Developmental Psych

01/08/2013

Life Span Perspective

Scientific study of how people change over the life span
Emphasizes continuity over the life span
o
Developmental change is not discreet
o
Development is life long
Developmental Change
Multi-directional
o Some things are gained, others are lost
o Growth, Maintenance, Regulation of Loss
Multi-contextual
o Many different factors affect change
o Genes, environment, culture, etc
Multi-disciplinary
o Change occurs in many ways
o Neurology, learning, intelligence, social, cultural
Plasticity
o Change can occur at any time.to varying degrees
Nature Vs. Nurture debate

Classical philosophy: rationalism vs. empiricism

Greek Rationalism: Plato, true knowledge attained only through
introspection, reason and innate ideas
British Empiricism: John Locke, blank slate, all ideas come from
senses
Modern Rationalism: Genetics
Modern Empiricism: Behaviorism, learning theory
NATURE AND NURTURE, its both.

Heredity and Chromosomes

Each egg and each sperm contain 23 chromosomes
Fertilization: sperm and egg combine
Embryo has 46 chromosomes
o Defines the childs heredity
Including sex and other physical traits
Chromosomal Abnormalities
Down Syndrome
o Trisomy 21: An extra copy of chromosome 21 (have 3 instead
of 2)
o Facial deformities, delayed motor and mental abilities
o Increased risk with age of mother
Klinefelter Syndrome
o Males have extra X chromosome (XXY instead of XY)

o Undeveloped testes and some feminine features (including

breasts)
Fragile X Syndrome
o Damaged X chromosome
o Delayed or reduced mental abilities
Turner Syndrome
o Females missing one of X chromosomes
o Some of physical deformity, infertility, and some mental
retardation
XYY Syndrome
o Males with an extra Y chromosomes
o Slight increases in physical growth rate
o Slight delays in language development

What Genes Do
Regulate protein production
o Building blocks of all cells/tissue in the body
Genotype: a persons genetic makeup
Phenotype: a persons actual features
o Dominant vs. recessive genes
Individuals not the sole product of their genes
o Epigenetics: complex interactions between genes and
environment

Epigenetics
Passive genotype-environment interaction
o Biological parents provide the rearing environment
Ex: parents provide a genetic basis for intelligence as
well as encouraging intellectual development
Evocative genotype-environment interaction
o Childs genotype elicits particular environments
Ex: Smiling babies elicit more social interaction,
reinforcing extrovert behavior
Active genotype-environment interaction
o Niche-picking
Ex: Good sensorimotor skills may lead child to play
sports >> in turn improves sensorimotor skills.
What is inherited?
Physical traits
o Height, weight, hair color, skin color, eye color, blood type,
many misc. physical features
o Environment still plays a role in phenotype of these traits
Eg nutrition/diet + genes >>height & weight
Psychological traits
o Behavioral genetics= study of the contributions of genes and
environment to psychological traits
Nature Vs. Nurture
Intelligence

Family resemblance is insufficient to say its all genes

o Ex: parents are intelligent, so are children, so does it mean
IQ is inherited?
Environment could just as likely have caused the intelligence
o Intelligent parents encourage children to participate in
intelligent activities

Twin Studies
Twins
o Monozygotic= identical twins
Exact same genotype
o Dizygotic= fraternal twins (non identical)
Different genotype
Compare psych. Similarities between mono and diz twins
o Twins experience same environment
Only difference is genotype
o If mono twins are more similar then the genotype must play a
strong role in the trait
o If diz twins are just as similar as mono twins environment
must be the factor
EX DEPRESSION
o Identical twins: if one twin is depressed- 75% chance the
other one will be
o Fraternal twins: if one twin is depressed- 25% chance the
other one will be depressed
Adoption Studies
Children raised by adoptive parents

If the children share psych traits with biological parents >> genetic
basis for these traits
Mono twins raised in separate households:
o If similar psych traits >> genetic basis for these traits
o Conversely, if adopted children are more like their adoptive
parents >> environmental basis for these traits
Separated at Birth
Jim and Jim twins
o Separated at 4 wks, reunited at age 39
o Similarities:
Were part time sheriffs
Vacationed in florida
Married and divorced women named betty
Had dog named toy
Chewed nails
Sons had same name
Had headaches
Two female identical twins
o Separated at 6wks
o Reunited in their 50s
o Similarities
Identical nightmares
Images of doorknobs and fish hooks in mouths
and smothering

