Lifespan Development Exam 1

Child directed Speech

*Child-directed Speech*: when you speak to an infant or toddler slowly in a sing-song, high-pitched voice with exaggerated ups and downs, simply your speech, exaggerate vowel sounds, and use short words and sentences and much repitition -Sometimes called parentese, motherese, or babytalk -Babytalk seems to be universal in nature and serves a function -Study: Mothers in the US, Russia, and Sweden were taped speaking to their 2-5 month olds. Wehther the mothers were speaking English, Russian, or Swedish, the produced more exaggerated vowel sound when talking to the infants than when talking to other adults -At 20 weeks, the babies' babbling contained distinct vowels that reflected phonetic differences in their mothers speech -Many researchers believe that CDS help babies learn their native language faster -Infants are captured attentionally by the sound and find it highly engaging, resulting in more rapid learning --Infants themselves prefer to hear simplified speech

Section: When do emotions appear?

*First 6 months* -Contentment, interest, distress (mostly physiological responses to sensory stimulation), then turn into true emotions: joy, surprise, sadness, disgust, and anger and fear (reactions to events that have meaning for the infant) *15-24 months* -*Self-conscious Emotions*: such as embarrassment, empathy, and envy arise, but only after children develop *self-awareness* (the cognitive understanding that they have a recognizable identity, separate and different from the rest of their world) -*Rouge-mirror Test*: self-awareness. When babies look in mirror and they either don't notice a difference because they think it's a different baby or they know it's them and try to get off the mark -First person pronouns and descriptive terms indicate self-awareness *Age 3* -Children become better at evaluating their own thoughts, plans, desires, and behavior against what is considered socially appropriate -*Self-evaluative Emotion*: Pride, guilt, and shame. Depend on both self-awareness and knowledge of socially accepted standards of behavior

Holophrase vs. Telegraphic speech

*Holophrase* -A single word that conveys a complete thought -Ex. "Up" means "pick me up", "food" means "I'm hungry" *Telegraphic Speech* -Early form of sentence use consisting of only a few essential words -Children's use of telegraphic speech and the form it takes varies depending on the language being learned -Ex. "Damma deep" = "Grandma is sweeping the floor" -Ex. "Pingu monster, pingu scared"

Early Reflexes

*Moro* -Stimulation: baby is dropped or hears a loud nose (being frightened) -Behavior: Extend legs, arms, and fingers, arches back, draws head back *Darwinian (grasping)* -Stimulation: Palm of baby's hand is stroked -Behavior: Makes strong fist; can be raises to standing position is both fists are closed around a stick *Tonic neck* -Stimulation: baby is laid down on back -Behavior: turns head to one side, assumes fencer position, extends arm and leg on preferred side, flexes opposite limbs *Babkin* -Stimulation: Both of baby's palms are stroked at once -behavior: Mouth opens, eyes close, neck flexes, head tilts forward *Babinski* -Stimulation: Sole of baby's foot is stroked -Behavior: toes tan out; foot twists in *Rooting* -Stimulation: baby's cheek or lower lip is stroked with finger or nipple -Behavior: Head turns; mouth opens; sucking movements begin *Walking* -Stimulation: Baby is held under arms, with bare feet touching flat surface -Behavior: Makes steplike motions that look like well-coordinated walking -Stepping pattern disappears because the baby's legs become too heavy for them to move *Swimming* -Stimulation: Baby is put into water face down -Behavior: Makes well-coordinated swimming movement

Piaget's Cognitive Stage Theory

-*Focus*: Children *actively* construct knowledge as they explore and adapt to the world -Deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans gradually come to acquire, construct, and use it -children construct an understanding of the world around them -4 Stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operational period *Schemes* -Cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information -Organized patterns of thought and behavior used in particular situations -Ex. Cats are furry creatures that say "meow" *Assimilation*: -Integrating new information into an existing scheme -Ex. Cats have 4 legs, and also come in different colors *Accommodation*: -Changing one's schema to incorporate new information -Ex. Encountering a dog that matches previous cat criteria= new schema emerge. Dogs have 4 legs and come in different colors and say "woof"

Brain Development: Myelination, Cell death, and Plasticity (in terms of brain development)

