developmental psych ch7
According to Rhoda Kellogg's research, children progress through six universal stages of drawing at different rates, and their drawings are influenced by ____________.
culture Children progress through these stages at different rates, depending on practice, the availability of drawing materials, and other factors. Children's drawings are influenced by culture.
the prefrontal cortex, through its connections to many other brain areas, is involved in
executive functions, which are deliberate, conscious strategies employed by individuals to reach goals, make decisions, or solve problems
A young child who has not yet learned to write will have an easier time learning to write with a pencil if she has previously _____________.
experienced stringing beads Children have an easier time learning to write with a pencil if they have prior experience using paint brushes, stringing beads, and scissors. Practicing a variety of movements with the fingers may help children's brains achieve more complete control over the small, precise muscle movements and visual-motor coordination necessary for writing.
The most common reasons for emergency room visits were _ followed by _
falls at both ages 1 to 4 and 5 to 14, followed by being struck by an object (such as furniture) or a person (either intentionally or accidentally, as in sports). Natural or environmental factors include such sources as flooding, storms, and so on.
The average girl matures faster than the average boy in terms of bone growth, and by age 4 girls are nearly a year ahead. You can see this gap if you compare the drawing and printing of girls and boys: Girls typically have greater fine motor control, partly because the bones of their hands and wrists are more mature
fine motor control, partly because the bones of their hands and wrists are more mature
Between ages 2 ½ and 5, _ develop
fine motor skills develop significantly as children gradually attain skillful and precise use of the hands in drawing, writing, and other manipulative skills along with various self-help tasks such as fastening buttons and tying shoelaces.
Mason and his parents live in Detroit. His parents are financially strapped and don't always have enough food in the house to feed the entire family. The parents sometimes go without a full meal so that Mason can eat until he is satisfied, but sometimes even Mason doesn't get enough to eat. Mason's situation would be described as _______________.
food insecurity Food insecurity is a condition where a child or family does not have a regular supply of nutritious food.
the two other components of executive functioning, working memory and inhibition, are also related to changes in brain activity in portions of the
frontal cortex during early childhood
children with obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have abnormalities in the development of
frontal lobe brain circuits.
In the preschool years, many complex movements, such as tracking a ball and kicking it during a soccer game, are built up from combinations of simpler movements known as ____________.
fundamental movement skills Fundamental movement skills, such as running, hopping, skipping, climbing, throwing, catching, and kicking, form the foundation for other movements or combinations of movements employed in various games and sports.
factors that influence height
gender, nutrition, growth hormones
techniques for getting children to eat certain foods:
giving them the same food repeatedly associating nutritionally sound foods with pleasant environmental consequences.
The cerebral cortex of the average 4-year-old consumes more
glucose, which means it uses more energy, than that of the average adult. By age 8 to 9, energy consumption by the cortex declines to near adult levels
At age 5, girls have a faster rate of physical maturation on the average than boys, due to ___________.
more rapid bone growth on the average The average girl matures faster than the average boy in terms of bone growth, and by age 4 girls are nearly a year ahead.
children develop a preference for the foods they eat _
most often
In the CPS data, _ were the source of maltreatment more than 80 percent of the time.
parents
a child's problems with emotional regulation at one age level led to _
peer rejection at the next age level, which was in turn related to problems with aggressive and disruptive behavior
Emotional abuse is more difficult to study, but it is thought to be present to some degree in most cases of
physical abuse or neglect
4 types of maltreatment
physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect—that result in death, serious physical or emotional harm, or sexual abuse or exploitation or create an imminent risk of serious harm
executive functions at 4 to 5 years predict
reading and math achievement as well as teacher ratings of externalizing and internalizing behavior in the early school years
_ to _% of maltreated infants have been found to have insecure or disorganized attachments
70 percent to 95 percent of maltreated infants have been found to have insecure or disorganized attachments
blood levels of cotinine (a measure of exposure to nicotine) indicate that _ of young children are exposed to significant levels of secondhand smoke
9 percent
food insecurity
A condition where a child or family does not have a regular supply of nutritious food.
another theory about handedness:
researchers have proposed a developmental systems theory of handedness that includes bidirectional interactions of brain development, behavior, and experience. According to this view, the initial bias toward right-handedness begins prenatally. About 85 percent of infants adopt a position in the womb in which their head is down and the left side of the body is pressed against the mother's spine. As a result they find it easier to make right arm movements and head turns to the right. About 15 percent of infants adopt the opposite position, and they find left-sided movements easier
Once abuse has occurred, there can be a downward spiral in that the parent feels
s/he has to use harsher and harsher punishment to control the perceived unruliness of the child. In addition, parents are negatively reinforced for abuse, as the child may stop crying or misbehaving temporarily.
