Questions and Answers
What is the period of rapid brain growth that begins in the third trimester of gestation and continues until at least the 4th year of life important for?
The development of neurological functioning
What is the main purpose of primitive reflexes in human infants?
Related to instinctive needs for survival and protection or may support the early connection to the caregiver
What type of reflexes become active during the first 2-4 months of life?
Postural Reflexes
What is the term for the modifiability of the brain through experience?
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What is the estimated number of major reflexes present in human infants?
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What is the main way to evaluate a baby's neurological development?
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What is the primary function of the brain stem?
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Which part of the brain is responsible for processing visual information?
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What is the function of the corpus callosum?
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At what age is the corpus callosum fully developed?
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Which part of the brain is responsible for language and logical thinking?
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What is the function of the frontal lobe?
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When do the areas of the frontal cortex responsible for abstract thought mature?
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What is the primary function of the cerebellum?
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What might be an evolutionary mechanism that enables adaptation to environmental change?
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What is a potential drawback of neural plasticity?
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When is the brain most vulnerable to environmental influences?
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What sense develops first in infants?
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What can reduce pain response in infants?
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When do the senses of smell and taste begin to develop?
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What type of tastes do newborns prefer?
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Why do newborns dislike bitter flavors?
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What is distinct about infants' perception of faces?
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At what age do infants start paying particular attention to the mouth?
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What is the purpose of the Denver Developmental Screening Test?
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What is a characteristic of motor development in infants?
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What is the primary focus of infants' attention during the first few hours after birth?
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What is the term for the physical skills that involve the large muscles, as measured by the Denver Developmental Screening Test?
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What do infants typically master before taking their first step?
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What is a characteristic of the neural system responsible for facial recognition in infants?
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At what age can most infants keep their heads erect while being held or supported in a sitting position?
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What is a significant milestone in hand control development between 7 and 11 months?
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What is a key development in locomotion that occurs around 6 months?
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What skill do crawling infants develop in relation to objects?
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At what age can the average baby stand without support?
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What benefit does social referencing provide to crawling infants?
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What is a significant development in hand control around 3.5 months?
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What is a key milestone in head control development in the first few months?
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Study Notes
Major Parts of the Brain
- Brain stem: responsible for basic bodily functions like breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and sleep-wake cycle; fully developed at birth
- Cerebellum: maintains balance and motor coordination; grows fastest during the 1st year of life
- Cerebrum: largest part of the brain, divided into right and left hemispheres with specialized functions
- Right hemisphere: visual and spatial functions like map reading and drawing
- Left hemisphere: language and logical thinking
- Corpus callosum: band of tissue joining the two hemispheres, allowing them to share information
Lobes of the Cerebrum
- Occipital lobe: primarily concerned with visual processing
- Parietal lobe: integrates sensory information from the body
- Temporal lobe: helps interpret smells and sounds, involved in memory
- Frontal lobe: involved in higher-order processes like goal setting, inhibition, reasoning, planning, and problem solving
Cerebral Cortex and Brain Growth
- Cerebral cortex: governs vision, hearing, and other sensory information; grows rapidly in the first few months after birth and matures by age 6 months
- Abstract thought, mental associations, remembering, and deliberate motor responses grow slowly and remain immature for several years
Early Reflexes
- Reflex behavior: automatic, involuntary, innate responses to stimulation
- 27 major reflexes present at birth or soon after
- Primitive reflexes: related to instinctive needs for survival and protection or support early connection to the caregiver
- Examples: sucking, rooting for the nipple, and Moro reflex
- Postural reflexes: react to changes in position or balance; active during the first 2-4 months
- Locomotor reflexes: resemble voluntary movements, appear months after the reflexes have disappeared
Brain Plasticity
- Modifiability or "molding" of the brain through experience
- Enables learning and adaptation to environmental change
- Individual differences in intelligence may reflect differences in brain plasticity
- Can lead to damage in the case of harmful input
- Enriched experience can spur brain development and make up for past deprivation
Early Sensory Capacities
- Touch: the first sense to develop, most mature sensory system for the first several months
- Smell and taste: begin to develop in the womb
- Preference for certain tastes and smells can be developed in utero
- Newborns prefer sweet tastes and dislike bitter flavors
- Infants show a special affinity for faces and can discriminate between individual faces within hours after birth
Motor Development
- Milestones: systematic achievements that develop in a sequence
- Head control: at birth, most infants can turn their heads from side to side; by 4 months, they can keep their heads erect while supported
- Hand control: born with grasping reflex; by 3.5 months, most infants can grasp an object; by 7-11 months, they can pick up small objects
- Locomotion: roll over, sit without support, crawl, and eventually walk
- Denver Developmental Screening Test: assesses gross motor skills, fine motor skills, language development, and personality and social development
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