*Neurons* -Send and receive information *Myelination* -Fatty substance helps send signals faster and smoother -Credit for the efficiency of neural communication goes to the glia that coat the neural pathways with a fatty substance called myelin -Begins about halfway through hesitation in some parts of the brain and continues into adulthood in others -The pathways related to the sense of touch- the first sense to develop- are myelinated by birth, visual pathways (which are slower to mature) begins mylineation at birth and continues during the first 5 months of gestation but the process is not complete until about age 4. The parts of the cortex that control attention and memory are not fully myelinated until young adulthood and continues to increase until at least age 70 *Cell death* -Elimination of excess brain cells for more efficient functioning -Begins during the prenatal period and continues after birth -Only about half the neurons originally produced survive and function in adulthood *Plasticity* -Molding of the brain through experience -Plasticity enables learning, and individual differences in intelligence may reflect differences in the brain's ability to develop neural connections in response to experience

Section: When does object permanence develop?

*Object Permanence* -When babies realize that objects still exist even when they're out of sight Develops gradually during the sensorimotor stage -*Birth-4 months*- "Out of Sight, out of mind" -*4-8 months*- Will search briefly for dropped objects, but if they cannot see it, they act as if it no longer exists -*8-12 months*- object permanence begins to emerge, but it's not perfect. Babies will search for partially hidden objects --*A-not-B Error*: Search for an object where first saw it hidden, even if they saw it being moved to another place -*12-18 months*- Will search for an object in the *last* place they saw it hidden, but will not search for it in a place where they did *not* see it hidden -*18-24 months*- Object permanence is *fully achieved*; toddlers will look for an object even if they did not see it hidden *Esther Thelen's Dynamic Systems Theory* proposes that the decision where to search for a hidden object is not about what babies *know*, but about what they *do*, and why -One factor is how much *time* has elapsed between the infant's seeing the object hidden in a new place and the infant's reaching for it. If the time is *brief*, the infant is *more likely* to reach for for the object in the *new location*. When the time interval is *longer*, the memory of having previously found the object in the *old place* inclines the infant to *search there again*, and that inclination grows stronger the more times the infant has found it there -Other research suggests that babies may fail to search for hidden objects because they cannot carry out a two-step sequence of actions, such as lifting the cover of a box before grasping the object

Overextending, Underextending, and Overregularization

*Overextending* -using a verbal label too broadly -Ex. every male= dad, every animal= cat *Underextending* -When kids use words in too narrow of a category -Ex. you know your sister is a girl but you don't call your neighbor girl a girl because to you only your sister can be a girl *Overregularization* -A language error, but it nonetheless illustrates children's growing knowledge of syntax -Occurs when children inappropriately apply a syntactical rule -ex. "Dadded *goed* to the store" or "I *drawed* that

Section: Gestures

*Pointing* -Important to langage acquisition and serves several functions: --Communicating an interesting sight, that they want something, to indicate direction *Conventional Social Gestures* (by 12 months) -Waving bye, nodding her head to mean "yes" and shaking it "no" *Representational Gestures* (13 months) -Ex. holding a cup to her mouth to indicate she wants a drink or hold up her arms to show that she wanted to be picked up *Symbolic Gestures* (10-14 months) -Appears same time as first words (10-14 months) -Blowing means "hot" or sniffing to mean "flowers" -By using gestures, babies show an understanding that symbols can refer to specific objects, event,s desires, and conditions -Usually appear before children have a vocab of 25 words and drop out when children learn the word for which they're gesturing

Early Sensory Capacities

*Touch and Pain* -The first sense to develop and for the first months is the most mature sensory system -Rooting Reflex -Pain (may emerge during the *third trimester* of pregnancy) *Smell and Taste* -Begins to develop in the womb -Newborns prefer sweet tastes and pleasant oders, which seems to be developed in utero and during the first few days after birth -Prefer sweet tastes and reject bitter tastes (probably a survival mechanism as bitter substances are toxic) *Hearing* -Well-developed at birth -Babies have a preference for high-pitched sounds, music over noise, and human voices (with especial preference for mother) -Babies turn in direction of a sound -Auditory discrimination for new speech sounds (meaning they can tell new speech sounds from those that they've heard before *Sight* -The least developed sense at birth -Neonate's eyes focus best from about 1 foot away (they prefer objects close to their face; they like mirrors) -They blink at bright lights, their field of peripheral vision is narrow, and the ability to follow a target and distinguish color develops rapidly in the first few months -Reach 20/20 vision by about *8 months* -*Binocular vision* (using both eyes to focus) develops around *4 or 5 months* -They have a preference for *black, white, and gray*, with *red* coming in afterwards. --Also have a preference for patterns -Have early face perception and have preferences for human faces

