infant development exam review

Marcus was just given something new to eat by his mother. Upon tasting it, his lips immediately puckered, and his mouth produced saliva. Marcus' mom likely gave Marcus something that was _______ flavored.

sour

The part of the brain responsible for higher-order skills and that distinguishes humans from other animals is the

cerebral cortex.

During the time when a woman's egg leaves an ovary and travels into the fallopian tube, is when the egg

releases a chemical substance that attracts a man's sperm.

Gait-mats are useful to assess infant walking ability, however they are limited in that they

require infants to walk in a straight line.

Research in brain growth and functioning has led to greater understanding of why some children are _______, while others suffer great harm under adverse environmental conditions.

resilient

According to the Gestalt theory of perception, infants' perceptual skills would result in

an adultlike capacity to organize visual stimuli into meaningful patterns.

A great deal of developmental research is correlational rather than experimental because

experiments cannot be performed with infants or children

In contrast to cultural practices of sleep in the United States, the Kipsigi community in rural Kenya practice

allow infants to take many naps and wake several times throughout the night to nurse on demand.

Four-month-old Emile watches as a researcher rolls a ball down a plank, through a colorful tunnel. Although he can smoothly track the progress of the ball's movement down the track, he doesn't look to the other side of the tunnel until the ball pops out. On the other hand, 7-month-old Bella anticipates its appearance after entering the tunnel and shifts her eyes to the end of the tunnel before the ball appears. Compared to Emile, Bella shows

anticipatory eye movements.

Gesell's work involved documenting the motor abilities and physical growth of infants, including changing skills in prehension, which refers to

approaching, grasping, and releasing objects.

In a longitudinal design, a researcher

studies a cohort of similarly aged individuals over an extended period of time

Which theorist claimed that children have an innate ability to rapidly acquire language?

Chomsky

Lilly and Max are dizygotic twins. A doctor once explained to their parents that Max has a higher chance of inheriting color blindness than Lilly. Why would that be?

Color blindness is a sex-linked trait associated with the X chromosome.

Much of what is known about experience-dependent plasticity is a result of

correlational studies of children in various care-giving environments.

Talia is a very active preschooler who loves sports and active play. Her parents recognize her need to be active and choose to enroll her in a few programs at their local YMCA. The parent's reaction to Talia's activity level is an example of

evocative effects.

Hubel and Wiesel's experiments with kittens helped to better understand

experience-expectant plasticity.

A(n) _______ has been used to describe the unique components and interactive influence genetic and environmental aspects have on human development.

library metaphor

Imani grew up in a region of Africa where malaria is prevalent. Many in her community that have lived there for generations seem to have increased resistance to the disease compared to families who have recently moved to the area. However, others moved away from Africa to areas without malaria where the gene was not needed to protect against the disease. This instance is an example of a

mixed mutation

The weeks that precede and follow an infant's birth is known as the

perinatal period.

Rutter (1981) conducted a study on children from an orphanage: When infants received adequate care in adoptive homes, they became more affectionate, more cheerful. This is an example of

plasticity—infants can adapt and even change in response to improved environments or experiences.

Klinefelter syndrome and Turner syndrome provide evidence that

random negative mutations can occur.

Synaptogenesis begins prenatally and is especially rapid

before and after birth.

The process of implantation involves the

blastocyst becoming firmly embedded in the lining of the uterus.

Which is an example of a developmental cascade?

As the fetus moves, it generates feedback that leads to improved motor coordination, which is important for later motor development.

In 2013, the U.S. government launched the _______ to encourage scientific discovery of new tools and methods to study the brain.

BRAIN initiative

______is (are) characteristic of the first stage of labor, while _______ is (are) characteristic of the second stage of labor.

Contractions; pushing

Which approach would limit the generalizability of study findings to the population of interest?

Convenience sampling

A researcher wants to measure the frequency of cyberbullying at different grade levels at an elementary school. Which type of study should be applied?

Cross-sectional study

A child has difficulty processing information early on, leading to challenges in making friends and later, to experiences of being bullied. What are these related effects called?

