to serve specific purposes, much like tools are
People
-learn informal theories of psychology. -infants find people interesting, pay careful attention to them, and learn an impressive amount about them in 1st year (intention, joint attention, intersubjectivity). -properties of naive psychological concepts, like referring to invisible mental states.
Syntactic Development
-learning the syntax or rules for combining words
Pretend play
-make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relations, emerges at about 18 months of age (object substitution)
Secular Trends
-marked changes in physical development that occur over generations, resulting from environmental changes such as improvement in health and nutrition
Parents role in grammatical development
-modeling correct grammar -expanding incomplete utterances
fetus at 20 weeks
-more time spent with head down -facial expression components present -weight gain and cramped quarters in amniotic sac
Relation 2: Polygenic Inheritance
-occurs when traits are governed by more than one gene -involves several different genes that contribute to any given phenotypic outcome -applies to most traits and behaviors of interest to behavioral scientists -Ex: shyness, aggression, thrill-seeking, and language learning
Cerebral Cortex: Frontal Lobe
-organizes behavior and is responsible for planning -involved in cognitive control, including working memory, planning, decision making, and inhibitory control -grows slowly; studies show that it might not be fully developed until 25 years of age -the brain's "executive"
Perception
-organizing and interpreting sensory information about the objects, events, and spatial layout of the surrounding world
Cerebral Cortex: Occipital Lobe
-primarily associated with processing visual information
Experience-Dependency Plasticity
-process of brain wiring that occurs from idiosyncratic experiences -based on individual experiences, not every human will have these experiences -Ex: whether or not you were raised in a stimulating environment, e.g. Genie
Sensation
-processing basic information from the external world, or the detection of the external stimuli, by the sensory receptors in the same organs and brain
Generativity (language)
-refers to the fact that even though the number of words and morphemes in a given language are finite, there are infinite combinations of words and morphemes that can be used to convey meaning.
The Cerebral Cortex
-the "gray matter" of the brain that plays a primary role in what is thought to be particularly humanlike functioning, from seeing and hearing to writing and feeling emotions -Has 4 major areas
Perceptual Learning: Differentiation
-the ability to find stable or invariant characteristics in a changing environment -E.g., tone of voice and facial expression (pleasant tone = smiling face; harsh tone= frowning face)
Collective Monologues
-the content of each child's turn having little or nothing to do with what the other child has just said. -gradually the capacity for sustained conversation increases
Myelination
-the formation of the insulating fatty sheath of myelin that forms around some axons to increase speed and information-processing abilities -begins deep in brain before birth and continues into early adulthood -occurs at differentiated rates throughout brain structures
What is the key to full-fledged language development?
-the human brain and the human environment. -language is a species-specific behavior.
Preoperational Stage: Conservation Concept
-the idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not change their key properties. -Conservation of liquid quantity: Child thinks that when water from one glass is poured into a taller glass that there is more liquid in the taller glass. -Conservation of solid quantity: When clay is stretched, child thinks the stretched clay has more clay than the original piece. -Conservation of number: When a row of quarters is stretched out, child thinks that the stretched out row has more quarters than shorter, closer together row.
Understanding Number
-the most basic numerical understanding is that of numerical equality. -Infants as young as 5 months appear to have such a sense of numerical equality, at least as it applies to sets of 1, 2, or 3 objects. -In addition, infants possess an approximate sense of larger numbers. Ex: study where there were two screens of flashing dots One screen of dots stayed the same in number. The other screen of dots increased in number. Infants looked more at the screen that increased in number -In certain experiments, infants show surprise when the objects are added or subtracted behind a screen and then the screen is removed to reveal the wrong number of objects -However, the experimental findings have not always been replicated, and the fact that infants' competence is limited at best to small sets of objects has led some researchers to conclude that the infant's' competence reflects perceptual rather than arithmetic processes
Synaptic pruning
-the normal developmental process through which synapses that are rarely activated are eliminated -occurs at different times in different areas of the brain and is not fully completed until adolescence -includes about 40% of synaptic superfluidity present at birth -continues for year after birth
Synaptogenesis
-the process by which neurons form synapses with thousands of other neurons, resulting in trillions of connections
Neurogenesis
-the proliferation of neurons through cell division -is largely complete by about 18 weeks after conception
Preoperational Stage: Centration
-the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event. -Ex: balance scale task: child focuses on number of weights on the scale, neglecting the distance the weights are from the fulcrum of the scale.