Harlow's Monkey Experiments

-At birth, monkeys removed from their mothers -Raised for 6 months by two substitute "mothers" (one was a write mother that contained food, the other was a cloth mother that provided nothing but a comfort source) -Babies "raised" by cloth mothers showed more natural interest in exploring than those "raised" by wire mothers -Results: monkeys spend far more time with the cloth mother over the wire mother -*Comfort*, not food, is the *basis for emotional attachment* -Monkeys raised by cloth mothers remembered them while wire monkey babies didn't care when they saw their mothers again

Growth Patterns

-Children grow faster during the *first 3 years*, especially during the *first few months* than they ever will again --Height: around 1 inch/month --Weight: triples by 1st birthday -Rapid growth tapers off during the 2nd and 3rd years -A boy typically gains 5 and a half lbs by his 2nd birthday and 3 more by his third (almost 34lbs) -Genes infant inherits have a strong influence on whether child will be tall or short, thin or stocky, or somewhere in between -This genetic influence interacts with such environmental influences as nutrition and living conditions -Ex. Japanese American children are taller and weigh more than children the same age in Japan, probably because of dietary differences -Teething usually begins around 3 to 4 months, when infants begin grabbing almost everything in sight to put into their mouths, but first tooth may not arrive until between 5 and 9 months or later. by 1 year babies have 6-8 teeth, and by 2 and a half they have a mouthful of 20

Erikson's psycholosocial stage theory and first two stages (trust vs mistrust; autonomy vs shame)

-Comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of 8 stages, in which a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood 1.*Trust vs Mistrust* (birth-18 months) -Babies struggling to gain a sense of trust in the world. The way they gain trust in the world is how their caregiver takes care of them -Ideally, babies develop a balance between trsut (which lets them form intimate relationships) and mistrust (which enables them to protect themselves) --If trust predominates, children develop hope and the belief that they can fulfill their needs and obtain their desires. If mistrust predominates, children view the world as unfriendly and unpredictable and have trouble forming quality relationships -The critical element in developing trust is sensitive, responsive, consistent caregiving 2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (18 months- 3 years) -Children are learning to do things on their own (ex. feeding themselves, going to the bathroom along, etc.)

Walk and Gibson Visual Cliff Experiment

-Deals with *depth perception*, which is the ability to perceive objects and surfaces three-dimensionally -Experimenters: Richard Walk and Eleanor Gibson -6 month old babies were seated on top of a Plexiglass tabletop laid over two ledges. Between the ledges was an apparent drop (made more prominent because of checkerboard pattern and usage of low light to minimize reflection from the plexiglass). From the far side of the table, the infants' mothers then beckoned their children. -To the babies, it appeared that the moms were beckoning them to crawl over a *visual cliff* (an apparatus designed to given an illusion of depth and used to assess depth perception in infants) -*Ecological Theory of Perception* -Developed by Eleanor and James Gibson, which describes developing motor and perceptual abilities as interdependent parts of a functional system that guides behavior in varying contexts -Locomotor development depends on infants' increasing sensitivity to the interaction between their changing physical characteristics and new and varied characteristics of their environment -Results: --6-month olds: approach the "ledge" but avoided going over the "drop" --Younger babies: showed decreased heart rate (which means they perceived something to be different), but still crossed the cliff

Sensorimotor Stage (don't need to know the substages of the sensorimotor stage)

-From birth-2 -The first of Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development -Infants learn about themselves and their world through their developing sensory and motor activity -Babies using reflex-> goal-orientated toddlers *Circular Reactions*: -Behaviors initially produced by reflexes and chance become goal orientated behaviors -Ex. Initially, an activity such as sucking produces an enjoyable sensation that the baby wants to repeat. The repetition again produces pleasure, which motivates the baby to do it yet again -> the original chance behavior has been consolidated into a new scheme *Object Permanence*