Aubrey was screened as part of a health study and was found to have a high blood level of cotinine and frequent asthma symptoms. Aubrey has likely been exposed to _______________.
secondhand cigarette smoke Blood levels of cotinine (a measure of exposure to nicotine) indicate that 9 percent of young children are exposed to significant levels of secondhand smoke.
Two illustrative risk factors are _ and _
secondhand smoke and environmental lead.
Brain development and motor practice are _ related
bidirectionally
The complexity and efficiency of neural networks improve during early childhood over levels in infancy due to ___________.
growth of dendrites and myelination of neuron pathways During early childhood, the complexity and efficiency of neural networks improves due to growth of dendrites and myelination of axon pathways.
Researchers in Canada who studied nightmares in a large number of young children over a three-year period found that children who had more frequent nightmares tended to show signs of
having an anxious or fussy temperament already at 17 months of age, but they also had more conflict with parents during the day.
All of the following characteristics can combine to place caregivers at greater risk for committing physical or emotional abuse and neglect except ______________.
higher education level Education level was not identified as a risk factor for caregiver maltreatment of a child.
In cultures where there are taboos against use of the left hand, the prevalence of left-handers is as low as _. However, in locations such as present-day North America, where there are few biases against left-handedness, the prevalence is about _ right handed and _ left-handed
1 percent to 2 percent; 88 percent; 12 percent
Three specific processes that fall under the umbrella of executive functions, and change rapidly in early childhood, are
1. working memory (retaining and operating on information in short-term memory) "put your dishes away, wash your hands, then come back" 2. inhibition of responses or thoughts "it's chloe's time to ride the bike, get off" 3. shifting between mental states, rules or tasks. "now you'll be the baby and i'll be the mom"
Between 2005 and 2013, the number of children worldwide who died before their fifth birthday dropped from _ to _
10 million to 6.3 million, the lowest level since 1960
CPS data reported for 2011 indicated that _ children under 18 years of age were maltreated
10 per 1,000 (a national survey found a rate of 17 per 1,000 children in 2005 to 2006)
stage 1 of drawing: scribble stage
18-24 months; horizontal, vertical, curved, and zigzagging lines and dots. These scribbles form the basic elements of children's later drawings.
Sleep terrors occurred in about _ of children (not necessarily those who had nightmares) at 2 ½ years of age in one large longitudinal study
20 percent; There is evidence that sleep terrors have a strong genetic component, but they can also be influenced by stress during the day
children are not very good at stating their parents' rules and complying with them between _ and _ y/o. _ and _ were strong predictors of injury rates in 4- to 6-year-olds
3 and 6 years of age; Low compliance with parental rules and lack of direct parental supervision
teenage or adult child's distinctive facial features actually began to be apparent around age _ or _
3 or 4
About _% of American children as a whole and _% of African American children had dangerously high blood levels in surveys conducted in 2007 to 2010
3 percent; 6 percent
Maltreatment is most common among children under
4 years of age, who make up 34 percent of all CPS-substantiated cases
developmental cascade
A developmental pattern in which small environmental effects of child behaviors become magnified across time or age, leading to larger environmental effects or larger changes in child behavior. The idea behind this concept is that negative events or behavior at one age create negative behavior at a subsequent age.
Which of the following was cited by Canadian researchers as a potential cause of nightmares in children?
A fussy or anxious temperament Researchers in Canada who studied nightmares in a large number of young children over a three-year period found that children who had more frequent nightmares tended to show signs of having an anxious or fussy temperament already at 17 months of age.
otitis media
A more serious complication of colds is middle-ear inflammation or infection, called otitis media. More than half of all children have had middle ear problems by age 3, and this can create temporary problems with hearing that affect social interaction and language. Long-term effects tend to be minimal, except in cases where children lack exposure to stimulating language environments in a number of settings (such as home, child care center, and preschool)
psychological abuse
Acts or failures to act that undermine a child's basic emotional and psychological needs, such as verbal abuse, threatening, terrorizing, isolating, rejecting, and damaging self-esteem or the ability to engage in social interaction 8.3%
Four-year-old Alejandra keeps sustaining minor injuries around the home. The most likely reasons according to research are all of the following except _______.