Developmental cascades

Which of the following statements correctly summarizes the contribution of Thelen's research to the understanding of infant motor development?

Factors such as weight and muscle mass can impact the type of behaviors that infants display.

Which of the following structures in the retina is responsible for determining the overall visual acuity of infants?

Fovea

All studies involving humans must be reviewed by an institutional review board (IRB). Which of the following is an accurate reflection of IRB standards?

If there is a need for deception, participants must be debriefed after the study.

The spread or variability among children in various aspects of development is called

Individual differences

In a series of studies, Vouloumanos and Werker (2004) examined speech sound preferences in infants. Which of following results would be consistent with their conclusion that preference for speech begins before a baby is even born?

Infants as young as 4 days old already showed a preference for speech over nonspeech sounds.

During the embryonic period, cells of the embryo begin to fold into three layers. The layer that contains cells for bone tissue is called the

Mesoderm.

How do we know that infants remember the sounds that they heard prenatally?

Mothers read passages from Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat during pregnancy, and after birth, their babies increased their sucking rate to the passages.

Molly and her mother are playing with several different size balls in their living room. With the small balls, Molly has learned how to grasp them in her hands and throw them back towards her mother. With the larger balls however, when Molly attempts to grasp them, as she touches and tries to hold them, she finds it is too difficult to do. As a result, she switches to rolling them back and forth. Which concept explains Molly's behavior?

Perception-action feedback loop

Aleta expects her children to help with chores around the apartment. She begins teaching "cleaning up" by having her toddler son hand her toys, that she then puts in a toy box. This is an example of

Scaffolding

The first six weeks after childbirth is what period of development?

The postnatal period

Infants were initially habituated to the category "vehicles" by being shown images of different cars and trucks. Following this, they were shown a picture of a school bus next to a picture of an apple. Based on your knowledge of how infants form categories for different objects, which of the following statements would best illustrate how infants would respond?

They would look less at the school bus compared to the apple, having grouped the bus as a type of vehicle.

Isha and Tybere are both 10 months old. Isha is considered an "experienced" crawler whereas Tybere is not. When placed at the top of a steep flight of stairs, it is most likely that

Tybere would attempt to crawl down the stairs, but Isha would remain on the landing.

Six-year-old Maya was involved in a car accident. The doctors mentioned that Maya has some swelling of her occipital lobe. Which of these might be affected with an injury to this part of the brain?

Vision

Talia took the drug Thalidomide while pregnant in 1958. The probability that her infant will suffer deformities because of exposure to this drug would depend on which factor?

Whether the mother took the drug during the period that exposes the fetus to harm

The part of a neuron responsible for receiving neural transmissions is the

dendrite.

A researcher wants to study the impact of prenatal nutrition on motor development. To rigorously test his hypothesis that protein content in the prenatal diet affects timing of motor milestones, the researcher

designs a prospective longitudinal study

Henry is being fed by his mother. Each time her mouth moves, he hears sounds ("Open wide! This is yummy!") and then feels the cold, smooth texture of the food in his mouth. After each bite of food, he hears the spoon lightly tapping against the applesauce container as his mother prepares another bite of food for him. Henry's integration of these experiences into an understanding of being fed is an example of

intermodal perception.

The placement of a man's sperm into a woman's uterus using a long, narrow tube, which is sometimes used to address infertility, is referred to as

intrauterine insemination (IUI).

Developmental changes in motor development such as learning to crawl and walk are likely to lead to changes in

language, socio-emotional, and cognitive development

An experiment that follows the same group of children over a period of time is called a _______ study.

longitudinal

Ainsley was looking out the window of her parents' car as they were taking a trip to the beach. To her eyes, it appeared as though the trees and fences nearest to the car went past her very quickly, but the large clouds overhead moved very slowly, a phenomenon known as

motion parallax.

The primary goal of developmental science is

policy design

4-month-old Tandy was brought to a research laboratory as part of a study on the music preferences of infants. She was taught to suck on a pacifier to start recordings of different types of music. Based on your knowledge of music preferences in infants, you would expect that Tandy would

prefer music that was structurally consistent with the music typical to her culture.