Perceiving language sounds and structure

-Process of sound discrimination seems to begin in the womb -Ex. heart rates of fetuses in the 35th week of gestation slowed when a tape recording of a rhyme the mother had spoken frequently was played near her abdomen. It did not slow for a different rhyme another pregnancy woman had spoke. Bc the voice on the tape was not the mother's, the fetuses apparently were responding to the linguistic sounds they had heard the mother use --This suggests that hearing the "mother tongue" before birth may pretune an infant's ears to picking up its sounds, and will be born with an "accent" as a result of early experiences *Phonemes* -Smallest units of sound in speech --*Babies prefer native language to unfamiliar language* -by *6-7 months*, hearing babies have learned to recognize the approximately 40 phonemes of their basic language and will adjust to slight differences in the way different speakers form those sounds -Starting as early as *6 months for vowels and 10 months for consonants*, recognition of native phonetic sounds significantly increases, while discrimination of nonnative sounds declines (by the end of the first year, babies lose their sensitivity to sounds that are not part of the language they usually hear spoken) -Babies who lack early exposure to this pattern of learning during a critical or sensitive period are unlikely to acquire language normally How does change in language occur? -Infants mentally compute the relative frequency of particular phonetic sequences in their language and learnt o ignore sequences they infrequently hear -Early language experience modifies the neural structure of the brain, facilitating rapid progress toward detection of word patterns in the native language while suppressing attention to nonnative patterns that would slow native language learning -Between *6-12 months*, babies begin to become aware of the phonological rules of their language

Evaluation Piaget's sensorimotor stage

-Research using simplified tasks and modern tools suggests that limitations Piaget saw in infant's early cognitive abilities, such as object permanence, may instead have reflected *immature linguistic and motor skills* -In terms of describing what children do under certain circumstances, and the basic progression of skills, Piaget was correct.

Cultural Influences on motor development

-The *pace* of motor development responds to certain cultural factors -African babies tend to be more advanced than US and European infants in sitting, walking, and running --Differences may be related to ethnic differences in temperament or may reflect a culture's child-rearing practices -Some cultures actively encourage early development of motor skills --In many African and West Indian cultures where infants shwoed advanced motor development, adults use special *handling routines* such as bouncing and stepping exercises, to strengthen the babies' muscles -Some cultures discourage early motor development --Children of the Ache in eastern Paraguay do not begin walking until age 18-20 months, but by age 8-10 years, Ache children climb tall trees, chop branches, and play in ways that enhance their motor skills --Thus, *normal develop does not need to follow the same timetable to reach the same destination*

Vaginal vs. Cesarean Delivery

-The usual method of childbirth is vaginal delivery -*Cesarean Delivery*: delivery of a baby by surgical removal from the uterus -This is done when there is slow labor progression, the fetus or mother's heath is at risk, the baby is in a breech position (feet or buttocks first) or in the transverse position (lying crosswise in the uterus) or when the baby's head is too big to pass through the pelvis -Cesarean birthrates in the US are among the highest in the world (this is largely due to rising proportions of older first-time mothers who tend to have very premature infants for whom c-section significantly reduces the risk of dying during the first month of life, also due to fear of malpractice suits, as well as the increased revenue hospitals generate when a woman has a c-section rather than a vaginal birth) -C-sections carry risks of serious complications for the mother (like bleeding, infection, damage to pelvic organs, etc.) and deprives the baby of important benefits of normal birth (like the surge of hormones that clear the lungs of excess fluid, mobilize stored stored fuel to nourish cells, and send blood to the heart and brain_ -Vaginal births after cesarean (VBAC) should be attempted with caution bc they're associated with greater risks of uterine rupture, brain damage, and infant death

Ethological Theory (including imprinting, critical, and sensitive periods)

-Theorist: Lorenz (studied animals) and Bowlby (studied humans) -Focus: is influenced by biology, tied to evolution; adaptive, or survival behavior -*Imprinting*: The time when animals are biologically programmed to form an attachment to the first moving object seen -*Critical period*: The time period when specific experiences must be encountered for development to proceed normally -Ex. developing attachment -*Sensitive Periods*: The time period that is optimal for certain behaviors to occur and to be influenced by the environment; wider time period than critical period -Ex. learning a language Bowlby: applied to human behavior; babies attachment (emotional bond) to caregiver --Babies rely on crying and smiling as commuication --Adults are biologically predisposed to respond to crying