Alejandra is a girl Though gender is an important variable that may interact with the social environment, boys are more likely than girls to be injured or killed.
Injury and fatality rates are highest among _ and _ children and lowest among _, with _ and _ children falling in between
American Indian/Alaska Native and African American; Asian/Pacific Islanders; white and Hispanic
example of minimizing family stress that often precedes maltreatment
An example of the first strategy is provided by programs that help at-risk families reduce stress by managing their daily lives and child care. For example, in studies by Olds and colleagues, home visitations were given to a large number of pregnant women and continued until their child was 2 years old. Women who were considered at high risk for child maltreatment (for example, single, low-income mothers) showed a 75 percent reduction in official cases of child abuse and neglect in the first 2 years compared with the control group. Rates of maltreatment were lower in the home visitation group through age 15
ich of the following U.S. ethnic groups has the lowest rate of childhood injuries and fatalities?
Asian/Pacific Islanders Injury and fatality rates are lowest among Asian/Pacific Islanders, possibly because interdependence within the family is a cultural value that discourages risk-taking, resulting perhaps in different degrees of exposure to risk factors for accidents.
stage 3 of drawing: shape stage
At about age 3, children produce six basic shapes like those shown here.
stage 6 of drawing: late pictorial stage
Beginning at age 5 and later, children add details, such as eyes, nose, mouth, eyelashes, fingers and toes, and clothing.
Which key principle of developmental neuroscience underlies the observation that certain experiences bias children from birth to be predominantly left- or right-handed, but the process of development of hand preference can be delayed or even reversed (e.g., from left to right or right to left) within the first 5 years of postnatal development?
Brain plasticity There seems to be brain plasticity for hand preference in the first 5 years. A toddler's experiences using one hand more often and in more complex ways result in more efficient brain circuits on the side controlling that hand. However, if the preferred hand was damaged, the brain is plastic enough in this age range to develop skilled movements with the other hand.
stage 4 of drawing: design stage
By about ages 3 to 4, children begin to combine or aggregate basic shapes.
Which of the following is a common element among Tourette's syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder, and ADHD?
Diminished ability to self-regulate A common element among the disorders is diminished abilities for self-regulation.
_ and _ are the most widely studied aspects of fine motor development, given their relevance to school performance.
Drawing and writing
Each year, children add an average of _ to _ inches in height and _ pounds in weight.
Each year, children add an average of 2 to 3 inches in height and 5 pounds in weight.
stage 5 of drawing: early pictorial stage
Finally, at ages 4 to 5, children attempt to draw complete objects. A favorite art-object is a person, and children from many countries start by drawing a circle with lines extending from it, the so-called "tadpole person."
stage 2 of drawing: placement stage
From ages 2 to 3, children place their scribbles in distinct locations on the page.
All of the following statements about gross motor development are true, except for which one?
Fundamental movement skills do not follow any particular developmental sequences. The fundamental movement skills, such as kicking a ball, do tend to follow particular developmental sequences.
child neglect
Gross failure to provide for a child's basic physical, educational, or emotional needs, such as inadequate supervision, failure to provide proper nutrition, failure to enroll in school, failure to provide affection, and failure to provide medical care 72.8%
physical abuse
Inflicting severe bodily harm on a child by nonaccidental means, such as hitting, beating, kicking, biting, burning, or shaking 16.3%
Maltreatment and gender
It occurred equally often for boys and girls.
Malfunctioning of the HPA axis over long periods can have harmful effects on the brain:
MRI scans of children who were maltreated provide evidence of reduced cerebral volume, larger ventricles, and a smaller corpus callosum
Maltreatment and ethnicity
Maltreatment was most common among African American, Native American, and multiracial children and least common among Asian Americans.
Sexual abuse is relatively uncommon prior to the age of 3 but is more common for older children and reaches a peak incidence of about 18 per 1,000 at ages 12 to 15. It is associated with a different combination of risk factors than physical or emotional abuse and neglect.
