About This Chapter
This practice assessment covers checking your mastery of concepts like the learning to walk, the motor development, the nature and nurture, the neurons and the nutrition. Features presents practice questions with accurate answers, comprehensive explanations, and terminology definitions arranged by difficulty scales featuring verified solutions, comprehensive explanations, and key term glossaries. Each question provides correct answers, detailed explanations, glossary terms, and difficulty levels for effective study sessions.
The learning objectives include:
✓ Summarize motor development in infancy.
✓ Summarize the course of sensory and perceptual development in infancy.
✓ Summarize physical development in infancy.
Question 1
Clara, a one-year-old baby, recently started walking. According to research, we would also expect her to
- show an increase in language development due to interaction with more objects.
- be safer because she is more in control of her relationship with her environment.
- make life easier for her parents now that she can walk.
- show less egocentrism since she is now able to get around on her own.
Correct Answer:
show an increase in language development due to interaction with more objects.
Glossary:
Language: A form of communication, whether spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a system of symbols. Language consists of the words used by a community and the rules for varying and combining them.
Question 2
In the context of the milestones in motor skills development in infants, which of the following is true of the first year?
- A smaller size at birth is the aspect of pregnancy and delivery with the strongest link to reaching motor milestones earlier.
- Some infants do not follow the standard sequence of motor accomplishments.
- Breast feeding has no link to reaching the milestones earlier.
- In the first year of life, infants are motorically skilled and mobile.
Correct Answer:
Some infants do not follow the standard sequence of motor accomplishments.
Glossary:
Bayley Scales of Infant Development: Scales developed by Nancy Bayley that are widely used to assess infant development. The current version has three components: a mental scale, a motor scale, and an infant behavior profile.
Question 3
John believes that his six-month-old baby, Ali, was born with the ability to perceive the world in an organized way. In the field of perceptual development, John would be described as a(n)
- nativist.
- empiricist.
- naturalist.
- perceptionist.
Correct Answer:
nativist.
Glossary:
Nature-Nurture Issue: Debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture. Nature refers to an organism’s biological inheritance, nurture to its environmental experiences.
Question 4
________ refers to the process of encasing axons with fat cells.
- Myelination
- Lateralization
- Habituation
- Transmission
Correct Answer:
Myelination
Glossary:
Myelination: The process by which the nerve cells are covered and insulated with a layer of fat cells, which increases the speed at which information travels through the nervous system.
Question 5
Which of the following is most likely to allow information to pass from neuron to neuron?
- the chemical interactions in synapses that connect axons and dendrites
- the formation of a layer of fat cells that encases many axons
- the release of neurotransmitters into the cell body of a neuron by terminal buttons
- the ferrying of information across neurotransmitters by a synapse
Correct Answer:
the chemical interactions in synapses that connect axons and dendrites
Glossary:
Neurons: Nerve cells that handle information processing at the cellular level in the brain.
Question 6
________ are tiny gaps, or junctions, between neurons' fibers.
- Dendrites
- Myelin sheaths
- Neurotransmitters
- Synapses
Correct Answer:
Synapses
Glossary:
Neurons: Nerve cells that handle information processing at the cellular level in the brain.
Question 7
Which of the following is true of synaptic overproduction with respect to synaptic connections between neurons?
- Both heredity and environment are thought to influence the timing and course of synaptic overproduction.
- The peak of synaptic overproduction in the visual cortex occurs at about 1 year of age.
- The peak of synaptic overproduction in the prefrontal cortex takes place at about the fourth postnatal month.
- Synaptic overproduction does not occur in areas of the brain involved in hearing and language.
Correct Answer:
Both heredity and environment are thought to influence the timing and course of synaptic overproduction.
Glossary:
Neurons: Nerve cells that handle information processing at the cellular level in the brain.
Question 8
A message in the brain is "ferried" across the synapse by a ________, which pours out information contained in chemicals when it crosses the synapse.