Children whose mothers consumed high levels of fish oil (DHA) while pregnant are more likely to

show advantages on visual attention and processing speed at 24 months.

Jeremy and Sam are identical twins. However, Sam is slightly taller than Jeremy. Differences such as this

show differences in phenotype.

_______ refers to the perception of an object as having a constant size despite changes in the size of the retinal image, whereas _______ refers to the perception of an object as having a constant shape despite changes to the retinal image.

size constancy; shape constancy

The brain's volume gradually increases over childhood through the processes of

synaptogenesis and myelination

An inherited metabolic disorder passed from parent to child that destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and leads to death in childhood is called

tay-Sachs disease.

Jessica is watching from her playpen as her mother plays on the piano. Every time her mother moves her fingers on the keyboard, a sound is made. Jessica is able to connect her mother's fingers on the keyboard to the sounds that she hears because of

temporal synchrony.

A large influence on U.S. parents' avoidance of co-sleeping with their infant stems from

the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation for infants not to share a bed to minimize the risk of SIDS.

In comparing both animal studies and twin studies, researchers feel confident in the finding that

the same principles of gene-environment interactions observed in animals apply to humans.

Fred and Ted are identical twins. This means

the zygote split in half soon after conception.

One week after conception, a ball of 100 cells becomes firmly embedded in the lining of the uterus in the process of implantation. This ball of cells is called the

blastocyst.

A reason that an infant may experience anoxia can be due to

a baby being in the breech position

Cortisol regulates body processes such as metabolism and _______ and helps the body respond to _______.

the immune response; stress

When Juan witnessed the birth of his newborn, he noticed that the tiny human was covered with a slimy, white substance and small hairs all over the baby's body. This slimy, white substance is called _______, and the small hairs are called _______.

vernix;lanugo

When viewing objects at different distances, the lens of the eye automatically changes shape in a process known as

visual accommodation.

Kendra is beginning to display evidence of prospective control. This means that

when reaching for objects, she will adjust her hand to match the object's size before touching the object.

Maternal malnourishment may lead to fetal growth retardation and low birth weight due to

"starvation" signals to the fetus that food is likely to be scarce in the future.

Errors in the number of chromosomes that affect early development typically occur

during the meiotic divisions that produce gametes

Cruising behavior in infants is functionally similar to _______ behavior because of the heavy reliance on _______.

crawling; muscles in the arms

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development is best characterized by which example?

A child counts to five, but the teacher helps the child count a few more numbers to 10.

During Meredith's pregnancy, Meredith had a procedure performed that resulted in an image of her fetus. This technique is called

ultrasonography.

Dr. Sahel is interested in age differences in theory of mind. To design a study in a way that enables the most rapid data collection, she should

use a cross-sectional design

A boy brings a doll everywhere he goes. He sees other boys playing with blocks and never dolls. The boy puts his doll away and joins the other boys. According to Bandura, the boy did this because

the boy learned that other boys prefer playing with blocks to dolls and chose to do the same.

Which finding is consistent with the theory that regions of the brain specialized for experience-expectant plasticity are not necessarily locked into their "expected" paths of development?

A deaf child's auditory processing areas become specialized for visual processing.

High maternal licking & grooming of ratpups

A. increases expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene in the pups B. results in more glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus of the pups C. increases stress resistance of the pups D. all of the above answer is all of the above

A child is confronted by an unfamiliar barking dog. The child's heart starts to race as he runs away. Which part of the brain helps prepare for this response to a fearful situation?

Amygdala

_______ appear(s) to adjust in line with human experience and can serve to accelerate or delay the opening of a sensitive period.

Brain plasticity

As an infant, Sarah began to hold her head up before she was able to balance her torso. Developing the ability to hold her head up before developing the ability to balance her torso is a demonstration of what principle of growth?

Cephalocaudal development

Which has not been proposed as a likely reason for the relatively high infant mortality rates in the United States?