Overextension
-the use of a given word in an a broader context than is appropriate. -facilities conversation with limited vocabulary. -Ex: using the term "dog" to refer to any 4-legged animal
How do children learn new words?
-through explicit instructions, everyday activities, and play
Perceptual Learning: Affordances
-understanding all of the actions that can be done with a given object or situation -E.g., discovering noises objects make when buttons are pressed, being able to pick up light objects
Theory of Mind
-well organized understanding of how the mind works and how it influences behavior. -2-year-olds: understand the connection between other people's desires and their specific actions, but show little understanding that beliefs are also influential. -3-year-olds: understand that desires and beliefs affect behavior, but have difficulty with false-belief problems. Ex: Sally-Anne task
5 Counting Principles
1. One-to-one Correspondence: When counting, each object has a specific number. Ex: one apple, two apples, three apples, etc. 2. Stable order. 3. Cardinality: When you count a set of objects, the last number you state is the amount of objects you have. Ex: counting 5 apples means that you have 5 apples. 4. Order irrelevance: It doesn't matter what order you count it in, you will still end up with the same amount of objects. 5. Abstraction
Depth perception: Binocular disparity
Distance between the retinal image of an object in each eye that results in two slightly different signals being sent to the brain
Motor Milestones
Order: Lifts head; chest up and uses arms for support; rolls over; supports some weight with legs; sits without support; pulls self to stand; walks using furniture for support; stands alone easily; walks alone easily. -Keep in mind that these averages are based on healthy infants and cultural difference can affect when these happen.
Umbilical Cord
tube containing the blood vessels connecting the fetus and placenta
Fetal Experience: Hearing
-Prenatal environment rich with sounds -External sounds audible to fetus Response to sounds by sixth month -Transitory heart-rate deceleration occurs with auditory stimulation
Stage theories
-Proposes that development occurs in a progression of distinct age-related stages, much like a butterfly. -stage theories have been criticized because of their rigidity -Ex: Jean Piaget's ideas were stage theories
Theme: Sociocultural Context
-Refers to the physical, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances that form a child's environment. This influences every aspect of children's development.
Research Reliability
-Reliability: the degree to which independent measurements of a behavior under study are consistent. -Interrater reliability: indicates how much agreement there is in the observations of different raters who witness the same behavior. -Test-retest reliability: when a participant's performance on the same test, administered under the same conditions, is similar on two or more occasions.
newborn: Soothing
-Rocking, singing, holding infant to shoulder, providing pacifier, swaddling, soothing touch, placing small drop of sweet substance on tongue -Swaddling: involves wrapping a young baby tightly in clothes or a blanket, thereby restricting limb movement
Quantitative Data
-Scales and questionnaires: Attempt to operationalize and measure behaviors (e.g., Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) -Cognitive assessments: Attempt to evaluate the development of a child (e.g., Piaget tasks)
Genome
-each person's complete set of hereditary information -influences behaviors and experiences -is also influenced by behaviors and experiences
cell processes in embryonic period: Cell Differentiation
-embryonic stem cells start off being generic, but during cell differentiation they start to become specialized -develop into about 350 different types of cells
hazards of prenatal development: Teratogens
-environmental agents that have the potential to cause harm during prenatal development -timing is a crucial factor in the severity of the effects of potentially harmful agents -many agents cause damage only if exposure during sensitive period in development -Most teratogens show a dose-response relation Increases in exposure to potential teratogens (cumulative effect) are associated with greater probabilities of fetal defects and with more severe problems -Individual differences also influence the effects of teratogens -Identifying teratogens is made difficult by the existence of sleeper effects in which the impact of a given agent may not be apparent for many years
Environment
-every aspect of the individual, and his or her surroundings (other than genes)
Colic
-excessive, inconsolable crying by a young infant for no apparent reason. Cries also tend to be very high pitched -Causes unknown, but could be allergies to mother's diet, formula intolerance, immature gut development, or excessive gassiness -more than 1/10 U.S. infants affected -typically ends around 3 months -leaves no ill effect
Stages of prenatal development: Embryonic Period
-following implantation, major development occurs in all organs and systems of body -development takes places through the cellular processes of cell division, cell migration, cell differentiation, and cell death, as well as hormonal influences -occurs from 3rd to 8th week of pregnancy
Hazards to prenatal development: Maternal Factors (Age)
-infants born to girls 15 years or younger are three to four times more likely to die before their first birthday than are those whose mothers are 23-29 years of age. -Also, for older mothers there is greater risk of fetal chromosome abnormalities and birth complications
Low Birth Weight (LBW)
-infants weighing less than 5.5 pounds -about 8% of U.S. newborns -LBW babies experience more medical complications, have more developmental difficulties, and present special challenges for parents -however, majority of LBW babies turn out quite well -extensive parent contact and more touch for infants in neonatal intensive care are widely used interventions
Epigenetics
-the study of stable changes of gene expression that are mediated by the environment. -Ex: video of rat being sensitive to the smell of acetimin in fruit and giving that same gene to its offspring.