Section: First signs of emotions

-When babies want or need something, they cry. When they feel sociable, they laugh or smile *Crying* -Crying is the most powerful way infants can communicate their needs. There are 4 patterns of crying: -Wolff: the basic *hunger cry* (a rhythmic cry), the *angry cry* (a variation of the rhythmic cry in which excess air is forced through the vocal cords), the *pain cry* (a sudden onset of loud crying without preliminary moaning, sometimes followed by holding the breath), and *frustration cry* (two or three drawn-out cries with no prolonged breath-holding) -At *5 months* babies have learned to monitor their caregivers expressions and if ignored will first cry harder to try to get attention and then stop crying if their attempt is unsuccessful -Picking up crying babies will *not* spoil the infant. -If parents wait to comfort their babies until their cries turn to shrieks of rage, they may interfere with an infant's developing ability to regulate, or manage, his or her own emotional state --Mothers rapid response to crying is associated with social competence and positive adjustment *Smiling and Laughing: 3 Types* -*Reflex*: Earliest smiles occur spontaneously after birth, apparently as a result of subcortical nervous system activity -Involuntary smiles frequently appear during *REM* sleep -*Social Smiling* (2nd month) -When an infant gazes at their parents and smiles at them (develops during the 2nd month of life) -Social smiling signals the infant's active, positive participation in the relationship -6 months of age; infants smiles reflex an *emotional exchange with a partner* *Anticipatory Smiling* (starting at 8 months) -Seems to be first type of communication in which the infant refers to an object or experience -Infants smile at an object and then gaze at an adult while continuing to smile

Section: Infant Memory

-Why can't you remember anything before you were 2 years old? -Piaget argued that early events are not retained in memory because the brain is not yet developed enough to store them -Freud believed that early memory was stored but often repressed because they are emotionally distressing -Other researchers (Nelson) take an evolutionary developmental approach and argue that abilities *develop as they become useful* for *adapting to the environment* -Why do we experience infantile amnesia? --*Early procedural knowledge* (e.g., how to hold a pencil) and *perceptual knowledge* (e.g., what an apple tastes like) are not the same as the later explicit, language-based memories used by adults (e.g., what you did last sunday) -*Carolyn Rovee-Collier Study of Operant Conditioning* techniques to "ask" infants questions about what they remember (infant memory study) --*2-6 month old infants* and attached a string between on of their ankles and a mobile. The babies learned that when they kicked their leg, the mobile moved. Because this was reinforcing them, the number of kicks increased. When they were later brought into the same lab, they repeated the kicking even though their ankle was no longer attached to the mobile. --The fact that they kicked more than the other infants who had not been conditioned in this fashion showed that the recognition of the mobiles triggered a memory of their initial experience with tem -At *2 months of age*, an infant can remember a conditioned response for *2 days* -*18 month olds* can remember it for *13 weeks* -Infant memory appears to be linked specifically to the *original cues encoded during conditioning*. Ex. 2-6 month baby trained to press level to make train move only presses lever when original train is there. By 9-12 months, can generalize their memory and press lever to make different trains move (if no more than 2 weeks had gone by since conditioning) -Infants' memory processes may *not differ fundamentally* from those of older children and adults expect that their *retention time is shorter and memory is more dependent on encoding cues*

Stages of Childbirth

1. Dilation of the Cervix (Lasts 12-14 hours; longest stage) -Dilation of cervix: this stage ends when the cervix is fully open at 10 centimeters (4 inches) so the baby can descend into the birth canal 2. Descent and Emergence of the Baby (lasts 1-2 hours) -Baby's descent through the cervix and vaginal canal -End when the baby emerges completely from the mothers body, still attached to the umbilical cord, which must be cut and clamped -If this stage lasts longer than 2 hours, the doctor may use forceps or vacuum extraction to pull the baby out of the mother's body 3. Expulsion Stage (10 minutes- 1 hour) -The placenta and the remainder of the umbilical cord are expelled from the mother