Many sexual abusers have difficulty forming social relationships, are socially isolated, have low self-esteem, and sometimes have psychiatric disorders or a history of substance abuse. Most often they are male and have a sexual attraction toward children (pedophilia)
other abuse
Medical neglect, abandonment, threats of harm, or prenatal drug abuse 11.6%
mothers and hand preference
Mothers have been observed to act unconsciously in biased ways that stimulate their infants to use the same hand as their mother. For example, the mother might cut up food with her right hand and then place the utensil by the toddler's right hand. When mother and toddler prefer the same hand, this strengthens the toddler's hand preference. When mother and toddler are discordant for handedness, this does not lead to a switch in the toddler's handedness but appears to delay the emergence of a hand preference. The delay occurs most often with toddlers who show a left-hand preference
_ was the most common category of maltreatment, followed by _, _, _.
Neglect was the most common category of maltreatment, followed by physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse.
one theory about handedness:
One theory is that there is a genetic allele (or alternative form of a gene, usually formed through mutation) for right-handedness found in 80 percent of the population (sometimes called the "right-shift gene"), with the remaining 20 percent of people lacking such an allele. Those with the allele become right-handed, but in the 20 percent lacking the allele, handedness is determined by chance, resulting in 10 percent left-handers
However, parenting quality played a role:
Parents with the highest cumulative risk were also more likely to be low in positive engagement and provision of material resources such as toys and books
_ and _ are the most frequent killers of young children, followed by malaria and other infections.
Pneumonia and diarrhea
According to dynamic systems theory, motor development depends on a variety of factors working together. Which of the following is an environmental factor that affects motor development for a task such as kicking a ball?
Practicing kicking the ball into a goal Practice and external motivation (by parents or coaches) are environmental aspects of learning a new skill.
_ and _ during birth are the most frequent killers of infants.
Preterm birth and asphyxia
Which of the following is likely to be a direct developmental effect of an insecure or disorganized attachment in a child with a history of maltreatment?
Problems interacting with peers Like other children with negative attachment relationships, maltreated children tend to have poor emotion regulation and may either act aggressively or withdraw from social interactions with peers.
Which of the following is an effective way to get children to eat vegetables or other novel, healthy foods?
Repeatedly offer the same food to the child over time The results of experimental studies of children's eating behavior suggest that simply offering children the same food repeatedly is an effective technique.
Three-year-old Rosito uses his left hand to throw, eat, and draw like his father. His mother allows him to use his left hand when he wants to, which is most of the time. She is right-handed, though, and has been showing him how to use his right hand because she wants him to have the option of using both hands. According to research, _______________.
Rosito will be slightly delayed in developing highly skilled movements with the left hand but will ultimately be predominantly left-handed When mother and toddler are discordant for handedness, this appears to delay the emergence of a hand preference. The delay occurs most often with toddlers who show a left-hand preference.
sexual abuse
Sexual touching, committing or attempting to commit intercourse or other sexual acts with a child, exposing a child to indecent acts, or involving a child in pornography or prostitution 8.4%
Which aspect of executive function was challenged when researchers asked children to sort cards first by color and then by shape?
Shifting between mental states, rules, or tasks One interesting observation of preschoolers is that they have trouble shifting rules in games. Most 3-year-olds found it difficult to make the switch and continued using the old rule. By age 4, children switched to the new rule the majority of the time.
According to the National Sleep Foundation Survey, which of the following is the most common sleep disturbance?
Stalling before bedtime According to the NSF survey, 50 percent of children stalled before bedtime.
fundamental movement skills
The components that make up more complex motor skills, such as balancing on one foot and bending the other leg backward (components of kicking). (running, hopping, skipping, climbing, throwing, catching, and kicking)
Which of the following statements about lead exposure in young children is true?
The environment of inner-city, low-income children in the United States still contains lead. Even though in the United States lead was phased out from paint in 1978 and from gasoline by 1986, the environment of inner-city, low-income children still contains lead.
example of improving mother-child attachment relationships
The researchers found that most infants and mothers had insecure or disorganized attachment relationships (see Chapter 6) at the beginning of treatment. One year later they found that both the attachment-building and psychoeducational interventions led to an increase in the security of attachments, but the community standard did not (Cicchetti et al., 2006). The results show that a variety of support services for maltreating mothers can have an impact on attachment.
cortisol levels and treatment on maltreated children
They found that cortisol levels began to drop in the groups that received the community standard treatment, but the cortisol levels in the two intervention groups (collapsed into one line) did not differ from those of the non-maltreated comparison group after completion of the treatment
The idea behind the concept of ___________ is that negative events or behavior at one age create small changes at a later age and worsen in severity at that age, possibly leading to reduced well-being of a child or a full-blown developmental or psychiatric disorder at the next phase.
a developmental cascade A developmental cascade is a developmental pattern in which small environmental effects of child behaviors become magnified across time or age, leading to larger environmental effects or larger changes in child behavior.
