Brain Development

Lecture 3.1

The Neuron doing the wave

!Neurons: Specialized cells of CNS (_____________________) !Cell body: Basic biological material to keep neuron functioning !____________ (_________ side) !____________ (_________ side) !Between neurons: connections called synapses

Brain Development (pre and post birth)

!Prenatal: Neurons are formed (largely complete by 18 weeks) !Fastest growth during infancy !In 20 years: brain volume _______________ (Not a lot of new cells! What grows?)

Post-birth Brain: What grows?

!Axon ____________ !Neuron ____________ !_______________ - proliferation of connections at the synapses !Synaptic ____________ !_______________: formation of fatty layer encasing axons !Increases ____________ and ____________ of information transmission

Synapse Development
!Synaptogenesis !Each neuron forms synapses with thousands of other neurons !____________ of connections !Synaptic Pruning !__________________ ! must be eliminated !Occurs at different times in different areas of the brain !Not completed until adolescence !__________________

Synaptogenesis and Synaptic Pruning

Neural Plasticity
!Plasticity: the brain is plastic (____________) !More extremely plastic early on: !After a brain injury or insult, plasticity allows other brain regions to _______________ !Even hemispherectomies! !Following childhood the brain is less plastic (but still malleable)

Cerebral Cortex
!Lobes are major areas of the cortex associated with different functions !Occipital lobe: Processing _________ information !Temporal lobe (_________ system): Memory, visual recognition, auditory and emotional processing !Parietal lobe (_________ system): _________ processing !Frontal lobe: __________________; organizes behavior; planning

Cerebral Cortex

Infancy: Perceptual Development

Lecture 3.1-3.2

Infancy Overview
Perception
Week 3

Cognition
Week 4 Week 5

Motor (Action) Language

Social Emotional

Perception
!Perception: The process of ____________ and ____________ ____________ __________________ about the objects, events, and spatial layout of our surrounding world !Visual perception (focus of lecture) !Auditory perception !Taste/Smell

Methods for Studying Visual Perception

!_____________________ technique: Showing infants two scenes at a time to examine preference for one over the other !Mothers face vs. other face !_______________: Repeated presentation of a stimulus until the __________________; test stimulus present to examine __________________ !Visual cliff

Visual Acuity: Sharpness of Vision

!How to measure visual acuity in infants? !Prefer to look at _________ visual _________ !Estimated by comparing how long the baby looks at a striped pattern versus a plain gray square

Visual Acuity: Sharpness of Vision

Visual Acuity
!Acuity develops rapidly !Close to adult levels (8 mos) !Full adult acuity (6 yrs) !Color vision !Newborns: limited color vision !Adult levels (2-3 mos)

Faces
!From ____________, prefer to look at _________ !Preferential looking !Recognize and prefer own mothers face after about only ___ cumulative hours of ____________ !Look _________ at faces that adults find more attractive than faces that are less attractive

Why faces?
!____________ psychologists (nature): useful, genetic !Recent research: ____________ in upper half than lower half

Pattern Perception:
__________ separate elements into __________ pattern !See something walking? (newborns) !See a square? illusory contour (~7 mos)

habituation

Depth Perception: ____________

!Way to measure depth perception: Do infants perceive depth?

Depth Perception:
Monocular/Pictorial Cues

!____________ (stereopsis) is best for depth perception !____________ or _________ cues (depth cues of depth that can be seen with one eye alone) !67 mos

Depth Perception:
Monocular/Pictorial Cues

!Relative size !Interposition

Pictorial Representations
!Newborns can recognize two-dimensional versions of three-dimensional objects !But they dont recognize that they are 2-D! (before 19 mos) !Infants act on pictures as objects !Cross-cultural

Auditory Perception
!Relatively ______ developed at birth !Auditory _________: Newborns turn toward sounds !Subtle differences in ____________ (better than adults!) !Music perception! !Similar preferences as adults !respond to _________ in music !sensitive to _________ (regardless of pitch) !Approach full adult levels at age 5 or 6

Sensitivity to Taste and Smell

!Develops before birth !Newborns prefer the smell of breast milk !2 weeks of age can _______________ the scent of own mother from other women !older children/adults cant do this!

Infancy: Motor Development

Lecture 3.1-3.2

Growth Patterns & Motor Milestones

!_______________: lift head, pivot upper body, sit up, stand !_______________: control of shoulders before control of arms and fingers !_______________: gross motor skills before fine motor skills !Importance of ____________

_________ begets _________

Theories of Motor Development

!_______________ believed: !product of neurological/biological maturity !____________ stages

Theories of Motor Development

!Currently believed: ___________ product of ________________ (many factors interacting) Neural mechanisms ___________ ___________ __________ __________

_________ _________

The Impact of Culture (WA#2)

!Does culture impact MOTOR DEVELOPMENT? !What do you think parents in the US do to help their children develop motor skills?

The Impact of Culture

!Mothers in _________: importance of _________ infants !The maneuvers shown here: !Do not harm the babies !Actually _________ early motor skills

Back-Lying and Locomotion in U.S.

!Reducing _________: !Campaign to get parents to put babies to sleep on their _________ !How did that campaign impact motor development?

Back-Lying and Locomotion in U.S.

!Infants _________ to ____________ !important to crawling? !__________________ of the world from their backs results in _______________ to roll over? !less time on their tummies causes ____________ to develop more _________? !_______________ in crawling at 8 mos

Reaching
!____________ !first few months !clumsy swiping movements !toward the general vicinity of desired object !____________ reaching (3 to 4 mos) !____________ reaching (7 mos, can ______)

Locomotion
!Self-locomotion: !Crawling (~8 mos) !Walking independently (~13-14 mos) !____________ gait

Locomotion: ____________
!Impossible actions on miniature replica object !Sit on top of a miniature chair !Try to get into a tiny car !Why are they making these errors?