Chap 3 - Infancy and Toddlerhood

• dendrites are branching extensions that collect information from other neurons
• Synaptogenesis, or the formation of connections between neurons, continues from the prenatal period forming thousands of new connections during infancy and toddlerhood. This period ofrapid neural growth isreferred to as synaptic blooming.
• The blooming period of neural growth is then followed by a period of synaptic pruning, where neural connections are reduced thereby making those that are used much stronger.
• Another major change occurring in the central nervous system is the development of myelin, a coating of fatty tissues around the axon of the neuron.
• Myelin helps insulate the nerve cell and speed the rate of transmission of impulses from one cell to another.
• Most of the neural activity is occurring in the cortex or the thin outer covering of the brain involved in voluntary activity and thinking
• The cortex is divided into two hemispheres, and each hemisphere is divided into four lobes, each separated by folds known as fissures.
• We see first the frontal lobe (behind the forehead), which is responsible primarily for thinking, planning, memory, and judgment. 
• Parietal lobe extends from the middle to the back of the skull and is responsible primarily for processing information about touch.
• Next is the occipital lobe, at the very back of the skull, which processes visual information.
• Finally, in front of the occipital lobe, between the ears, is the temporal lobe, which is responsible for hearing and language.
• Lateralization is the process in which different functions become localized primarily on one side of the brain.
• Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change, both physically and chemically, to enhance its adaptability to environmental change and compensate for injury
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): SIDS is identified when the death of a healthy infant occurs suddenly and unexpectedly, and medical and forensic investigation findings (including an autopsy) are inconclusive.
• Unknown Cause: The sudden death of an infant less than one year of age that cannot be explained because a thorough investigation was not conducted, and cause of death could not be determined. 
• Accidental Suffocation and Strangulation in Bed: Reasons for accidental suffocation include: Suffocation by soft bedding, another person rolling on top of or against the infant while sleeping, an infant being wedged between two objects such as a mattress and wall, and strangulation such as when an infant’s head and neck become caught between crib railings.
• Newborns are equipped with a number of reflexes which are involuntary movements in response to stimulation
• • Sucking Suck on anything that touches the lips
• Rooting - Turning the head when the cheek is touched
• Grasp - Fingers automatically grip anything that touches the palm of the hand
• Babinski - The toes will fan out and curl when the sole of the foot is stroked from heel to toe
• Moro - A sudden noise or loss of support to the head and neck will cause infants to spread out their arms and legs then quickly contract the limbs inward
• • Tonic Neck When lying on the back with the head to one side infants will extend the arm and leg on that side while flexing the limbs on the opposite side (looks like a fencer pose)
• Stepping - Legs move in stepping like motion when feet touch a smooth surface
• Motor development occurs in an orderly sequence as infants move from reflexive reactions (e.g., sucking and rooting) to more advanced motor functioning.
• As mentioned during the prenatal section, development occurs according to the Cephalocaudal (from head to tail) and Proximodistal (from the midline outward) principles. 
• Motor Skills refer to our ability to move our bodies and manipulate objects.
• Fine motor skills focus on the muscles in our fingers, toes, and eyes, and enable coordination of small actions.
• At this age grasping an object involves the use of the fingers and palm, but no thumbs. This is known as the Palmer Grasp. The use of the thumb comes at about 9 months of age when the infant is able to grasp an object using the forefinger and thumb. Now the infant uses a Pincer Grasp.
• Gross motor skills focus on large muscle groups that control our head, torso, arms and legs and involve larger movements (e.g., balancing, running, and jumping).
• The fovea, which is the central field of vision in the retina and allows us to see sharp detail, is not fully developed at birth, and does not start to reach adult levels of development until 15 months.
• Aslin (1981) found that when tracking an object visually, the eye movements of newborns and one-month olds are not smooth but saccadic, that is step-like jerky movements.
• Binocular vision, which requires input from both eyes, is evident around the third month and continues to develop during the first six months
• Newborns who are circumcised, which is the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis, without anesthesia experience pain as demonstrated by increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, decreased oxygen in the blood, and a surge of stress hormones.
• Infants seem to be born with the ability to perceive the world in an intermodal way; that is, through stimulation from more than one sensory modality.
• Habituation procedures, that is measuring decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations, have increasingly been used to evaluate infants to study the development of perceptual and memory skills.
• Children in developing countries and countries experiencing the harsh conditions of war are at risk for two major types of malnutrition, also referred to as wasting. Infantile marasmus refers to starvation due to a lack of calories and protein.
• After weaning, children who have diets deficient in protein may experience kwashiorkor known as the “disease of the displaced child” often occurring after another child has been born and taken over breastfeeding.
• Children have much more of a challenge in maintaining this balance because they are constantly being confronted with new situations, new words, new objects, etc. All this new information needs to be organized, and a framework for organizing information is referred to as a schema
• When faced with something new, a child may demonstrate assimilation, which is fitting the new information into an existing schema, such as calling all animals with four legs "doggies" because he or she knows the word doggie