Deck 9: Section 3: Lifespan Development

Question 1

The human genome is the complete set of DNA in the human organism.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Humans carry all of the genes necessary to develop a tail, but we don't develop tails because those genes are never activated.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Females have an XY combination of chromosomes in the 23rd pair, whereas males have an XX combination.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The branch of psychology that studies how people change over the lifespan is called developmental psychology.

Question 5

Each chromosome contains exactly 23 pairs of genes.

Question 6

Studies examining the impact of early stress in humans have shown that childhood stress or adversity can cause distinct epigenetic changes in brain tissue.

Question 7

Males are more likely than females to display various genetic disorders, such as hemophilia and red-green color blindness.

Question 8

As people make the transition from one stage of the lifespan to another they undergo sudden, age-related changes in physical, mental, and social development.

Question 9

As identical twins develop, differences in physical and psychological characteristics become evident. These differences are due to each twin's individual and unique genetic blueprint.

Question 10

Dr. Dillinger investigates how gene activity is regulated within a cell, what signals switch genes "on" or "off," and in particular, what determines whether a given cell will become a skin cell, a nerve cell, or a heart muscle cell. His area of research is called epigenetics.

Question 11

The best known, although not the most common, pattern of allele variation is the simple dominant-recessive gene pair.

Question 12

Although all humans have the same basic set of genes, these genes can come in different versions called alleles.

Question 13

DNA can be damaged by environmental factors, such as exposure to ultraviolet light, radiation, or chemical toxins, and genes can mutate, or change spontaneously, from one generation to the next.

Question 14

If you inherit a dominant version of the freckles gene, you will have the potential to display freckles. But to be freckle-free, you would need to inherit two recessive "no freckles" genes, one from each biological parent.

Question 15

The term genotype refers to the underlying genetic makeup of a particular individual.

Question 16

Epigenetics refers to the study of the mechanisms that control gene expression and its effect on behavior and health.

Question 17

In one experimental study, researchers found that newborn rats who were genetically predisposed to be calm and stress-resistant grew up to be nervous, high-strung, and easily stressed adult rats when raised by genetically unrelated, inattentive mothers. The explanation for these results was that epigenetic changes had taken place which changed their brain chemistry and literally "reprogrammed" their behavior.

Question 18

You have 23 chromosomes in each of your body's cells.

Question 19

Most developmental psychologists believe that gene expression is primarily influenced by the fixed, master plan, or genetic blueprint, with which people are born.

Question 20

A gene is a segment on a chromosome containing the DNA instructions for manufacturing a particular protein molecule.

Question 21

Helga is in her fifth month of a healthy pregnancy, and sometimes she can feel the fetus moving, a common experience called quickening.

Question 22

Assuming that a newborn infant is developing favorably, his brain will be about one-fourth the size of an adult human brain and will weigh about one pound or less.

Question 23

Excessive drinking during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome which is characterized by physical and mental problems such as abnormal facial features or learning disabilities.

Question 24

By the fourth month of prenatal development the fetus is capable of reflexive movements and is able to move its arms, legs, and head.

Question 25

Stem cells are long, threadlike structures composed of twisted parallel strands of deoxyribonucleic acid.

Question 26

A teratogen is a harmful agent or substance that can cause malformations or defects in an embryo or fetus.

Question 27

The embryonic period is the second period of prenatal development and extends from the third week through the eighth week.

Question 28

In general, the greatest vulnerability to teratogens occurs during the fetal period.

Question 29

Newborn infants are equipped with reflexes that enhance survival, such as the rooting reflex and the sucking reflex.

Question 30

A newborn child is extremely nearsighted.

Question 31

The neural tube eventually thickens into three bulges that will form the three main regions of the brain: the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain.

Question 32

The stepping reflex, grasping reflex, and rooting reflex are present at birth, but as motor areas of the infant's brain develop over the first year of life, these reflexes are replaced by voluntary behaviors.

Question 33

The shortest phase of prenatal development is called the germinal, or zygotic, period.

Question 34

By the third week after conception, a sheet of primitive neural cells has formed, which curls to form a hollow tube called the neural tube.

Question 35

The neural tube is formed from a sheet of primitive neural cells and is lined with stem cells.

Question 36

The fetal brain is constantly changing, forming as many as 2 million synaptic connections per second.

Question 37

Some teratogens such as cocaine, cigarette smoke, and alcohol can damage the developing organism during the germinal fetal periods but not in the embryonic period.

Question 38

Chronic stress, depression, and anxiety during pregnancy are associated with low birth weight and premature birth.

Question 39

By the end of the two-week germinal period, the single-celled zygote develops into a cluster of cells called an embryo.