Correlation: Third Variable Problem
-there might be a third variable that is influencing the other two variables. -Ex: correlation between ice cream sales and drowing deaths; heat might be a possible third variable
Amniotic Fluid
-transparent, fluid-filled membrane surrounding and protecting the fetus
Fetal Experience: Smell
-Amniotic fluid odorants provide olfactory experiences
Research Designs: Cross-sectional study
-Children of different ages and different developmental stages are compared on a behavior or characteristics of interest
Hazards of prenatal development: Cigarettes
-Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is linked to slow growth and low birth weight -Cigarette smoking has also been linked to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), although the ultimate causes of SIDS are still unknown
Theme: Continuity vs. Discontinuity
-Continuous theory: growth occurs gradually, stark changes do not occur -Ex: a tree grows, but usually looks the same throughout its life. -Discontinuous theory: growth occurs in stages, growth is sequential -Ex: a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly -While there is debate between these, it may be that they are both correct depending on how often you see a child
Newborn: Crying
-Crying has an adaptive advantage for babies because adults feel uncomfortable when babies cry -It is a way for their needs to get met -Early in infancy, crying reflects discomfort or frustration -Crying is gradually a more communicative act -Increases after birth and peaks around 6 weeks; decline to about 1 hour daily for first year -Peak crying time is around late afternoon and evening
Infant Mortality
-Death during the first year after birth (infant mortality) has become a relatively rare event in the Western industrialized world -However, rates in the U.S. are the 31st highest among selected developed nations -African-American infants are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as Euro-American babies -Poverty and lack of health insurance are associated with high rates of infant mortality
Theme: Mechanisms of Development
-Effortful control/attention: voluntary control over emotions and thoughts (e.g., inhibition). Involves inhibiting impulses, controlling emotions, and focusing attention. -Environment/ child experiences can change the wiring of the brain system that produces effortful attention. -Neurotransmitters: chemicals involved in communication between brain cells.
Individual: Genetic Differences
-Every individual (besides identical twins) is genetically different -Unique genome -e.g., all siblings only share 50% of their genes (except identical twins)
Poverty
-Existence of multiple risks is strongly related to socioeconomic factors -In many countries, minorities families are overrepresented in the lowest SES levels -In the U.S., 22% of children live in families with incomes below the poverty level -Risk factors such as inadequate prenatal care, poor nutrition, illness, emotional distress, cigarette smoking, drug abuse, and exposure to environmental and occupational hazards are more likely in mothers living below the poverty line
Fetal Behavioral Cycles
-Fetus begins to move at 5-6 weeks -For the next month or so, fetus in almost constant motion -Then activity cycles begin: alternating between periods of high activity and rest periods -Develop circadian rhythms: Less activity early in morning, more activity in the late evening -REM sleep: Near the end of pregnancy, fetus spends more than 75% of time in quiet and active sleep states, similar to newborns
Fetal Experience: Taste
-Flavor in amniotic fluid, taste sensitivity, and fetal preferences present (to sweet flavors)
Meiosis
-Gametes are produced through meiosis, a special type of cell division in which eggs and sperm receive only one member from each of the 23 chromosome pairs contained in all other cells of the body
Three key elements of Genetic and Environmental Forces
-Genotype -Phenotype -Environment
Theme: Individual Differences
-Individual differences in each child that affect their development. There are four main factors: -Genetic Differences -Differences in treatment by parents and others -Differences in reactions to similar experiences -Different choices of environments
hazards to prenatal development: illegal drugs
-Marijuana is suspected of affecting memory, learning, and visual skills after birth -Cocaine-exposed children have reported cognitive and social deficits
Fetal Experience: Sight and Touch
-Minimal visual experiences; more tactile experience -Vestibular experience function before birth
hazards to prenatal development: Environmental pollutants
-Most Americans have been exposed to toxic metals, synthetic hormones, and various ingredients of plastic, pesticides, and herbicides that can be teratogenic -PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) have been associated with small head size as newborns and slightly lower IQ scores as much as 11 years later -Ex: a common environmental pollutant is lead
Observational Data
-Naturalistic observation: Uncontrolled environment, observations are based on what is already occurring (e.g., at family's home, classroom) -Structured observation: Controlled environment that is exactly the same for all children, same procedures followed for all participants (e.g., a lab, research office)
Theme: Nature vs. Nurture
-Nature: influences of genetics; our biological endowment -Nurture: influences of environment, both physical and social -Development is an interaction between both!
