Question 1

According to Gardner & Steinberg (2005) what are the characteristics of risk-taking in adolescence?

Accepted Answer

According to Gardner & Steinberg (2005), risk-taking is strongly increased by the presence of peers during adolescence. This is because peer influence plays a significant role in shaping adolescent behavior and decision-making.

Question 2

What is the size of the newborn human brain relative to that of an adult?

Accepted Answer

The average weight of a newborn human brain is approximately 450 grams, while the average weight of an adult human brain is about 1400 grams.

Question 3

What measure was typically used in the influential studies of newborn voice preference in the 1970s and 1980s?

Accepted Answer

Sucking rate was commonly used in studies of newborn voice preference during the 1970s and 1980s. Researchers found that newborns would modify their sucking behavior to hear their mother's voice, indicating a preference for it over other stimuli.

Question 4

What were the conclusions of the study of early altruism by Warneken & Tomasello (2008)?

Accepted Answer

Warneken & Tomasello (2008) found that giving rewards for helping actually reduces future helping behavior, suggesting that altruistic behavior in children is less likely to occur if they come to expect a reward for helping. This indicates that intrinsic motivation plays a significant role in early altruism.

Question 5

What were the findings of the ERP study of infant gaze detection by Johnson et al. (2005)?

Accepted Answer

The study by Johnson et al. (2005) found that infants use occipital and frontal regions for gaze detection, indicating that these areas are involved in processing gaze direction during infancy.

Question 6

What were the findings of the joint attention study of Brooks & Meltzoff (2005)?

Accepted Answer

The joint attention study of Brooks & Meltzoff (2005) found that infants under 10 months will follow head turns both if the eyes of the experimenter are open or closed. This suggests that infants are not only following eye gaze, but also head movement, as a means of engaging in joint attention. They also found that infants will point to a novel object that the experimenter cannot see, indicating an ability to understand different perspectives. Therefore, option B is the correct choice.

Question 7

What were the general conclusions of the fMRI studies of 'mentalizing' during adolescence of Wang et al. (2006) and Blakemore et al. (2007)?

Accepted Answer

Both studies found that the same 'theory of mind' network was activated in both adolescents and adults, including the medial prefrontal cortex and temporal parietal junction, but the relative level of activity in different regions varied between the groups. Blakemore et al. (2007) also found that the level of activation in the medial prefrontal cortex was correlated with age, suggesting a gradual increase in the use of mentalizing processes during adolescence.

Question 8

Which of the following environmental factors affects the age at which children typically pass (explicit) theory-of-mind tasks?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following environmental factors affects...

Question 9

Which of the following statements about human brain development is true?

Accepted Answer

The infant brain has considerably greater synaptic density than the adult brain. While the infant brain has fewer neurons and less myelin than the adult brain, it compensates for this with a high density of synapses, or connections between neurons. Over time, the brain undergoes a process called synaptic pruning, where weak or unnecessary synapses are eliminated in order to strengthen important connections and streamline neural communication. This results in a more efficient and specialized adult brain.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about the development of the prefrontal cortex during adolescence is true?

Accepted Answer

Grey-matter density in the prefrontal cortex peaks during puberty and then decreases throughout adolescence, a process associated with synaptic pruning, where the brain eliminates excess neurons and synapses to improve its efficiency.

Question 11

Which of the following statements concerning infant-directed speech or 'motherese' is true?

Accepted Answer

Infants show larger ERP amplitudes in attention-related components to motherese relative to normal speech, indicating that they pay more attention to it.

Question 12

Who conducted an influential study of emotional contagion (crying) in infants?

Accepted Answer

Simner (1971) conducted an influential study on emotional contagion in infants, specifically focusing on the phenomenon of crying. This study helped establish the understanding that infants can respond to the emotional expressions of others through a form of mimicry, indicating early forms of empathy and emotional communication.

Question 13

Who conducted influential studies on newborn facial mimickry?

Accepted Answer

Meltzoff & Moore conducted influential studies on newborn facial mimickry.

Question 14

Who has argued that language learning is gated by the social brain?

Accepted Answer

Patricia Kuhl has argued that the social brain plays a crucial role in language learning. She suggests that infants need social interaction to learn language and that their ability to learn is gated by the social brain.

Question 15

What do Cook et al. (2014) suggest is responsible for the development of mirror neurons?

Accepted Answer

Cook et al. (2014) suggest that associative learning is responsible for the development of mirror neurons. Specifically, repeated experiences of an action and its associated consequences lead to the development of motor representations that become activated when observing another perform the same action.

Question 16

What did the functional imaging study of infant face processing by Tzuorio-Mazoyer et al. (2002) show?

Accepted Answer

The study by Tzourio-Mazoyer et al. (2002) found that infants, when viewing faces, activate not only the regions within the 'core' system of face processing but also regions that in adults are more specialized for language. This suggests an early integration of face and language processing areas in the developing brain.

Question 17

According to the study of Macchi-Cassia et al. (2004) which statement about newborn face recognition is true?

Accepted Answer

Newborns show a preference for top-heavy configurations, which can include both real faces and top-heavy jumbled faces, over bottom-heavy configurations.

Question 18

According to the study of Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) at what age do infants/children have an (implicit) understanding of false belief?

Accepted Answer

Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) found that infants as young as 15 months have an implicit understanding of false belief, challenging the previous belief that this ability develops around age 4.

Question 19

According to the theory of Ernst, Pine, & Hardin (2006) what are the effects of structural changes in the adolescent brain on motivational mechanisms?

Accepted Answer

According to the theory of Ernst, Pine, & Hardin (2006), structural changes in the adolescent brain lead to a shift towards a dominance of reward-related motivations over punishment-related motivations. This is due to heightened sensitivity to rewards and less sensitivity to punishments during adolescence.

Question 20

At what age do children typically pass the mark test (i.e. rubbing an unknown mark off their body after discovering it in a mirror)?

Accepted Answer

The mark test is typically passed at 18 months of age. This is because at this age, children develop a sense of self-awareness and begin to recognize their own bodies. They also develop the ability to use their hands to explore their bodies and to remove objects from their skin.

Quiz 11: Developmental Social Neuroscience