Life Span Development

. Chapter 4 contains a number of tables and figures that illustrate various topics. Five of them are listed below. Each of the figures is paired with an interpretation of the information it presents. Which interpretation is most accurate? Circle the letter of the best answer, and explain why it is the best answer, and why each other answer is not as good.

a) The interpretation of figure 4.6 is not accurate. This figure illustrates the increasing richness of connections between neurons, not an increase in the number of neurons. Dendrites connect neurons; they are not separate nerve cells.

b) The interpretation of figure 4.13 is not accurate. The grasping reflex involves fine, not gross, motor skills.

c) The interpretation of figure 4.15 is not accurate. The figure shows a time range during which infants begin to walk unaided. This time frame extends well past 1 year of age.

d) Figure 4.5: Dendrites are located within the nucleus of the cell body is not completely correct. Dendrites are not found within the nucleus but are found outside the nucleus of cell body.

e) Figure 4.7: The synaptic density of the human brain peaks before 6 years of age and declines steadily up to age 11 is a best answer.

2. Explain Piaget's concept of a scheme, and give an example of both a behavioral scheme and a mental scheme. Explain the processes of assimilation and accommodation (discussed in chapter 2) using these concepts. Compare and contrast the methods used by Piaget, and learning and memory researchers, to study infant cognition.

According to Piaget schemes are actions or mental representations that organize knowledge. In behavioral schemes infants understand their world through their actions and there is an organized pattern to their action is physical activities. Example of behavioral scheme is behaviors that are there during infancy like sucking. Mental schemes are the cognitive activities develop in children. Children can remember the cat as four legged furry pets.

Assimilation takes place when children use their existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences. Accommodation takes place when children adjust their schemes to take new information and experiences into account.

Learning and memory researchers use different constructs to study infant cognition. They used various methods like conditioning, attention (orienting and investigative process), habituation (decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations), explicit (conscious memory of facts and experiences) and implicit memory (memory without conscious recollection), imitation (infants imitative abilities are biologically based and are characterized by flexibility and adaptability) deferred imitation ( imitation that occur after a time delay of hours or days), as well as concept formation and categorization.

1. Some capacities, such as object permanence and deferred imitation, emerge much earlier than Piaget believed.

2. In contrast to Piaget's ideas, infants appear to develop in a gradual and continuous manner and not in step-like stages.

3. Consistent with Piaget's views, research indicates that motor activity does facilitate the early construction of knowledge.

Built-in mental equipment that infants possess might best be viewed as a set of biases, or learning procedures. b. Infant cognitive skills emerge gradually, depending on biological makeup and experience. c. Piaget's work inspired a wealth of research on infant cognition. d. Piaget's observations have been of great practical value, particularly for teachers and caregivers.

Explain how developmentalists have studied emotions in infants. Discuss what we learn about infant cognitive and social development by studying infant smiling and crying. Indicate and explain the individual differences in attachment and the relationship of early attachment to later social interactions.

Emotions are the feelings that occur when a person is in a state or interaction that is important to him or her. Emotion is characterized by behavior that reflects the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the state a person is in or the transactions being experienced.

In infancy during the first 6 months infants express surprise, joy, anger, sad, fear, and disgust. During second half of first year they start feeling jealousy, embarrassment, pride, guilt. These have been called self-conscious emotions. Crying is a primary social behavior during infancy. It attracts caregiver and promotes a social interaction. It also has a survival value because crying of an infant alerts caregiver of a need for milk or any other discomfort. Caregivers must react to infants

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