| A | B |
|---|
| neonate | newborn baby |
| reflex | human beings involuntary response to external stimulation |
| infant state | recurring pattern of arousal in the newbron. alert, sleep |
| SIDS | THe sudden unexplained death of an infant while sleeping |
| autostimulation theory | during REM sleep the infants brain stumulates itself and stimulates early dev. of cns |
| brazelton neonatal assessment scale | scale used to measure and infants sensory and percpetual capabilities. indicates whether the brain and cns are properly regulating autonomic responsivity |
| sensation | detection of stimuli by the sensory receptors |
| perception | interpretation of sensations in order to make them meaningful |
| visual preference method | moethod of studying infants abilities to distinguish one stimuli from other by measuring length of time looked at |
| habituation | process by which ind. reacts w less & less intesity to a repeated stimulus |
| visual acuity | sharpness of vision, clarity with which details can be defined |
| stereoscopic vision | sense of 3rd spatial dimension produced by both eyes images on brain |
| visual cliff | apparatus that tests infants depth perception |
| size constancy | tendency to percieve an object as constant in size regardless of changes in its distance from the viewer |
| shape constancy | ability to perceive an objects shape as remaining constant despite changes in orientation |
| intermodal perception | use f sensory info from more than 1 modality to identify a stimulus |
| cerebrum | two connected hemispheres of the brain |
| cerebral cortex | the covering layer of the cerebrum contains cells seeing hearing moving thinking |
| neuron | cell inteh body's nervous system consisting of a cell body |
| neuron proliferation | the rapid proliferation of neurons in the developing organisms brain |
| glial cell | a nerve cell that supports and protects neurons and serves to encase them in cheaths of myelin |
| myelination | process by which glial cells encase neurons in sheaths of the fatty substance |
| neural migration | the movement of neurons within the brain that ensures that all brain areas have sufficient # of neural connections |
| synapse | site of intercellular communication where info is exchanged btwn nerve cells by neurotransmitter |
| synaptogenesis | forming of synapses |
| neuronal death | death of neurons |
| synaptic pruning | the brains disposal of the axons and dentrites of a neuron that is not often stimulation |
| corpus callosum | band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain |
| lateralization | process by which each half othe brain becomes specialized for certain performace |
| plasticity | the capacity of the brain in dev. stages to respond and adapt to input from enviro |
| cephalocaudal development | the notion that human phsyical growth occurs from head downward |
| proximal distal pattern | tendency for human physical dev. to occur from the center outward |
| catch up growth | tendency for human beings to regain a normal course of physical growth after injury or deprivation |
| secular trend | shift in normative patern of a characteristic that occurs over history |
| puberty | onset of sexual maturity |
| pituitary gland | master gland at base of brain that triggers secretion of hormones |
| hormone | powerful specialized chemical |
| estrogens | responsible for sexual maturation |
| progesterone | hormone helps regulate menstrual cycle and prepares uterus for reception of egg |
| testosterone | hormone in male responsible of primary and secondary sex characteristics |
