Child Brain Development and Physical Growth Quiz
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Questions and Answers

What is the average annual height gain for children?

  • 4 to 5 inches
  • 5 to 6 inches
  • 2 to 3 inches (correct)
  • 1 inch

    • Which gender retains more body fat on average?

  • Depends on the age
  • Boys
  • Girls (correct)
  • No difference

    • What influences the age at which children lose their baby teeth?

  • Diet
  • Climate
  • Exercise habits
  • Genetic factors (correct)

    • What hormone prompts the thyroid gland to release thyroxine, necessary for brain development and for growth hormone to have full impact on body size?

    <p>Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What can lead to psychosocial dwarfism, a growth disorder that appears between ages 2 and 15?

    <p>Extreme emotional deprivation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the recommended total sleep for 4-6 year olds?

    <p>10 to 11 hours</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common characteristic of sleep terrors?

    <p>Child may scream and thrash</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of oral rehydration therapy (ORT)?

    <p>Prevents diarrhea death</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of emotional climate of meal times on eating habits?

    <p>Coercing children to eat causes them to like healthy food less and treat more</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What happens when children are undernourished and experience ordinary childhood illnesses?

    <p>Disease interacts with malnutrition with severe consequences</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a major contributor to malnutrition in children?

    <p>Illness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the genetic influence on sleepwalking and sleep terrors?

    <p>They run in families</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of insulin?

    <p>Regulates blood sugar levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the recommended sleep duration for 2 and 3 year olds?

    <p>11 to 12 hours</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of high stress on growth in preschoolers?

    <p>Suppresses release of growth hormone</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What contributes to the astonishing pace of language skills development in early childhood?

    <p>Mediation by the prefrontal cortex</p> Signup and view all the answers

    At what age does the prefrontal cortex in 4-5-year-olds have nearly double the adult amount of synapses?

    <p>4-5 years</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What contributes to the tooth decay in 28% of preschoolers in Ghana by age 5?

    <p>Nutritional factors</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What aids in the balance and control of body movement?

    <p>The cerebellum</p> Signup and view all the answers

    At what age does the energy consumption of most cortical regions diminish to near adult levels?

    <p>8-10 years</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What supports the coordination and integration of many aspects of thinking?

    <p>The corpus callosum</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What contributes to the overproduction of synapses in many parts of the cerebral cortex by age 4-5?

    <p>Brain development</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What mediates the rapid growth in prefrontal cortical areas from early to middle childhood?

    <p>The prefrontal cortex</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What reflects individuals' dominant cerebral hemisphere and affects skilled motor actions?

    <p>Handedness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What contributes to greater skillfulness and use of hand in newborns?

    <p>Bias in head position</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What supports thinking through connections with the cerebral cortex?

    <p>The cerebellum</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What develops gradually over childhood, with differences in rate of development between the left and right hemispheres?

    <p>Spatial skills</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, how is culture transmitted to the next generation?

    <p>Through cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Vygotsky believe is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture?

    <p>Social interaction with more knowledgeable members of society</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Vygotsky, how do children internalize features of dialogues and use language to guide their own thought and actions?

    <p>As adults and more expert peers help children master culturally meaningful activities</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory?

    <p>How culture is transmitted to the next generation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, which system includes cultural values, laws, customs, and resources that impact the support children receive from their immediate environments?

    <p>Macrosystem</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, what emphasizes the temporal dimension of the model, highlighting the impact of timing on environmental change and its consequences for development?

    <p>Chronosystem</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do researchers adopting a dynamic systems perspective focus on?

    <p>How children alter their behavior to achieve more advanced functioning</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the dynamic systems perspective, what guides the mastery of new skills and is constantly in motion and subject to change?

    <p>Child's mind</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In the dynamic systems perspective, what disrupts the current organism-environment relationship, leading the child to actively reorganize behavior for more complex, effective functioning?

    <p>Changes in any part of the system</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do dynamic systems theorists aim to understand by studying children's behavior during transitions, such as reaching for an attractive toy or understanding a new word?

    <p>How children attain new levels of organization</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, what is development viewed as in ecological systems theory?

    <p>A network of interdependent effects</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of researchers adopting a dynamic systems perspective?

    <p>How children and their environments mutually influence each other</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, what are the broad outlines of development due to in the dynamic systems perspective?

    <p>Genetic heritage</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is development from a dynamic systems perspective not according to the text?

    <p>A web of fibers branching out in many directions</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, how do children build competencies?

    <p>By engaging in real activities in real contexts</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the view of development in ecological systems theory according to the text?