Fetal Movement
-Spontaneous movement from 5-6 weeks after conception -Initial jerkiness gradually becomes more integrated -By 12 weeks, most movements present at birth have appeared -Prenatal continuity in movement extends into postnatal period -Swallowing: promotes normal palate development; Aids in digestive system development -Breathing: Fetal breathing at 10 weeks; Increases in rate and stability over time
Newborn: State
-State: the infant's level of arousal and engagement in the environment -ranges from deep sleep to intense activity -newborns spend most of their time in REM sleep -the newborn state is an important influence in the newborn's exploration of the world
Interviews
-Structural interviews: all participants are asked the same structured questions. Is useful when the goal is to collect self-reports on the same topics from everyone being studied. -Clinical interviews: Questions are adapted based on the answer of the interviewee. Is useful for obtaining in-dept information about an individual
Sensitive Periods
-The most sensitive or critical period of prenatal development is the embryonic period -During the first 2 weeks, before implantation in the uterus, the zygote is generally not susceptible to environmental factors -Every major organ system of the body undergoes all or a major part of its development between the 3rd and the 9th week (embryonic period) Ex: if a woman took a certain type of drug during the period of time that limbs are formed on the fetus, the infant would be born with limb deformities
Research Validity
-Validity: refers to the degree to which it measures what it is intended to measure -Internal validity: refers to whether effects observed within experiments can be attributed with confidence to the factor that the researcher is testing. -External validity: refers to the ability to generalize research findings beyond the particulars of the research in question.
Socioeconomic Status (SES)
-a measure of social class that is based on income and education
Hazards to prenatal development: Maternal Factors (Disease)
-a variety of diseases including sexually transmitted diseases present hazards to the fetus -Ex: genital herpes, AIDS, HIV, schizophrenia
Hazards to prenatal development: Maternal Factors (maternal emotional state)
-a woman's emotional state can affect her fetus -Ex: the more stress the mother had during pregnancy correlated to a higher percentage of behavior problems the child experienced when 4-years-old
Hazards to prenatal development: Maternal Factors (Nutrition)
-an inadequate supply of specific nutrients or vitamins such as folic acid can have dramatic consequences -Ex: one effect of bad nutrition is low birth weight
fetus at 28 weeks
-brain and lung development increases survival rate -eyes can experience REM movement -neural activity similar to newborn -weight triples between 28 weeks and birth
Cell processes in embryonic period: Cell Division (Mitosis)
-cell division that results in two identical daughter cells -zygote divides into two equal parts, each contain all of the genetic material of the zygote -then the each split in two again, this continues over 38 weeks
cell processes in embryonic period: Cell Death (Apoptosis)
-certain cells are programmed to die in order to form more permanent structures -e.g., cells between ridges in hand plate die in order to form fingers
DNA Mutations
-changes in sections of DNA caused by random or environmental factors
Bioecological Model: Exosystem
-comprises settings that children may not directly be a part of but that can still influence their development
Stages and prenatal development: Fetal Period
-continued development of physical structures and rapid growth of the body -increasing levels of behavior, sensory experience, and learning -occurs from 9th week to birth
Correlation: Direction-of-Causation Problem
-correlation does not indicate which variable is the cause and which is the effect
fetus at 18 weeks
-covering of fine hair and greasy coating to protect skin -thumb-sucking is visible
Fetal Learning: habituation
-decreased response to the repeated stimulus indicated the formation of memory for it -the increased response to the novel stimulus indicates discrimination of it from the familiar one, as well as a general reference for novelty
embryo at 5 1/5 to 8 1/5 weeks
-differentiation beings in nose, mouth, palate -by 8 1/2 weeks these are separate structures -time when cleft palate can occur
Day 4 of Germinal Period
-inner cell mass arranged into hollow sphere -this is generally when identical twins originate -inner mass is split in half --> both twins contain the same genetic makeup -whereas fraternal twins are the result of two eggs being fertilized
During week 2 of Germinal Period