Stages of Prenatal Develoment

1. *Germinal Stage* (fertilization to 2 weeks) -Zygote divides and implants into the wall of the uterus -Forms into a *blastocyst*- a multicellular organism/ fluid filled sphere that floats freely in the uterus until the sixth day after fertilization, when it begins to implant itself in the uterine wall -*Implantation*- when the blastocyst attaches to the uterine wall, about day 6 of fertilization --Only *10-20%* of fertilized ova compete implantation -*Placenta* and *umbilical cord* begin to develop --oxygen and nourishment passes between mother and embryo --Disposes waste --Fights infection --Hormones for birth and lactation 2. *Embyonic Stage* (week 3 through 8) -Organs and major body systems (respiratory, digestive, and nervous system) develop rapidly (in addition to brain growth and development beginning): less than 1 inch long -High risk of miscarrage --Embryo is most susceptible to *teratogens* in this stage --*Teratogens* are environmental agents that can cause birth defects (ex. virus, drugs- including certain medications), alcohol, and nicotine) ---Men need to be concerned about these because mens exposure to these can impact the quality of their sperm 3. *Fetal Stage* (Week 9 to birth) -Organs and body become more complex (the appearance of the first bone cells) -External sex organs develop -"Finishing touches" like toenails, fingernails, and eyelids

How long do infants sleep?

16-17 hours per day -They're in REM for 50% of that time

Alleles, homozygous/heterozygous, dominant inheritance, recessive inheritance

Alleles -Alternate versions of the same gene. Everyone receives one maternal and one paternal allele for any given trait -Homozygous: Possessing two identical alleles for a trait (when both alleles are the same) -Heterozygous: Possessing different alleles for a trait (when the alleles are different) Dominant Interitance -The dominant allele is always expressed or shows up as a trait in that person -The person will look the same whether or not he or she is heterozygous or homozygous because the recessive alleles doesn't show Recessive Inheritance: -The person must have two recessive alleles, one from each parent -If a recessive trait is expressed, that person cannot have a dominant allele

Attachment and studying patterns of attachment section

Attachment -The reciprocal, enduring tie between two people especially between and infant and caregiver- each of whom contributes to the quality of the relationship -Theorist: Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth Mary Ainsworth's *Strange Situation* -A laboratory-based technique designed to assess attachment patterns between an infant and an adult -Is a sequence of episodes designed to to trigger the emergence of attachment-related behaviors. The mother leaves the baby twice in an unfamiliar room and a stranger comes back before she does. The concern is with the baby's response to the mother each time the mom returns -Found 3 forms of attachment (secure, avoidant, and ambivalent) *Secure Attachment* (most ideal) -Babies are flexible and resilient in the face of stress -Child explores room, expressed distress when separated from caregiver, and expresses joy when reunited *Avoidant Attachment* -Child has little distress at separation from caregiver and avoids/delays contact upon their return -More interested in toys *Ambivalent Attachment* (Resist) -Babies who have this attachment style are generally anxious even before their caregiver leaves, sometimes approaching the caregiver for comfort when the stranger looks at or approaches them for interaction -Child instantly clings to mother; distressed at separation; resist mother upon her return; not interested in toys *Disorganized-Disorientated* -Child is confused, fearful; seeks comfort from stranger -they show a lack of cohesive strategy to deal with the stress of the Strange Situation and show contradictory, repetitive, or misdirected behaviors (such as seeking closeness to the stranger instead of the mom or showing a fear response toward the mom upon her return) -Thought to occur in at least *10% of low-risk infants* -More prevalent in babies with mothers who are insensitive, intrusive, or abusive; who are fearful or frightening and this leave the infant with no one to alleviate the fear the mother arouses -Ainsworth believed that the quality of attachment was based on how responsive the mother was -*Gene-environment interaction*: variant of the DRD4 gene as a possible risk factor dor disorganized attachment, and the risk increases nearly 19-fold when the mother has an unresolved loss -*Gene-environment Correlation*: the infant's inborn characteristics may place unusually stressful demands on a parent and thus elicit parenting behaviors that promote disorganized attachment

Evaluating the Strange Situation

Attachment = an intenal working model -Set of assumptions about the self, others, and relationships, based on early attachment -Subject to change -Frame as reference for later life Evaluation: -Ignores temperament: bi-directional influences (meaning other babies just have different temperaments and it doesn't have to do with attachment style) -Ignores genetics (babies could have predispositioned biological differences) -Has an over-emphasis on the mother -Ignores family factors, including daycare, attachments to other caregivers, and culture Final Word on Attachment: -Attachment is influenced by many factors -A secure attachment can launch the child and parent on a positive path