Changes in access to health care, clean water, and nutrition over the twentieth century

Mai and Clifton are both sitting upright on an experimenter's lap and are presented with an interesting toy that is slightly beyond their reach. Although Clifton attempts to lean forward to grab the object, Mai does not, knowing it is too far away. Based on your knowledge of the development of reaching, you could conclude that

Clifton is likely younger than Mai.

A researcher wishes to study the electrical brain activity of infants as they process stimuli. They are likely to use which technology to record the electrical activity in the surface of infants' brains?

EEG

While pregnant, Chloe suffered from depression. Her infant is likely to exhibit which of the following characteristics?

Elevated heart rate, suppressed motor activity, high irritability

Darius and Xavier are identical twins. At age 20, Darius was diagnosed with cancer but recovered with treatment. The two men are now 50 years old and Xavier has never been diagnosed with cancer. What concept might explain this difference?

Epigenetics

Aiden's parents consistently placed him on his tummy whenever he went to sleep. Gertrude, on the other hand, was consistently placed on her back. Based on the findings from the Back-to-Sleep campaign, it is likely that

Gertrude will likely be delayed compared to Aiden in skills related to related to rolling over, sitting, and crawling.

What surrounds and protects neurons, and influences communication among neurons by helping in the formation and strengthening of synapses?

Glial cells

Which of the following best illustrates how infants' ability to perceive color is different from adults'?

Infants categorize colors in the same way as do adults.

Which of these scenarios best illustrates the concept of perceptual narrowing?

Infants raised by their fathers show greater ability to distinguish among male faces compared to female faces.

The Swiss psychologist best known for his theory of cognitive development is

Jean Piaget

Laticia loved eating spicy foods when she was pregnant, while Anne preferred foods that were heavily salted. Their interests in these foods continued as they breastfed their babies. Given what you know about the development of infant taste preferences, it is likely that

Laticia's child will prefer spicy foods and Anne's child will prefer salty foods.

Which is not a developmental cascade related to low birth weight?

None of the above—all are possible developmental cascades related to low birth weight

Which of the following examples would support Myrtle McGraw's conclusion of how early environmental experiences contribute to infant motor development?

Lucy's swimming lessons as a young child would likely result in her experiencing greater coordination in such skills throughout her life.

Bridget and Theo are parents of an infant. A friend encourages them to buy a learning system for their infant, citing the "use it or lose it" concept of maintaining existing neural connections. Is this the best advice?

No, pruning away excess neurons will improve the child's neural communication.

Zoe noticed that, while sleeping, she rarely dreams and does not change position in her bed. Zoe is likely to be mostly in what type of sleep?

Non-REM

Jess was born with cataracts in both eyes. Considering brain-expectant plasticity, which is the best course of action?

Remove the cataracts during infancy, as removing them after infancy increases the chance of visual impairments.

A group of researchers attempted to recreate several studies with identical procedures. These researchers discovered that most repeated studies were unable to match the original results. This shows a problem in which phenomenon?

Scientific replicability

Robyn and Marlene climbed the neighbors' fence to use their trampoline. Robyn's mom got angry and put Robyn on a timeout before giving a chore to Robyn. Marlene saw Robyn get scolded and punished and never climbed the fence again. Why?

She saw what could happen to her (vicarious reinforcement learning).

Middle schoolers participated in a sex education and health program early in the year. They were tested at the end of the program to measure what they retained. A week later, they were tested again to see if individual children received similar scores. Which type of reliability is being assessed?

Test-retest reliability

What is the name of the membrane that contains a clear, watery fluid in which the fetus floats?

The amniotic sac

Behavioral genetic studies generally involve observing

Twins, adopted children, or genome-wide

Early philosopher John Locke viewed children as a tabula rasa, meaning they were

a blank slate.

At age 6, Karen entered school and had difficulty learning to read. At age 8, she concluded she was not smart enough to learn as easily as her classmates did. At age 14 she decided she would leave school as soon as she turned 16. This demonstrates

a negative developmental cascade over time

Fetal alcohol syndrome is characterized in children by

a small forehead, short nose, and thin upper lip.