A longitudinal study that measured hand preference in reaching nine times between 6 and 14 months of age found that
about 38 percent showed a stable right-hand preference, 14 percent showed a stable left-hand preference, and 48 percent began by using either hand but steadily increased reliance on the right hand with age
The four main categories of maltreatment consist of all of the following except __________.
accidental injury Accidental injury is not one of the main categories of maltreatment. The missing category is sexual abuse.
A developmental cascade can occur in cases of maltreatment in which children have problems with emotional regulation leading later to difficulties with ___________________.
aggression and rejection by peers Researchers have found that a child's problems with emotion regulation at one age level are associated with peer rejection at the next age level, which was in turn related to problems with aggressive and disruptive behavior.
Physically abused children are able to discriminate among facial expressions but show unusual attentiveness to __________ faces.
angry Children with documented histories of physical abuse detect angry expressions more readily than neglected or non-maltreated children, and this is particularly true for those who had experienced very high levels of parental hostility.
abused children noticed _ expressions even when only a few cues to anger existed in the face.
angry; Physically abused children didn't differ from non-abused children in detecting the other emotions. It may be adaptive for physically and emotionally abused children to have a low threshold for detection of anger as it allows them to read the caregiver's moods from subtle cues.
One consequence is that maltreated children develop
atypical responses to emotional distress in other people. One fascinating example helps illustrate the concept of a developmental cascade. Children with a history of neglect have difficulty discriminating among emotional expressions such as anger, fear, and sadness. In contrast, physically abused children are able to discriminate among facial expressions but show unusual attentiveness to angry faces
What seems to be going on is that there is _ for hand preference in the first 2 years. A toddler's experiences using one hand more often and in more complex ways result in more efficient brain circuits on the side controlling that hand.
brain plasticity
Both Kellogg's classic studies of children's drawing and a more recently published study show that a key process underlying the development of drawing at ages 3 to 4 years is _______________.
cognitive advances in understanding and using symbols A study of children's drawings conducted over a 40-year period agrees with Kellogg in finding that age 3 to 4 is a pivotal age for the development of the use of a vocabulary of symbols (such as circle, square, triangle, diagonal line).
Height is affected by all of the following except ______.
cognitive development Cognitive development does not affect height.
Many of these sleep difficulties can be addressed by having a:
consistent bedtime routine. These routines can be seen as helping children develop independence and self-regulation abilities and calming the child down from a busy day of activities
Neglect is more likely to occur when caregivers face
continuing high levels of stress and withdraw from the child-rearing situation to reduce their overall distress or to distract them from a current stressor in their lives; drug or alcohol abuse is often involved. The mother in the previous example might go through a period of extreme stress and stop caring for the children except for occasional feeding and clothing.
In 2013, researchers who analyzed data from the Family Life Project, which made close observations of the home environment and mother-infant interaction, determined that the strongest predictor of executive functioning was ________.
cumulative risk Cumulative risk refers to a child's total score on a set of environmental risk factors, such as parents' income and marital status, environmental stress, and so on.
The term cascade is used because
developmental changes are analogous to a series of small waterfalls in a stream; the drop at each fall may be small, but the cumulative effect may drop the stream considerably in height
stronger inferior prefrontal activation is associated with
developmental improvements in the ability to switch rules
Comparisons of Korean and British preschool-age children revealed advantages in inhibition and switching that were hypothesized to be due to _______________.
differences in parental emphasis on social restraint and waiting one's turn The authors suggested that differences in parenting practices were responsible. For example, Korean parents emphasize quietness, restraint, and waiting for one's turn in games and social interactions.