    <p>A network of interdependent effects</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Piaget's constructivist theory, what does adaptation consist of?

    <p>Building schemes through direct interaction with the environment</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In Erikson's psychosocial theory, what does the ego contribute to development?

    <p>Acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What characterizes nature in the nature versus nurture debate?

    <p>Hereditary information received from parents</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of continuity in the continuity versus discontinuity debate?

    <p>Gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with</p> Signup and view all the answers

    During which period is the teratogenic damage minor?

    <p>Fetal period</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When are the upper limbs very sensitive to teratogens?

    <p>Week 4 to week 6</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the risk faced by women who delay childbearing until their thirties or forties?

    <p>Increased risk of infertility, miscarriages, and babies with chromosomal abnormalities</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is preeclampsia?

    <p>A condition where blood pressure increases sharply and the face, hands, and feet swell in the second half of pregnancy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When do creases begin to form during hand development?

    <p>From 10 to 13 weeks</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When are the eyes very sensitive to teratogens?

    <p>Week 4 to week 8</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of eclampsia?

    <p>Seizures that occur in people with preeclampsia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does habituation refer to?

    <p>The diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which prenatal diagnostic method involves inserting a hollow needle through the abdominal wall to obtain a sample of fluid in the uterus for genetic examination?

    <p>Chorionic villus sampling</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What stage of prenatal development is characterized by the formation of the amnion, amniotic fluid, and placenta?

    <p>Germinal phase</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In ecological systems theory, which level includes social settings that do not contain children but affect the children's experiences in immediate settings?

    <p>Ecosystem</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the process by which gametes are formed, halving the number of chromosomes normally present in body cells?

    <p>Meiosis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the tendency of heredity to restrict the development of some characteristics to just one or a few outcomes?

    <p>Canalization</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the directly observable characteristics of an organism, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors?

    <p>Phenotype</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, what is the term for the immediate surroundings that directly impact a child's development?

    <p>Microsystem</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the stage of prenatal development that involves the formation of the spinal cord, heart, eyes, ears, arms, legs, and intestines?

    <p>Embryonic period</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the blend of genetic information present in an individual?

    <p>Genotype</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to behaviorism, what are the appropriate focus of study?

    <p>Directly observable events</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the process by which genetic material is transmitted from one generation to the next, creating genetic variability?

    <p>Meiosis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the segment of DNA along the chromosome that determines specific traits?

    <p>Gene</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of mutations are scientists more concerned with identifying and eliminating?

    <p>Unfavorable genes threatening health and survival</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of traits are due to polygenic inheritance?

    <p>Height, weight, intelligence, and personality</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of researchers when inferring the influence of heredity on human attributes?

    <p>Influence of heredity on human attributes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In dominant-recessive inheritance, what is the term for an allele that affects the child's characteristics?

    <p>Dominant allele</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which allele for hair color is represented by a lowercase letter?

    <p>Blond hair allele</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for individuals who have one dominant and one recessive allele for a particular trait?

    <p>Heterozygous</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which disorder, affecting the breakdown of proteins, is mentioned as one of the most frequently occurring recessive disorders?

    <p>PKU (phenylketonuria)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the life expectancy for North American patients with sickle cell anemia?

    <p>55 years</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the frequency trend of the sickle cell allele in regions with low malaria risk?

    <p>Declining</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for the commonality of the sickle cell allele in black Africans?

    <p>Increased resistance to malaria</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary cause of permanent intellectual disability in infants with PKU?

    <p>Buildup of phenylalanine without the enzyme</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the average level of intelligence and lifespan achievable for affected children with PKU through dietary treatment?

    <p>Average level of intelligence and normal lifespan</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the inheritance pattern that allows prediction of the likelihood of children displaying or carrying a trait based on parental genetic makeup?

    <p>Dominant-recessive inheritance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of inheritance results in males being more likely to be affected by recessive disorders carried on the X chromosome, such as hemophilia?

    <p>X-linked inheritance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the form of inheritance seen in heterozygous circumstances, as in sickle cell trait, which can result in sickle cell anemia?

    <p>Incomplete dominance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary impact of the sickle cell trait under oxygen deprivation?

    <p>Mild form of sickle cell anemia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the gender ratio worldwide, with an even greater number of males conceived?

    <p>106 boys born for every 100 girls</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for the significant increase in sex-selective abortion in some cultures?

    <p>Strong gender-biased attitudes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for males being more likely to be affected by recessive disorders carried on the X chromosome?

    <p>Males have one X chromosome</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the temporary chemical marking of alleles within the genome, impacting brain development and physical health?