Being able to detect a sound is defined as _______ threshold, whereas being able to detect that a change in sound occurred from a first sound to a second sound is called _______ threshold.

absolute; difference

Developmental onsets for specific skills

are highly variable between individuals

All of the following muscle groups play a central role in the infant's ability to sit unaided and without supports except the

arms

Electrical impulses travel from the cell body to _______ where neurotransmitters are released to send signals to other neurons.

axon terminals

Makena is a 5-month-old infant born to Kenyan parents who recently immigrated to the United States. Based on your knowledge of the role of cultural norms on motor development in infants, you would predict that Makena will

be ahead of her same-aged peers in some motor milestones related to sitting and standing provided that her parents continue to embrace Kenyan cultural norms of child-rearing.

Champagne and Meaney's study of rat licking provided evidence that

early experience may alter gene expression.

Yumi was shown a drawing of a bicycle. After habituating to this first image, she was then presented with a second picture of the same bicycle behind a gate, with its front wheel being blocked. Yumi's recognition of the partially perceived bicycle as being identical to the whole image is an indication of the Gestalt concept of

good continuation.

Jackson's mother presented him with a new toy, a colorful rattler. At first, Jackson stared intently at the toy, but after attending to it for a few minutes, he began to look away, and eventually did not show interest in the toy at all. Jackson's behavior would signal that he had

habituated to the toy.

A pregnant mother who spends more than half of her time sedentary behaviors during pregnancy is more likely to

have a macrosomic infant.

A main benefit due to the process of myelination is the

improvement in the conductivity of the nerve impulses.

The ecological theory of perception proposed a significant departure from earlier views on infant perceptual development because the theory emphasized the

infant's role in piecing together dynamic, visual experiences in their environment in a way that allowed them to make sense of their experiences.

One explanation advanced for the "attractiveness effect" in infants is that

infants prefer "attractive" faces as they resemble the "prototype" face that would result from averaging many faces.

Theory is best defined as

interconnected statements, ideas or principles that explain observable events.

The use of the ghavora among mothers in Tajikistan contributes to our understanding of the role of culture in influencing motor development because

it significantly restricts infant movement when used, and as a result, infants who spend many hours in the gahvora may show delays in certain motor skills based on norms established by the World Health Organization.

Dr. Tay is interested in examining at what age infants' visual acuity improves. She shows infants of various ages two photos of the same object, a flower. In one of the photos, the picture is slightly blurred. In the other photo, the picture is sharp. Based on the concept of preferential looking, if infants can see the difference between the two photos, they will likely

look longer at the clear photo compared to the blurred one.

In class, your professor states that there is a universal pattern of motor development in infants, and that all infants develop motor skills in the same order, regardless of biology or experience. Your professor follows the thinking of Gesell, by strongly endorsing the role of _______ in infant motor development.

maturation

By the end of the first year, infants have a distinct _______, which continues to develop until around 3 years of age.

microbiome

A researcher has designed a study that will involve obtaining frequent, closely spaced observations of children. This is a _______ study.

microgenetic

The Apgar scale is an assessment of newborn health and is based on ratings including neonate

pulse, grimace, and respiration.

Children who have highly responsive mothers

produce two word utterances earlier than average

Three-year-old Lila's mom is angry on the phone, raises her voice, and yells before slamming the phone on a table. Later, her mom sees the little girl yelling at her doll for being late and abruptly pushing the doll onto the floor. This is an example of

observational learning.

The death of superfluous neuronal connections is referred to as

pruning

Learning a language is substantially easier up until the age of 12. This is evidence of

sensitive periods.

The main difference between premature infants and small-for-date infants is that

small-for-date infants weigh less than expected at birth based on the time they spent in the womb.

A child has the impulse to hit other children when he gets upset. However, the child realizes such behaviors are inappropriate and unacceptable, and therefore the child refrains from hitting. According to Freud's theory, the

superego is imposing societal demands on the id.

Scientists' ability to locate a gene thought to be involved in an inherited disease has greatly increased because of

the Human Genome Project.