Bedwetters until they were 13

PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
CONCEPTION
Sperm 23 chromosomes + egg 23 chromosomes
Fertilization occurs in fallopian tube
The Germinal period: 1st 2 weeks
AKA period of the zygote
Zygote = fertilized egg
Initially single cell
Repeated processes of cell division
o Number of cells increases at exponential rate
Mono twins can occur at this stage
o Cells are all identical early in the germinal period
PUT PICTURE HERE
EMBRYONIC STAGE
Aka period of the embryo
Cells become more specialized
o Body structures

o Internal organs
Beginning of embryonic stage
Three layers form in embryo
o Ectoderm: outer layer
Will become hair, skin and nervous system
o Mesoderm: middle layer
Will become muscles, bones, circulatory system
o Endoderm: inner layer
Digestive system
Cephalocaudal principle
Head develops before rest of body
o More rapidly
o Early stages: head is 50% of body length
o At birth head is 30% of body length
o Ectoderm
Early in third week a fold appears = neural tube
Will become the CNS
Neural Tube
Mantle Layer- source of differentiating cells
o Cells will become important parts of CNS
Neural tube defects

o Critical stage of development

o Certain complications can arise
Resulting in neurological problems in child (or worse)
Neural Tube Defects
Frequency 6-8 per 10,000 births in US
Sharp decline in last 20 years
o Attributed to early detection and abortion, and improved
nutrition
Some causes
o Genetics
o Drugs (esp psychotropic taken by mother)
Anencephaly
o Head regions of neural tube fail to close
o Cerebral hemispheres fail to develop no cortex at birth
o Infant cannot survive
Spina Bifida
o Spinal cord area of neural tube fails to close
o Growth of exposed spinal cord
o Paralysis common
o Intellectual development frequently impaired
o Surgery usually required to protect exposed spinal cord

Ectoderm
4th week
o brain region closes in
o major neuron generation
o head area enlarges
o limb buds form
th
5 week
o functional nervous system
o brain wave activity present
o reflexive movement in response to touch
FETAL STAGE: weeks 9-38 (birth)
Aka period of the fetus
o End of first trimester + 2nd and 3rd trimesters
Major growth in all body organs
Weeks 17-20
o Fetus can move
o Growth of temporary body hair = lanugo
o Skin coated with protective substance = vernix
Third trimester

o Age of viability = 22 weeks

Fetus can now survive on own
Specialized medical care still required
o Enlargement of cerebral cortex
Teratogens
Substances or environmental conditions that can impair prenatal
development
o Behavioral teratogens those that specifically impact CNS
and affect a childs later development
Ex:
o Thalidomide (sleeping meds known to cause deformatins of
arms and legs) and other prescriptions
o Legal and illegal drugs
Tobacco: low birth weight
Alcohol: fetal alcohol syndrome
Cocaine, heroine: addiction, mortality risk, premature
birth
o Rubella: if contracted by mother can cause blindness and or
deafness in child
o Some diseases can be transmitted to the child (HIV, hepatitis)
o Environmental hazards
FAS
o Syndrome due to maternal alcohol abuse
Due to binge drinking or regular heavy drinking, esp
early in pregnancy
o Abnormal facial characteristics, impaired learning, motor
coordination, problem solving

o Fetal alcohol effects: even small amounts of drinking during

pregnancy can lead to behavioral changes
Mothers who reported drinking only 1x per week were
3x more likely to have children with :
Clinical aggression
Delinquency
Attention deficit
Critical/Sensitive period
o Extent of effect of a specific teratogen depends on stage of
development
o 3-8 weeks highly sensitive to teratogens

RANDOM SHIT with fetal health

Nutrition
o Eg folic acid helps developing nervous system
o Physical growth and proper birth weight
Maternal stress
o Associated with increased likelihood of miscarriage,
prematurity, and low birth weight
Maternal age
o Eg down syndrome risk
BIRTH
Labor thought to be triggered by a signal from fetal brain that
monitors development of body organs and systems.

Three stages to labor

Stage one: uterine contractions
o Can last 12-14 hours the first time
o Weak, irregularly spaced
o Cervix begins to dilate
o End of stage onereported as most painful stage >>
contractions intensify, cervix dilates to 10cm or 4 in
Stage two: pushing
o Feel urge to push
o Crowning occursnormal birth- baby comes out head first
o Baby is born
Stage three: afterbirth
o Placenta is expelled from the uterus
Assessing Newborn
APGAR scale
5 vital signs are measured to assess newborns condition, scored 02 points each
10 point scale:7-10 good, 4-6 some vital signs are low, <3
emergency medical attention needed
Activity (muscle tone): amount of movement exhibited-should be
plenty
Pulse: 100+ bpm is good
G(rimace) response to irritating stimulus: baby should cry intensely
Appearance (skin color): nice pink color
Respiration: strong breathing and crying

