Psychology- Test 2

• Lifespan psychology


  The study of continuity and change through the lifespan
• Areas of change studied in lifespan psychology

  • Physical
  • Cognitive
  • Social
  • Emotional
• Developmental stages


  • Prenatal (conception to birth)
  • Infancy (0-1 years)
  • Childhood (1-12 years)
  • Adolescence (12-20 years)
  • Early adulthood (20-40 years)
  • Middle adulthood (40-65 years)
  • Older adulthood (65+ years)
• Fine motor skills


  Skills involved in the ability to control the small muscles of the body to perform certain functions, like writing or tying a shoelace
• Gross motor skills


  Skills involved in the large muscles in the arms, legs and torso, important for everyday physical activities like walking, running, throwing, lifting, kicking, etc.
• Cognitive development


  Development of our mental abilities including ability to think and reason during the course of our lifespan
• Self-awareness


  The ability for an individual to observe their thoughts, behaviours and emotions
• Self-concept


  The view an individual has about their beliefs, likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses
• Brain plasticity


  The ability of the brain's neural connections and synapses to be modified through growth and reorganisation
• Stages of brain plasticity

  • Proliferation
  • Migration
  • Circuit formation
  • Synaptic pruning
  • Myelination
• Developmental plasticity


  The ability for the brain to grow and reorganise neural connections in response to sensory input from the environment
• Adaptive plasticity


  The ability of neural connections in the brain to reorganise in response to learning or to compensate for lost functions
• Brain plasticity is necessary for learning to take place and is present throughout a healthy person's lifetime
• Generally, an infant or child's brain will have more plasticity than an adult's
• Changes to the brain occur more frequently in the fetal stage, as well as infancy, childhood and adolescence (developmental plasticity)
• These changes continue throughout life as learning takes place (adaptive plasticity)
• Synaptic pruning and myelination occur during adolescence
• Research has found that during heightened brain plasticity, learning new skills can be easier than in later life
• A child's brain is able to compensate for any missing or damaged part of the brain as a result of its plasticity