There is evidence that providing correct practice with a pencil beginning at about age 2 ½ can lead to
earlier and more accurate letter writing when children go to school
Moriguchi and Hiraki used the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method to study links between executive functions and brain activity. They found that improvement from ages 3 to 4 in switching to a new rule in card sorting was associated with ___________.
increases in brain activity in the inferior (lower) frontal areas Children's brain activity was scanned using NIRS. Improvements from ages 3 to 4 were accompanied by a rise in brain activity during the post-switch phase of the task in inferior (lower) frontal areas but not in other brain areas.
white matter (myelinated axons) also shows a rapid increase in
infancy, followed by a more gradual increase from age 3 into early adulthood
According to Michel and colleagues' developmental systems view of handedness development, _______________.
infants' experiences with using primarily one hand in early motor skills tend to lead to use of that hand for more complex motor skills at the next developmental phase According to developmental systems theory, greater experience using one side of the body facilitates development of motor control and sensory systems in the brain for that hand and arm.
Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased incidence of:
infections of the lower respiratory tract, bronchitis, pneumonia, middle ear disease, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and respiratory symptoms. Secondhand smoke can also exacerbate asthma and respiratory symptoms and expose children to toxic industrial byproducts, which are absorbed into tobacco plants from contaminated soil
Each of the following is a distinct aspect of executive functions in early childhood except ___________.
language comprehension Language comprehension is not considered an executive function. Three specific processes that fall under the umbrella of executive functions, and change rapidly in early childhood are working memory, inhibition of responses or thoughts, and shifting between mental states, rules or tasks.
sources of lead
lead based paint or caulking, lead contaminated soils and dust, drinking water that passes through lead pipes, in the soil of playgrounds along heavily trafficked streets and highways. children's blood lead levels were more highly related to lead levels in the soil than to lead levels in homes
risk factors for physical abuse
living in conditions of poverty single parenthood a lack of social support from a relative or other adult social isolation from family, friends, or neighbors a history of being abused or living in family situations characterized by conflict a history of mental illness or substance abuse bidirectional relationships have been found. For example, children's behavior, such as level of language development or aggression, may influence the likelihood of being abused (Font & Berger, 2015). In addition, children with disabilities are twice as likely to be abused as children without disabilities
In addition to possible disruptions in brain development, a cascade effect occurs because _
maltreated children lack normal opportunities to interact with a responsive adult or with a stimulating environment. Children who have a history of physical abuse have deficits in language, IQ, and academic achievement
Two strategies adopted by researchers involve
minimizing family stress that often precedes maltreatment and improving mother-child attachment relationships.
Studies have shown that programs that make home visits lead to a reduction in cases of child maltreatment among at-risk mothers compared to a control group that did not receive home visits. One likely mediating factor in these experimental interventions is _______________.
mothers learning to manage stress as well as child caregiving The results of prevention studies indicate that developmental cascades can be prevented or interrupted by interventions that lower the overall stress level of the family or improve the relationship of mother and child.
Experimental interventions leading to more secure mother-child attachment relationships also affected children's cortisol levels. This implies that improving security of attachment might lead to _________.
nearly normal cortisol levels and better adaptation to the stress in the social environment The changes in stress level and mother-child relationships in the experimental intervention groups had an impact on daily average cortisol and improved the children's responses to stress.
Even small amounts of lead in the bloodstream are associated in young children with
nervous system damage; deficits on IQ, memory, and problem-solving tests; and attentional and behavioral difficulties that can persist into adulthood
In one five-year longitudinal study, lead levels in young children were brought down using _ but _ remained
nutritional and mineral treatments, but cognitive deficits remained
A common complication of respiratory infections, particularly in preschools and child care centers, is ______________.
otitis media One complication of colds in young children is middle-ear inflammation or infection, called otitis media. More than half of all children have had middle ear problems by age 3.
One important way to maintain children's health is to be sure they get their full set of vaccinations. The following illnesses can be prevented by vaccines except ________.
otitis media Young children experience frequent colds, averaging about 7 to 10 per year. A more serious complication of colds is middle-ear inflammation or infection, called otitis media. There is no vaccine for the common cold or otitis media.
Genes associated with handedness tend to be present in less than 5 percent of the population, suggesting that handedness is
polygenic, or influenced by more than one gene
maltreated children tend to have _
poor emotional regulation and may either act aggressively or withdraw from social interactions with peers
Not getting a reliable supply of healthy food is linked to a variety of negative consequences such as
poorer health and school achievement, in some cases stemming from iron deficiency anemia
As early as 18 months, children can hold a pencil or crayon against the palm of their hand in what is called a
power grip.