Physical Growth
Cephalocaudal principle and proximo-distal principle
o Infant born with very large head with respect to body
o head is near full size at birth
most neurons already exist at birth
Infant growth
o Grow about an inch per month in the first year
o Triple birth weight in first year
o 7lbs to 22 lbs
Heredity/genes
o Strong role for height
r= 0.9 for height for identical twins
r= 0.5 for height in fraternal twins
r= 0.7 between childs height and average persons
height
Mechanisms of Physical Growth
Hormones
o Pituitary gland secretes Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
o HGH causes liver to release somatomedin
Triggers muscles and bone growth
o Thyroid gland secretes thyroxine

Neuronal development
Anything that impairs thyroid function in early
years has significant effect on IQ
Increases metabolic rate
Role in obesity
Stimulates endocrine system generally
Stimulates pituitary gland and thus release of
HGH

Nutrition
o Need plenty
o 12lb 3month old needs 600 calories per day
50 calories per pound compared to 15 calories per
pound for adults
o breast feeding
mothers milk is best food for babies
sufficient nutrients
all natural = fewer contaminants than commercial
products
breast fed babies
get sick less often
fewer digestive problems
adjust to solid foods more easily

Brain Growth and Development

Basic neuronal function

o Receive a signal from one neuron and transmit it to another

neuron
Excitatory and inhibitory connections
Activates some cells
o Complex patterns of neuronal firing subserve all behaviors
o Patterns must develop >> synaptogenesis
Learning shapes these patterns
Strengthens some connections
Eliminates others
Brain Growth in Infancy
Born with nearly all neurons you will ever have = 100 billion
Development = forming connections
o Activity dependent learning/experience
First few months
o Axons and dendrites grow longer
o # of synapses increase
nd
2 year synaptic pruning
o some synapses disappear
o fine tuning brain function
weeding out unnecessary connections

Brain Function and Plasticity

Brain must change to learn and acquire new behaviors
Damage results I lost behavior
o Behavior can be recovered
o Neuroplasticity
Brain can change in function
Lost functions can be taken up in other parts of the
brain
o Old view on neuroplasticity
Ends in childhood
Brain set in stone by adulthood
o New view
Plasticity never ends
Brain is just more plastic in early childhood compared to
adulthood
Movement and Motor Skills
No real motor control
o Movements are not voluntary and controlled
o Some movements are random and uncontrolled
o Some movements are involuntary reflexes
Startle reflexes aka moro reflex disappears around
5months
Tonic neck reflex

Sucking
Rooting
Palmar/grasping
Crawling/swimming
Stepping
Babinski reflex

Gross Motor Skills

Control of large limbs
o Arms and legs
Walking
o Must overcome cephalocaudal-driven development
o 8months stand with help
o 9months stand while holding onto something
o 10months stand alone
o 12months walk alone
o what determine this developmental trajectory?
Genes vs practice/exercise
o Complex task involving integration of many subsystems
Posture and balance
Stepping and limb control

Vision
Coordinating all of this
o Dynamical systems theory
Behavior arises out of a self-organizing system
Walking as a natural consequence of all these basic
subsystems coming online
Reaching
o 4months- successful reaching
still clumsy
many submovements
o past 4months
gradual smoothing in movements

Fine Motor Skills

Reaching and grasping
Requires direction and distance perception
o Infants 6-11 days
Rough accuracy
Infants will not reach for things out of reach
distance
o Up to 4months
Improvement in directional accuracy
Can intercept moving objects

Sharpening of line between reachable and non

reachable distances

Perception
Chemical senses: tastes and smell
Taste is fairly well developed at birth
o Infants sensitive to all 5 primary tastes: sweet, sour, salty,
biter, umami
o Taste preferences
Different responses to different tastes
o Change in nursing behavior
Smell is fairly well developed at birth
o Infants respond to different smells
o Distinguish and prefer own mothers breast milk
Place head between two pads
Pad on one side has mothers milk
Other pad has different womans milk
Child turns head toward mothers milk
Touch: moderately developed at birth
o Touch required to elicit reflexes
o Infants respond to soothing and caress, body heat
o Babies are born with touch mechanoreceptors in the skin
Receptors for pressure, movement, pain, temperature