Question 40

Stem cells can divide indefinitely, renew themselves, and give rise to a variety of other types of cells.

Question 41

Researchers Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess found that temperamental qualities tend to be very stable throughout infancy and childhood.

Question 42

Parents in all cultures tend to use a style of speech called "infant-directed speech" (also called motherese) when they address infants and toddlers.

Question 43

Different sleeping customs, such as whether infants sleep in the same bed as the parents, reflect different cultural values.

Question 44

For the first few months after birth, an infant can distinguish among the speech sounds of all the world's languages.

Question 45

Environmental experiences have little impact on a child's basic temperamental qualities because those qualities are genetically determined.

Question 46

Between the ages of 5 and 8 months, infants are able to stand alone without holding on.

Question 47

The term proximodistal trend refers to the fact that physical and motor skill development in infants tends to follow a "top-to-bottom" sequence.

Question 48

According to Mary Ainsworth's procedure called the "Strange Situation", securely attached infant will show no distress when her mother leaves the room.

Question 49

Insecure attachment may result when parents are insensitive or unresponsive to an infant's needs, moods, and behaviors.

Question 50

The term proximodistal trend refers to the tendency for infants to develop motor control from the center of their bodies outwards.

Question 51

A newborn child is able to distinguish between her mother's voice and that of a stranger.

Question 52

Infants all over the world use the same sounds when they first begin babbling, including sounds that do not occur in the language of their parents.

Question 53

Young Angelo can roll over and grasp his rattle but is not yet able to sit up without support. In terms of physical development he is approximately 15-months old.

Question 54

With the exception of a few isolated societies, the practice of allowing an infant to sleep in the same bed as the parents is rare or nonexistent.

Question 55

Infants are capable of forming multiple attachments.

Question 56

Mary Ainsworth devised a procedure called the Strange Situation to measure attachment.

Question 57

Katie is just 9 months old. If she is like typical infants her age, she will be able to stand while holding on to a chair or some other support structure.

Question 58

Babies typically learn to sit up without support before they learn to roll over.

Question 59

When presented with an array of images that include pictures of brightly colored objects and human faces, a newborn child will gaze the longest at the brightly colored objects.

Question 60

Researchers Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess found that about two-thirds of infants can be classified as having either an easy, difficult, or slow-to-warm-up temperament.

Question 61

Infants who are deaf do not demonstrate babbling.

Question 62

Piaget's concept of egocentrism refers to the fact that preoperational children often lack the ability to consider events from another person's point of view.

Question 63

Piaget failed to recognize that heredity and environmental differences could influence the rate at which a given child progressed through the stages of cognitive development.

Question 64

The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky emphasized the importance of social and cultural factors on cognitive development.

Question 65

The correct order of Piaget's stages of cognitive development is: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Question 66

The two-word sentences of the infant or young child usually follow a grammatically correct sequence.

Question 67

According to research by Renée Baillargeon infants are born with an instinctive understanding of object permanence.

Question 68

Piaget's theory has been criticized for overestimating the cognitive abilities of infants and young children.

Question 69

According to research by Renée Baillargeon infants display an understanding of object permanence almost six months earlier than the age Piaget believed they did.

Question 70

According to the Science Versus Pseudoscience box, "Can a DVD Program Your Baby to Be a Genius?" viewing baby media is negatively correlated with vocabulary growth in infants.

Question 71

According to the Science Versus Pseudoscience box, "Can a DVD Program Your Baby to Be a Genius?" the best predictor of infant language is the amount of time children watch educational DVDs.

Question 72

According to Piaget, the capacity to engage in symbolic thought emerges during the preoperational stage of cognitive development.

Question 73

Piaget's concept of conservation refers to the young child's understanding of the importance of protecting nature and conserving valuable resources.

Question 74

Jean Piaget believed that cognitive development unfolds according to a biologically programmed sequence that is the same for children in every culture.

Question 75

During the concrete operational stage the child acquires the ability to think systematically and logically when dealing with abstract concepts.

Question 76

Developmental psychologist Robert Zimmerman and colleagues found that babies who never watched "educational" videos knew more words than babies who did.

Question 77

Infants acquire production vocabulary almost twice as fast as they acquire comprehension vocabulary.

Question 78

During the sensorimotor stage the infant acquires a basic understanding of what Piaget called conservation.

Question 79

Centration during the concrete operational stage refers to the child's tendency to focus on several aspects of a situation rather than focus on the central aspect of the situation.

Question 80

Renée Baillargeon's research on young infants' cognitive development uses visual tasks to assess the infants' understanding of object permanence.