-inner cell mass differentiates into three layers: 1. Top Layer: nervous system 2. Middle Layer: muscles, circulatory system, other internal organs 3. Bottom layer: digestive system, lungs, urinary system, and other glands
After implantation (Germinal period)
-neural tube created (brain and spinal cord)
newborn: Sleep
-newborns sleep twice as much as young adults -the pattern of two different sleep states changes dramatically: -REM sleep: 50% of newborn total sleep time; decreases to 20% by 3 or 4 years; helps develop human visual system; may facilitate learning -Non-REM sleep
Phenotype
-observable expression of genotype, including body characteristics and behavior
fetus at 9 weeks
-rapid brain growth -all internal organs present -sexual differentiation starts
Premature infants
-refers to LBW infants born at or before 35 weeks after conception
Small for Gestation Age (SGA)
-refers to LBW infants whose birth weight is substantially less than the norm for their gestational age
Individual: Difference choices of environments
-relates to the concept of the active child -as children grow older, they increasingly choose their own activities/friends/environments and thus influence their own development
Gametes
-reproductive cells (egg and sperm) that contain only half of the genetic material of all other cells in the body -egg is the largest human cell -sperm is one of the smallest human cells, and about 500 million sperm enter the vagina during ejaculation
Theme: Research and Children's Well-Being
-research is conducted in various aspects of well-being associated with development -Examples: anger management, educational innovations, intelligence and beliefs about intelligence, persistence, problem solving, SES, resilience, mental health, academic achievement, social victimization, eye-witness testimonies, culture, deviance, and prosocial behaviors
Research Designs: Microgenetic Study
-same children are studied for a short period of time
Research Designs: Longitudinal Study
-same children are studied multiple times over a long period of time
What did the research that came out of the Social Reform Movement show?
-social reform movement brought about a legacy of research conducted for the benefit of children. -provided some of the earliest recorded descriptions of the adverse effects that harsh environments can have on children.
Prenatal Development: Conception
-starts the process of development -point of conception is when the female egg meet the male sperm
Individual: Differences in reactions to similar experiences
-subjective interpretations of treatment is varied -e.g., siblings thinking the other sibling is the favorite
Placenta
-support organ for the fetus -keeps the circulatory systems of the fetus and mother separate, but has semipermeable membrane that permits exchange of oxygen/nutrients and carbon dioxide/waste products
Bioecological Model: Mesosystem
-the connection that exist among Microsystems
Embryo
-the developing organism from the 3rd to 8th week of prenatal development
Fetus
-the developing organism from the 9th week to birth
Female Reproductive System
-the female egg is launched from the ovary into the fallopian tube during conception -during pregnancy, the umbilical cord runs from the fetus to the placenta, which is burrowed deeply into the wall of the uterus
Zygote
-the fertilized egg -has a full complement of human genetic material, half from mother and half from father
Stages of prenatal development: Germinal Period
-the first stage in prenatal development -is between conception and 2 weeks -ends when zygote is implanted in uterine wall -rapid cell division occurs
Bioecological Model: Macrosystems
-the general context of embedded system -Ex: broad ideology, laws, and customs of one's culture, subculture, or social class
Genotype
-the genetic material an individual inherits
Bioecological Model: Microsystem
-the immediate environment with which the child interacts
Individual: Differences in treatment by parents and others
-treatment often associated with differences in children's characteristics -e.g., parents provide more sensitive care to easy infant over a more difficult infant
The Scientific Method
1. Choose a research question 2. Formulate hypothesis 3. Develop Method 4. Analyze Data (using quantitative and qualitative analysis) 5. Draw Conclusions based on evidence collected
hazards of prenatal development: Alcohol
Linked to: -Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD): Harmful effects of maternal alcohol consumption on a developing fetus -Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): Involves a range of effects, including facial deformities, mental retardation, attention problems, hyperactivity, and other defects -Fetal alcohol effects (FAE): Term used for individuals who show some, but not all, of the standard effects of FAS