_ helps the motor and somatosensory regions of the brain prune down to the most efficient networks so that movements can be executed smoothly. At the same time, _ enable smoother execution of movements.
practicing gross and fine motor skills; advances in myelination and in coordination among different regions of the brain (such as sensory and motor regions)
One of the fastest-growing areas in early childhood is the
prefrontal cortex
Studies of how much glucose the brains of children and adults consume (using the PET scanner) found that ____________.
preschoolers' brains were the most active The cerebral cortex of the average 4-year-old consumes more glucose, which means it uses more energy, than that of the average adult.
parents help shape the development of executive functions by
providing structure and organization in the child's environment, supporting their child's learning, and reacting behaviorally and emotionally to daily situations
preschoolers have trouble
shifting rules in games. For example, researchers had children perform a card-sorting task on the basis of color (for example, blue cups and blue stars go in one tray, and red cups and red stars go in another tray). Then they shifted the rule, asking the children to sort on the basis of shape rather than color (blue cups and red cups go in one tray, blue stars and red stars go in another). Most 3-year-olds found it difficult to make the switch and continued using the old rule. By age 4, children switched to the new rule the majority of the time.
most common sleep-related problem between ages 3-5
stalling before bedtime
A first-grade teacher notices that one of her 6½ -year-old pupils is holding his pencil tightly in his fist, making most of his movements with his arm. He is drawing a picture of a man in a hat. She is surprised to see that at his age, he is ________.
still using the power grip As early as 18 months, children can hold a pencil or crayon against the palm of their hand in what is called a power grip. Depending on practice, by about age 6 they progress to holding the pencil with their thumb, index, and middle finger closer to the tip than the end.
The dynamics of actual acts of abuse appear to involve a situation in which
stress rises to a very high level for the parent, and the parent's skills and/or patience in dealing with the child are lacking.
Most of the deaths are concentrated in
sub-Saharan Africa, China, and India
A study of Korean and British children ranging from 3 to 4 ½ years of age found that
the Korean children performed better than British children on measures of inhibition and switching but not on measures of working memory. The authors suggested that differences in parenting practices were responsible.
According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, the most common reason that parents bring a child ages 1 to 4 to an emergency room is _______________.
the child fell and got injured In 2013, there were about 65 emergency room visits per 1,000 children ages 1 to 4 in the United States related to falls, making falls the most common reason that parents bring a child ages 1 to 4 to an emergency room.
gray matter gray matter (neuron cell bodies, dendrites, and synapses) grows rapidly in most areas of the brain during
the first 2 years and then more slowly after that. The overall amount of gray matter reaches a peak in late childhood and then declines after age 10.
One source of a developmental cascade involves:
the influence of stress hormones. When a person is threatened or in danger, this leads to a temporary increase in production of cortisol. In the short term, cortisol produces heightened alertness and prepares the brain and body to respond to the threat or danger. Normal levels of cortisol return within an hour or so. However, frequent and unpredictable episodes of stress occur in all types of child abuse and neglect. This floods the brain repeatedly with cortisol, leading sometimes to hyperactivity and sometimes to hypoactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which in turn can lead to either abnormally high or abnormally low levels of cortisol
A common scenario in an act of abuse is a type of "perfect storm" in which a parent is under a great deal of immediate stress, a young child's behavior has upset the parent, and _______________.
the parent lacks appropriate parenting skills and knowledge of children's capabilities The dynamics of actual acts of abuse appear to involve a situation in which stress rises to a very high level for the parent, and the parent's skills and/or patience in dealing with the child are lacking.
A study of children's drawings conducted over a 40-year period agrees with Kellogg in finding that age 3 to 4 is a pivotal age for the development of
the use of a vocabulary of symbols (such as circle, square, triangle, diagonal line)
Anthropologists have studied the Jimi people from a remote valley in Papua New Guinea, who do not have indigenous pictorial art. When asked by a Western researcher to draw a human form, 10- to 15-year-old Jimi children who had not attended formal schooling produced stick figures resembling
those of preschoolers in industrialized cultures, suggesting that this is a universal starting point for pictorial art.
Although the rate of improvement depends greatly on practice, by about age 6 they progress to what is called a
tripod grip and hold the pencil or crayon with their thumb, index, and middle finger closer to the tip than the end
By age 2 to 2 ½ years, children learn to
walk efficiently, using their arms to balance their upper body and rolling from heel to toe as they place each foot on the ground.