    <p>Genomic imprinting</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability involving sex chromosomes?

    <p>Fragile X syndrome</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for a sudden but permanent change in a segment of DNA, affecting one or many genes and caused by spontaneous occurrences or hazardous environmental agents?

    <p>Genetic mutation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of mutation occurs in the cells that give rise to gametes and is passed on to the next generation?

    <p>Germline mutation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the established cause of mutation impacting the incidence of genetic abnormalities, physical malformations, and childhood cancer?

    <p>Ionizing radiation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of pregnancies result in the birth of a baby with a hereditary abnormality, accounting for about 20 percent of infant deaths?

    <p>Less than 3%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does genomic imprinting involve?

    <p>Temporary chemical marking of alleles within the genome</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability?

    <p>Fragile X syndrome</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the blend of genetic information present in an individual?

    <p>Genetic variation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does somatic mutation affect?

    <p>Normal body cells</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of less than 3 percent of pregnancies resulting in the birth of a baby with a hereditary abnormality?

    <p>About 20% of infant deaths</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary cause of mutation impacting the incidence of genetic abnormalities, physical malformations, and childhood cancer?

    <p>Ionizing radiation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary cause of the rise in homelessness among children and youths in the United States?

    <p>Increase in poverty and decline in government-supported low-cost housing</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary characteristic of most homeless families with children under age 5?

    <p>Majority consist of single mothers</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of homeless children do not go to school?

    <p>25-30%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the focus of the family strengthening intervention described in the text?

    <p>Enhancing parent-child interaction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of interventions for poverty-stricken children according to the text?

    <p>Providing multifaceted efforts that focus on family, parenting, and children’s needs at once</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a potential consequence of prenatal cocaine exposure?

    <p>Brain hemorrhages and seizures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential long-term effect of prenatal marijuana exposure?

    <p>Memory and attention difficulties</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a risk faced by babies born to users of cocaine, heroin, or methadone?

    <p>Breathing difficulties</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential impact of high doses of caffeine during pregnancy?

    <p>Increased risk of low birth weight</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a consequence of persistent intake of antidepressant medication during pregnancy?

    <p>Elevated incidence of premature delivery</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common symptom among stressed newborns born to users of cocaine, heroin, or methadone?

    <p>Abnormally shrill and piercing cries</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential impact of prenatal cocaine exposure on adolescents?

    <p>Lasting difficulties in perception and attention</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential consequence of prenatal exposure to illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or methadone?

    <p>Breathing difficulties and death around the time of birth</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential long-term consequence of prenatal marijuana exposure on children?

    <p>Lasting difficulties in attention and memory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential impact of prenatal cocaine exposure on the central nervous system and heart?

    <p>Physical malformations and growth retardation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Maternal stress hormones crossing the placenta can lead to a rise in fetal stress hormones, resulting in all of the following EXCEPT:

    <p>Decreased fetal heart rate</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential consequence of maternal emotional stress during pregnancy?

    <p>Increased susceptibility to infectious disease in childhood</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Rh factor incompatibility can result in all of the following EXCEPT:

    <p>Increased intellectual disability</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How can Rh incompatibility be prevented?

    <p>By giving Rh-negative mothers a vaccine after the birth of each Rh-positive baby</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the difference between preterm and small-for-date infants?

    <p>Preterm infants are born before their due date, while small-for-date infants have a lower weight than expected for the length of the pregnancy.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential consequence for children born 1 or 2 weeks early?

    <p>Slightly lower reading and math scores at a third-grade follow-up</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of 'kangaroo care' for preterm babies?

    <p>Ensuring faster weight gain and advanced mental and motor development</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a Canadian study find about very low-birth-weight individuals?

    <p>They were doing well in overall quality of life attributed to home, school, and societal advantages</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a key factor contributing to the slip of the United States in international rankings for infant mortality?

    <p>Preventable poverty and inadequate healthcare programs</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What reflex helps the baby find the mother's nipple?

    <p>Rooting</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which state of arousal is characterized by falling asleep or waking up with less activity than REM sleep?

    <p>Drowsiness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What sensory capacity is vital for emotional development and is well developed at birth?

    <p>Touch</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the least developed sense in a newborn baby?

    <p>Vision</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do researchers distinguish between in terms of brain growth?

    <p>Experience-expectant brain growth, which depends on ordinary experiences, and experience-dependent brain growth, which occurs throughout life based on specific learning experiences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the potential consequence of rushing early learning according to the text?