o Development involves increase in touch pattern recognition

o Develop ability to perceive posture and movement
Proprioception and kinesthesis via receptors embedded
in muscles, tendons and joints
Hearing: not well developed at birth
o Fetus can hear sounds
-7-8 months
o infants can hear but not as well as adults
receptors in inner ear are developed but connections
need to form
infants have higher threshold for hearing a sound (less
sensitive to quiet sounds)
testing hearing in infants
baby sits on parents lap and observed from another
room
baby wears headphones
experimenter plays tones over headphones
parent and observer wear headphones with
silence
observer codes when they think the baby is
attentive
change in facial expression or head
orientation
match attentive times with actual times a tone
was played
screening new borns for hearing loss
auditory brainstem response (ABR)
electrodes detect activity of auditory nerve
in response to sounds
otoaccoustic emissions (OAE)

probe in outer ear detects echo responses

from the receptors in the inner ear
o adults can locate sound sources, but can infants?
In dark the experimenter shakes a rattle
See which way the infant reaches and how far
they reach
7months old they will not reach a rattle sound
more than 2 feet away.
Perception
o Vision: poorly developed at birth
o Infants: poor acuity and sensitivity
Acuity: how well can you see fine detail?
Sensitivity: how well can you detect faint visual
stimulus
o Adult normal vision: 20/20
Can see at 20 ft what an average person sees at 20 ft
o Infant 1mo: 20/400
Can see at 20 ft what an adult sees at 400ft
6mo: 20/100
12mo: 20/40
36mo: 20/20
o Visual testing methods
Preferential looking
Assumption: child will prefer looking at a pattern
vs a uniform gray field
Show child two gratings

Can child see difference?

If not then no difference in looking time
between the 2 stimuli
If yes then more time spent looking at low
freq grating
Visually evoked potential (vep)
Electrodes on scalp, measure brain activity in
visual cortex
Present high and low freq grating or checkerboard
pattern
Can child detect difference
Is VEP activity different between the two
gratings?
If yes child detects difference
If no child cannot tell difference
Optokinetic nystagmus (OKN)
Move grating laterally; eyes reflexively follow the
grating
In infants: if they can see the lines, will exhibit
OKN reflex

Cognitive development
PIAGET
o Child as nave scientist
o Understanding physical world and how to interact with it
o Schema: a nave theory about how the world works
Children test their theories by playing and doing things
Assimilation: new info incorporated into schema

Accommodation: change schema to accept new info

inconsistent
o 4 stages: sensorimotor, preoperational thought, concrete
operational thought, formal operational thought
o sensorimotor
gradually learning about body
how to interact with objects
properties of objects
gravity/support
solidity
containment
permanence
Language development
Can infants recognize language sounds?
o Infants prefer mothers voice over a strangers
o Can they discriminate speech sounds?
o Habituation techniques
Repeatedly present same stimulus
Child gets used to it
Change stimulus
If child detects changes make a response
If no change detected make no response
o Language perception study

Pacifier outfitted with electronic monitor

Each time child sucks, activates a bah sound played
through headphones
Child initially sucks rapidly but then gets bored and
slows down
Sound is switched to gah and child habituates
Happens as young as 1month
Speech perception
There are 140 phonemes
o Basic sounds of language that could be used in any language
o Most languages use about 30
o 1month old can distinguish between all 140
o 10month olds will only dishabituate to the phonemesused in
the language they are exposed to
ex a French exposed child will notice the difference in
nasalization of vowels but an English exposed child will
not
child directed speech
o speech by adults to children
slow exaggerated changes in pitch and loudness
helps children hear phonemes and learn language
must learn to coordinate the articulators
o cooing: vowel sound by 2months
o babbling: consonant sound by 6months
o intonation: patterns while babbling by 7months
o first word by 12months

o holophrase: single word sentence by 12-15 months

o naming explosion: acquire 50-100 words per month by
18months
grammar acquisition
o constructing larger sentences
o use articles and function words
morphology
o telegraphic speech: simplified sentences: 2 years
kick ball
o fluent speech: full grammatical speech by 5 years
I am kicking the ball
Theories of language acquisition
Behavior approach (strong nurture)
o Skinner: babbling and language use is reinforced
o Language is essentially mindless imitation
Cognitive approach (moderate nurture)
o Semantic bootstrapping: children hear grammatical language
and infer the rules of language
Nativist approach
o Chomsky: innate language acquisition device encodes
grammar into the brain
o Universal grammatical structures
o Brain structures specific to language
o Language specific to humans
o Poverty of stimulus argument: children do not hear enough
language to explain the early complexity of their language
o Degeneracy of stimulus argument: children hear both correct
and incorrect grammar and are still able to learn a language