Psyc 3310 - Ch.4

• Cephalocaudal Pattern: sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top the head
• Proximodistal Pattern: sequence in which growth starts at the centre of the body and moves toward the extremities
• Infants control the muscles of their trunk and arms before they control their hands and fingers, and they use their whole hands before they can control several fingers

  This is an example of ?

  proximodistal pattern
• After a couple of months after being born, the infant can control its head and neck

  This is an example of?

  Cephalocaudal Pattern
• In the first several days of life most newborns lose 5 to 7% of their body weight before they adjust to feeding by sucking, swallowing and digesting

  
  

  • They then grow rapidly, gaining an average of 5 to 6 ounces per week during the first month.
  • Infants grow about 1 inch per month during the first year. Doubling their birth length by their first birthday
• Growth slows considerably in the second year of life - By 2 years of age infants weigh approx. 26-32 lb and average 32-35 inches in height
• At birth the newborn’s brain is about 25% of its adult weight

  • The hemispheres of the cerebral cortex have already started to specialize
  • Newborns show greater electrical brain activity in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere when they are listening to speech sounds.
• Newborns show greater electrical brain activity in the left hemisphere when listening to speech sounds

  True or False?

  True
• By the second birthday, the brain is about 75% of its adult weight, brains areas do not mature uniformly
• Neurons change in two very significant ways during the first years of life:

  • Myelination (process of encasing axons with fat cells) begins prenatally and continues after birth, even into adolescence
  • Myelination speeds up neural transmissions.
• As the Infants grow, Connectivity among Neurons increases, creating new neural pathways

  • New dendrites grow, connections among dendrites increase, and synaptic connections between axons and dendrites proliferate
  • The expansion of dendritic connections facilitates the spreading of neural pathways in infant development.
  • The connections that are used survive and become stronger, while the unused ones are replaced by other pathways/disappear
• the more babies engage in physical activity or use language, the more those neural pathways will be strengthened.

  
  

  True or False?

  True
• Some areas of the brain (e.g. primary motor areas) develop earlier than others (e.g. primary sensory areas)
• Cognitive skills that require deliberate thinking do not emerge until later in the first year

  True or False?

  True
• The prefrontal region of the frontal lobe has the most prolonged development of any brain region, with changes detectable at least into emerging adulthood
• The frontal lobes are immature in the newborn

  • As neurons in the frontal lobes become myelinated/interconnected, infants develop an ability to regulate their physiological states (e.g. sleep) and gain more control over their reflexes
• Neuroconstructivist view emphasizes the importance of considering interactions between experience and gene expression in the brain’s development
• The typical newborn sleeps approx. 18 hours a day >> ranges from 10 hours to about 21 hours per day

  • As the newborn gets older, they spend less time in REM sleep
• Infants need to consume around 50 calories per pound of weight per day

  • Severe infant malnutrition is correlated with early weaning
• Breast feeding is superior to bottle feeding for both the infant and the mother
• Dynamic systems theory: infants assemble motor skills for perceiving and acting
• To develop motor skills infants must perceive something in their environment that motivates them to act/use their perceptions to fine-tune their movements
• When infants are motivated to do something, they might create a new motor behavior

  True or False?

  True
• When infants are motivated to do something, they might create a new motor behavior. This new behavior is the result of

  • The development of the nervous system
  • The body’s physical properties and its possibilities for movement
  • The goal the child is motivated to reach
  • The environmental support for the skill.
• Gross motor skills (large muscle groups)
• Gross motor skills include crawling, walking, running, jumping, throwing, catching, kicking, etc.
• Rooting Reflex: occurs when the infant’s cheek is stroked or the side of the mouth is touched
• the infant turns its head toward the side that was touched in an apparent effort to find something to suck

  This an example of?

  Rooting Reflex
• Sucking Reflex: occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouth
• Enables newborns to get nourishment before they have associated a nipple with food/serves as a self-soothing or self-regulating mechanism

  This is an example of?

  Sucking Reflex
• Moro Reflex: occurs in response to a sudden, intense noise or movement
• When startled newborn arches its back, throws back its head and flings out its arms and legs rapidly draws in arms and legs

  
  

  This is an example of ?

  moro reflex
• Believed to be a way of grabbing for support while falling?

  Moro Reflex
• Grasping Reflex: occurs when something touches the infant’s palms
• Infant responds by grasping tightly?

  Grasping Reflex
• Gross motor skills require postural control first
• Postural Control

  • To track moving objects
  • able to control the movement of your head in order to stabilize your gaze
• 8-9 months of age, usually learn to pull themselves up and hold on to a chair

  Can often stand alone by 10-12 months of age
• Neural pathways that control leg alternation are in place from a very early age, occurs during the foetal period/at birth
• Walking allows the infant to gain contact with objects that were previously out of reach/to initiate interaction with parents and other

  adults >> promotes language development