Principles of Development

Cephalocaudal principle -Principle that development proceeds in a head-to-tail direction, that is, that supper parts of the body develop before lower parts of the body -Growth occurs from the top down -Brain develops first, just like infants learn to use the upper parts of their body before the lower parts Proximodistal Principle: -Principle that development proceeds from *within to without*, that is, that parts of the body near the *center develop before the extremities* -Growth and motor development proceed from the center of the body outward -In the womb, the head and body is developed before arms and legs and then the hands and the feet and then the fingers and toes. Babies learnt o use the parts of their bodies closets to the center before they learn to use the outermost parts. Ex. first learn to control their arms when reaching out, and then eventually the fingers for grip

Epigenesis/Epigenetics

Epigenesis -Factors that surround the genes, affecting genetic expression -Genes are turned off or on as they are needed by the developing body or when triggered by the environment -Epigenesis (meaning "on, or above, the genome") refers to chemical molecules (or "tags") attached to a gene that alter the way a cell "reads" the gene's DNA -The function of chemical tags is to differentiate various types of body cells, such as brain cells, skin cells, and liver cells. In this way, genes for the types of cells that are needed are turn on, and genes for unneeded cells are left off -Epigenetic changes can occur throughout life in response to environmental factors such as nutrition, smoking, sleep habits, stress, and physical activity. May also contribute to such common ailments as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. -Cells are particularly susceptible to epigenetic modification during critical periods such as puberty and pregnancy -Epigenetic modifications may be inheritable -One ex. of epigenesis is *genome, or genetic, imprinting*. Imprinting is the differential expression of certain genetic traits, depending on whether the trait has been inherited from the mother or the father. In imprinted gene pairs, genetic information inherited from the parent of one sex is activated, but genetic information from the other parent is suppressed

Fertilization and zygote

Fertilization (or conception) -The process by which sperm and ovum- the male and female *gametes* (or sex cells)- combine to create a single cell called a *zygote*, which then duplicates itself again and again by cell division to produce all the cells that make up a baby Zygote -Fertilized egg (sperm and ovum = one cell) -Duplicates repeatedly and turns into a fetus -Fertilization normally occurs while the ovum is passing through the Fallopian tube. If fertilization does not occur, the ovum and any sperm cells in the woman's body die. Sperm are absorbed by the woman's white blood cells and the ovum passes through the uterus and exits through the vagina

Genotype vs. Phenotype

Genotype -The underlying genetic makeup of a person, containing both expressed and unexpressed characteristics (G = genes) Phenotype -The observable characteristics of a person -Traits that are expressed (P = physical) -The phenotype is a product of the genotype and any relevant environmental influences

Genotype-environmental Correlation (Passive, Reactive/Evocative, and Active correlations)

Genotype-environment correlation -The tendency of certain genetic and environmental influences to reinforce each other; may be passive, reactive, or active -Certain genetic and environmental influences tend to act in the same direction 1. *Passive Correlations/environment*: -*Parents*, who provide the genes that predispose a child toward a trait, also tend to *provide an environment* that *encourages* the *development of that trait* -Called passive because the *child does not control it* -Most applicable to *young children*, whose parents have a great deal of control over their early experiences -Passive correlations function only when a child is *living with a biologically related parent* -Ex. a musical parent is likely to create a home environment in which music is heard regularly and to give a child music lessons. The child's musicality will reflect a combo of genetic and environmental influences 2. *Reactive, or Evocative, Correlations*: -Children with differing genetic makeups evoke *different reactions from others* -Called reactive because the *other people react* to the child's genetic makeup -Ex. parents who are not musically inclined may make a special effort to provide musical experiences for a child who shows interest and ability in music. This strengthens the child's genetic inclination toward music 3. *Active Correlations*: -Children *actively* select or create experiences consistent with their genetic tendencies -*Niche-picking*- the tendency to seek out environments compatible with one's genotype -Ex. a shy child is more likely than an outgoing child to spend time in solitary pursuits, and an adolescent with a talent in music will probably seek out musical friends, take music lessons, etc.