    <p>It can harm the brain by overwhelming its neural circuits and reducing sensitivity to everyday experiences needed for a healthy start in life.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the evidence for a sensitive period in the first few years of life for mastering skills that depend on extensive training according to the text?

    <p>There is no evidence for a sensitive period in the first few years of life for mastering skills that depend on extensive training, such as reading, musical performance, or gymnastics.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of caregivers offering age-appropriate play materials and engaging children in enjoyable daily routines according to the text?

    <p>They promote experience-expectant brain development, laying the foundation for later experience-dependent development.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Child Brain Development and Physical Growth

    • By age 5, 28% of preschoolers in Ghana have tooth decay due to nutritional factors.
    • Brain development from 70% to 90% of adult weight by preschool years involves reshaping, refining, and overproduction of synapses in many parts of the cerebral cortex by age 4-5.
    • The prefrontal cortex in 4-5-year-olds has nearly double the adult amount of synapses.
    • Synaptic growth and myelination in the brain result in a high energy need, reaching peak around age 4-5.
    • By age 8-10, energy consumption of most cortical regions diminishes to near adult levels as cognitive functions localize in distinct neural systems.
    • Rapid growth in prefrontal cortical areas from early to middle childhood contributes to aspects of executive function like inhibition of impulses and attention.
    • Language skills develop at an astonishing pace in early childhood, mediated by the prefrontal cortex.
    • Spatial skills develop gradually over childhood, with differences in rate of development between the left and right hemispheres.
    • Handedness reflects individuals' dominant cerebral hemisphere and affects skilled motor actions, with left-handed individuals often having less strongly lateralized brains.
    • Newborns' bias in head position contributes to greater skillfulness and use of hand, with handedness being strongest for complex skills requiring extensive training.
    • The cerebellum aids in balance and control of body movement, with connections between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex supporting thinking.
    • The corpus callosum, which supports coordination and integration of many aspects of thinking, experiences increased synapse production and myelination between 3 and 6 years.

    Ecological Systems Theory and Dynamic Systems Perspective

    • Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory consists of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem, all influencing a child's development.
    • The macrosystem includes cultural values, laws, customs, and resources, which impact the support children receive from their immediate environments.
    • Environmental changes, such as the birth of a sibling or parents' divorce, modify existing relationships between children and their environments, leading to new conditions that affect development.
    • Bronfenbrenner's chronosystem emphasizes the temporal dimension of the model, highlighting the impact of timing on environmental change and its consequences for development.
    • Development is viewed as a network of interdependent effects, with children and their environments mutually influencing each other in ecological systems theory.
    • Researchers adopting a dynamic systems perspective focus on how children, interacting with their complex contexts, alter their behavior to achieve more advanced functioning.
    • The dynamic systems perspective sees the child's mind, body, and physical and social worlds as an integrated system that guides the mastery of new skills, constantly in motion and subject to change.
    • Changes in any part of the system disrupt the current organism-environment relationship, leading the child to actively reorganize behavior for more complex, effective functioning.
    • Dynamic systems theorists aim to understand how children attain new levels of organization by studying their behavior during transitions, such as reaching for an attractive toy or understanding a new word.
    • While there are universal, broad outlines of development due to common human genetic heritage and regularities in children's physical and social worlds, individual differences in specific skills are vast.
    • Development from a dynamic systems perspective is not a single line of change but rather a web of fibers branching out in many directions, representing different skill areas undergoing continuous and stagewise transformations.
    • Children build competencies by engaging in real activities in real contexts, leading to variations in the maturity of different skills within the same child.

    Genetic Factors Affecting Birth Sex Ratio and Disease Risk

    • China's birth sex ratio is 118 boys for every 100 girls, leading to adverse social consequences such as rising crime rates and male competition for marriage partners.
    • In Western countries, including the United States, Canada, and European nations, the proportion of male births has declined in recent decades, possibly due to a rise in stressful living conditions leading to spontaneous abortions, especially of male fetuses.
    • Social and cultural factors can significantly modify the male-to-female birth sex ratio in either direction, undermining its assumed evolutionary role.
    • Genomic imprinting involves the temporary chemical marking of alleles within the genome, impacting brain development and physical health, and explaining certain puzzling genetic patterns such as the inheritance of diabetes, asthma, and childhood cancers.
    • Genomic imprinting can also operate on sex chromosomes, as seen in fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability.
    • Less than 3 percent of pregnancies result in the birth of a baby with a hereditary abnormality, accounting for about 20 percent of infant deaths and contributing to lifelong impaired physical and mental functioning.
    • Harmful genes are created through mutation, a sudden but permanent change in a segment of DNA, affecting one or many genes and caused by spontaneous occurrences or hazardous environmental agents.
    • Ionizing radiation is an established cause of mutation, impacting the incidence of genetic abnormalities, physical malformations, and childhood cancer.
    • Germline mutation occurs in the cells that give rise to gametes and is passed on to the next generation, while somatic mutation affects normal body cells and can cause diseases such as cancer or disability.
    • Somatic mutation may be involved in inherited disorders, with some individuals having a genetic susceptibility that causes certain body cells to mutate easily in the presence of triggering events.
    • Virtually all mutations studied are harmful, but some spontaneous ones, such as the sickle cell allele in malaria-ridden regions, are necessary and desirable as they increase genetic variation and help individuals adapt to unexpected environmental challenges.
    • Genetic factors not only influence birth sex ratio but also contribute to disease susceptibility and prevalence, impacting public health and social dynamics.