- myelin sheath
- dendrite
- neurotransmitter
- terminal button
Correct Answer:
neurotransmitter
Question 9
Which of the following statements is true of how neurons change in the first years of life?
- Synaptic connections begin to develop only after birth.
- Myelination begins prenatally and stops at birth.
- The synaptic connections that are used become strengthened and survive, while the unused ones are replaced by other pathways or disappear.
- The human brain actually needs more than twice the neural connections made in the first years of life.
Correct Answer:
The synaptic connections that are used become strengthened and survive, while the unused ones are replaced by other pathways or disappear.
Question 10
The peak of synaptic overproduction in the ________ occurs at about the fourth postnatal month.
- spinal cord
- prefrontal cortex
- visual cortex
- parietal lobe
Correct Answer:
visual cortex
Question 11
Which of the following is true of the prefrontal cortex of the brain?
- It is the portion of the brain farthest from the spinal cord.
- It covers the forebrain like a wrinkled cap.
- It is the area of the brain where higher-level thinking and self-regulation occur.
- It is the area of the brain that functions in vision.
Correct Answer:
It is the area of the brain where higher-level thinking and self-regulation occur.
Question 12
In the context of the brain's development, which of the following statements is true of lateralization?
- It refers to the specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other.
- It refers to the process of encasing axons of neurons in the brain with fat cells.
- It refers to the categorization of the areas of the brain based on ridges and valleys in the cortex.
- It refers to the expansion of dendritic connections that facilitates the spreading of neural pathways in infant development.
Correct Answer:
It refers to the specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other.
Glossary:
Lateralization: Specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other.
Question 13
In the context of neurons, which of the following statements is true of the myelin sheath?
- It is a layer of fat cells that insulates axons and helps electrical signals travel faster down the axon.
- It is a fiber that carries signals away from the cell body of a neuron.
- It is a fiber that carries signals toward the cell body of a neuron.
- It releases chemicals called neurotransmitters into synapses, which are tiny gaps between neurons' fibers.
Correct Answer:
It is a layer of fat cells that insulates axons and helps electrical signals travel faster down the axon.
Question 14
In the context of the fibers that extend from a neuron's cell body, the fiber that carries signals toward the neuron's cell body is called a(n)
- axon.
- dendrite.
- neurotransmitter.
- synapse.
Correct Answer:
dendrite.
Question 15
In the context of the fibers that extend from a neuron's cell body, the fiber that carries signals away from the neuron's cell body is called a(n)
- axon.
- dendrite.
- neurotransmitter.
- synapse.
Correct Answer:
axon.
Question 16
Which of the following is involved in providing energy to neurons and aids communication?
- perception
- lateralization
- myelination
- habituation
Correct Answer:
myelination
Glossary:
Myelination: The process by which the nerve cells are covered and insulated with a layer of fat cells, which increases the speed at which information travels through the nervous system.
Question 17
When babies engage in physical activity or use language, some synaptic connections will be strengthened, while the unused ones will be replaced by other pathways or disappear. A neuroscientist would identify this process as
- pruning.
- myelination.
- paring.
- lateralization.
Correct Answer:
pruning.
Glossary:
Coparenting: Support parents provide for each other in jointly raising their children.
Question 18
Which of the following is true of breast feeding with regard to overweight infants?
- If complementary foods are introduced after breast feeding, the risk of obesity increases by approximately 20 percent in breast-fed infants.
- Breast-fed infants are more likely to become overweight or obese in adulthood.
- Compared with bottle-fed infants, breast-fed infants have more gastrointestinal infections that can lead to obesity.
- Breast-fed infants have lower rates of weight gain than bottle-fed infants in childhood and adolescence.
Correct Answer:
Breast-fed infants have lower rates of weight gain than bottle-fed infants in childhood and adolescence.
Glossary:
Low Birth Weight Infants: An infant that weighs less than 5 pounds 8 ounces at birth.