Gross vs Fine Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills -Physical skills that involve the large muscles -Ex. Rolling, walking, catching a ball Fine Motor Skills -Physical skills that involve the small muscles and eye-hand coordination -Ex. Grasping a rattle and copying a circle

Implicit vs. Explicit memory

Implicit Memory -Unconscious recall, generally of habits and skills; sometimes called *procedural memory* -Remembering that occurs without effort or even conscious thought Explicit Memory -Intentional and conscious memory, generally of facts, names, and events -Called *declarative memory* -

Nativism

Nature vs. Nurture debate on language acquisition Behaviorist View: learn language through reinforcement and imitation *Nativism* View -Chomsky -Brain has the *innate capacity to learn language*; babies learn to talk as naturally as they learn to walk -Emphasizes the *active role of the learner* -Suggests babies have a *language acquisition device (LAD)* that programs children's brains to *analyze the language they hear* and to *figure out its rules* -Support for the nativist position comes from newborns ability to differentiate similar sounds, suggesting that they are born with perceptual "tuning rods" that pick up characteristics of speech -Human beings, the only animals with filly developed language, contain a structure that is larger on one side than the other, suggesting that an inborn mechanism for sound and language processing may be localized in the larger hemisphere (the left for most people) -Nativist approach does not explain precisely how such a mechanism operates. Does not tell us why some children acquire language more rapidly and efficiently than others, why children differ in linguistic skill and fluency, or why speech development appears to depend on having something to talk with, not merely on hearing spoken language Acquisition of language is most likely a *combination of nature and nurture*

Prelinguistic Speech

Prelinguistic Speech: -Forerunner of linguistic speech uitterance of sounds that are not words. -Includes crying, cooing, babbling, and accidental and deliberate imitation of sounds without understanding their meaning *Crying* -A newborn's first means of communication. Different pitches, patterns, and intensities signal hunger, sleepiness, or anger. -Crying has an *adaptive value* bc adults find crying aversive and it motivates them to fix it *Cooing* (6 weeks- 3 months) -Coo when they are happy- squealing, gurgling, and making vowel sounds *Babbling* (6-10 months) -repeated consonant-vowel strings, such as "ma-ma" or "da-da" -Often mistaken for a baby's first words. Becomes more wordlike over time *Imitation* -First, infants *accidentally* imitate language sounds and then imitate themselves making these sounds, reinforced by parents positive responses -*9-10 months*, infants *deliberately* imitate sounds without understanding them -Once they have a repertoire of sounds, they string them together in prelinguistic speech patterns that sound like language but seem to have no meaning. Then they attach meaning *Gestures* (8-12 months)

Reflexes: Primitive, Postural, and Locomotive

Reflex Behavior -Automatic, involuntary, innate responses to stimulation -Reflexes are controlled by the *lower brain centers* that govern other involuntary processes, such as breathing and heart rate (aka, brainstem) -*Primitive Reflexes*: Related to instinctive needs for *survival* and protection -Ex. Sucking, rooting for the nipple, the Moro Reflex, grasping -*Postural Reflexes*: reactions to changes in *position or balance* (adjusting arms and legs) -Ex. infants who are tilted downward extend their arms in the parachute reflex, an instinctive attempt to break a fall -*Locomotive Reflexes*: reflexes that *later develop into skills* -Ex. walking and swimming reflexes -Most reflexes disappear during the first *6-12 months* (motor pathways partially myelinated)

Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

Stranger Anxiety (common around 8 months) -Wariness of strange people and places, shown by some infants during the second half of the 1st year Separation Anxiety (peaks at 15-18 months) -Distress shown by someone, typically an infant, when a familiar caregiver leaves -May not be due so much to the separation itself as to the quality of substitute care. When substitute caregivers are warm and responsive and play with 9 month olds before they cry, the babies cry less than when they are with less responsive caregivers -*Rene Spitz* -Stability of care is important -Institutionalized children emphasize the need for substitute care to be as close as possible to good mothering

Social Referencing

Understanding an ambiguous situation by seeking another person's perspective of it -Seeking emotional information to guide behavior -May play a role in such key developments of toddler-hood as the rise of self-conscious emotions (embarrassment and pride), the development of a sense of self, and the processes of socialization and internalization