    Preterm Infant Development and Care

    • Gentle massaging of preterm infants in the hospital led to faster weight gain and advanced mental and motor development.
    • In developing countries, "kangaroo care" is used for preterm babies, involving placing the infant in a vertical position between the mother’s or father’s chest.
    • "Kangaroo care" offers fathers a unique opportunity to increase their involvement in caring for preterm newborns.
    • Very low-birth-weight individuals often have lasting problems, but a Canadian study found that those who weighed between 1 and 2.2 pounds at birth were doing well in overall quality of life, attributed to home, school, and societal advantages.
    • The United States has slipped in international rankings for infant mortality, with African-American infants more than twice as likely as white infants to die in the first year of life.
    • Neonatal mortality, accounting for 67% of the infant death rate in the United States, is largely caused by serious physical defects and low birth weight, largely preventable through poverty and inadequate healthcare programs.
    • Western European nations guarantee women a certain number of prenatal visits at very low or no cost, and provide extensive postnatal home assistance.
    • Paid, job-protected employment leave is vital for new parents, with Canada offering 15 weeks’ maternity leave at 55% of prior earnings and Sweden having the most generous parental leave program.
    • Even economically less well-off nations provide parental leave benefits, such as Bulgaria granting new mothers 20 months paid leave and fathers three weeks.
    • In Germany, after a fully paid three-month leave, a parent may take one more year at a flat rate and additional leave at no pay until the child reaches age 3 years.
    • "Kangaroo care" and gentle massaging of preterm infants have shown positive impacts on weight gain and development, while societal and healthcare interventions play crucial roles in infant mortality and overall child well-being.
    • The study emphasizes the importance of early interventions and societal support in promoting the survival and recovery of preterm babies, as well as the overall well-being of children.

    Early Childhood Stimulation and Brain Development

    • Children adopted from Romanian orphanages at 11⁄2 years old had abnormally low levels of oxytocin, a hormone related to calmness and contentment.
    • Neglectful institutional environments in infancy often lead to attachment difficulties in children.
    • Grace, adopted from Cambodia at 16 months old, showed favorable progress due to her biological mother's loving care, including gentle holding, soft speaking, playful stimulation, and breastfeeding.
    • Sensitive adult care helps normalize cortisol production in both typically developing and emotionally traumatized infants and young children.
    • The Bucharest Early Intervention Project showed that high-quality foster care resulted in better intelligence test scores, language skills, emotional responsiveness, social skills, and brain development compared to institutional care.
    • Impoverished environments and overwhelming expectations interfere with the brain's potential in children.
    • Expensive early learning centers with excessive stimulation do not yield smarter or better "super-babies" and can threaten children's interest in learning.
    • Researchers distinguish between experience-expectant brain growth, which depends on ordinary experiences, and experience-dependent brain growth, which occurs throughout life based on specific learning experiences.
    • Caregivers offering age-appropriate play materials and engaging children in enjoyable daily routines promote experience-expectant brain development, laying the foundation for later experience-dependent development.
    • There is no evidence for a sensitive period in the first few years of life for mastering skills that depend on extensive training, such as reading, musical performance, or gymnastics.
    • Rushing early learning can harm the brain by overwhelming its neural circuits and reducing sensitivity to everyday experiences needed for a healthy start in life.
    • The text emphasizes the importance of appropriate stimulation and sensitive adult care in promoting healthy brain development in early childhood.

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    Description

    Test your knowledge of child brain development and physical growth with this quiz. Explore key factors influencing cognitive and physical development from early childhood through to middle childhood, including synaptic growth, energy consumption, language skills, handedness, and the roles of brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex, cerebellum, and corpus callosum.

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