Deck 2: Biological Bases of Cognitive Development

Question 1

Which of the following is not an example of a chronotopic constraint?

A) Certain areas of the brain might develop before others.
B) Some areas of the brain might be most receptive to certain types of experiences.
C) All areas of the brain develop at the same time at the same rate.
D) Early developing areas would have different processing areas.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to the text, the major principle of Darwin's theory is reproductive fitness, which refers to

A) the unlikelihood that an individual will become a parent and grandparent.
B) the likelihood that same-sex siblings will never be reproduced.
C) the likelihood that an individual will become a parent and grandparent.
D) the chance that mates will eventually find themselves a fit for each other.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What are the three general types of constraints specified by Elman and his colleagues (1996) which helps articulate the ways that cognitive developmentalists consider biology to constrain psychological development?

A) parental, peer-influenced, and social
B) militaristic, socialistic, and democratic
C) architectural, reality-based, and chronotopic
D) architectural, chronotopic, and representational

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to Gottlieb (1991a) what is not a component of epigenesis?

A) reflects a bidirectional relationship between all levels of biological and experiential variables
B) genetic activity both influences and is influenced by structural maturation
C) reflects a circular relationship among maturational processes
D) bidirectionally related to function and activity

Question 5

According to Cosmoses and Toolby (1987), solving real-world problems such as, "How do I tell friend from foe?" and "When do I fight, and when do I flee?" are examples of what phenomenon?

A) natural selection operating in the intimate level
B) natural selection operating in the cognitive level
C) goodness of fit
D) survival of the fittest

Question 6

Which of the following is not an example of an architectural constraint?

A) Some neurons are excitatory and others are inhibitory.
B) At a higher level neurons in a particular area of the brain.
C) At birth all neurons appear to be inhibitory.
D) At a higher level, different areas of the brain are connected with other areas of the brain, affecting the global organization of the brain.

Question 7

Which one of the following is not a biologically primary ability according to Geary (1995)?

A) Children are intrinsically motivated to exercise biologically primary abilities and do so spontaneously.
B) Most children attain "expert" level of proficiency.
C) Are acquired by children in all environments.
D) Are acquired universally.

Question 8

Which of the following is not a biologically secondary ability according to Geary (1995)?

A) Are culturally dependent, reflecting the cognitive skills that are important in a particular culture.
B) Do not have an evolutionary history but are built on biologically primary abilities.
C) Children are not intrinsically motivated to exercise them and must often be pressured by adults to acquire these skills.
D) Tedious practice is not necessary to master biologically secondary abilities.

Question 9

Chronotopic constraints refer to

A) varied life events timing.
B) limitations on the development timing of events.
C) limitations on mature developmental abilities.
D) limitations discovered since the beginning of humankind.

Question 10

Which of the following is not a concept of the evolved probabilistic mechanism?

A) They are expressed in a probabilistic fashion in each individual in a generation.
B) They are based on the continuous and bidirectional interaction over time.
C) They are universal.
D) They have evolved to ensure the survival of the species.

Question 11

Which of the following is not an example of the genotype → environment effect according to Scar and McCartney's model?

A) Biological parents provide both gene and environment for child; passive effects decrease with age.
B) Temperamental characteristics of child evoke responses from others; evocative effects remain constant with age.
C) Children seek out environments consistent with their genotypes; active effects increase with age.
D) Children seek out environments consistent with their phenotypes; passive effects increase with age.

Question 12

In the developmental systems approach,

A) the timing of a particular event will not impact development.
B) the timing of a particular event can influence substantially what effect that event will have on development.
C) only comedians fully understand timing.
D) development will not impact timing.

Question 13

What did the findings of Fraga and colleagues (2015) reveal?

A) As genetically identical individuals develop, their individual experiences can affect them at the cellular level.
B) When genetically dissimilar individuals develop, nothing can affect this experience.
C) Genetically identical individuals and genetically dissimilar individuals will eventually develop the same.
D) A circular relationship of cellular development can occur throughout development.

Question 14

Representational constraints refer to:

A) a limited pictorial representation of the brain.
B) a limited graphical representation of the brain.
C) a full brain atlas representative of the child's brain.
D) representations that are hardwired into the brain so that some types of "knowledge" are innate.

Question 15

What is the correct order of the three stages of neuronal development?

A) proliferation, migration, differentiation
B) migration, proliferation, differentiation
C) differentiation, migration, proliferation
D) proliferations, differentiation, migration

Question 16

Processing that involves staying on task, resisting interference, and planning is known as

A) executive function.
B) innate function.
C) psychological well-being.
D) comprehension functionality.

Question 17

The proposal that humans beginning in infancy have substantial learning capabilities and a strong capacity for probabilistic reasoning that interact with "expected" environments to produce specie-typical patterns of cognitive development is known as:

A) neuroconstructivism.
B) neuroscience.
C) cognitive neuroscience.
D) neurolearning.

Question 18

According to Bjorklund, et.al. (2007), the concept of evolved probabilistic cognitive mechanisms are

A) information-processing mechanisms that have evolved to solve recurrent problems faced by ancestral populations.
B) data-enhanced mechanisms that have evolved to ensure a working brain.
C) data-driven-reinforced mechanisms evolving only in certain species.
D) another approach to understanding Piagetian concepts and theories.

Question 19

Architectural constraints refer to

A) ways in which the architecture of the brain is organized at birth.
B) the development of the mental ability after birth.
C) the planting of seeds of knowledge to mature the brain.
D) the ability of the organized brain to overcome deficits.

Question 20

All self-respecting developmentalists believe that development is

A) a basic process of two components: brain ad body.
B) the result of an interaction between genetic/biological factors and environmental/experiential factors.
C) the result of a slow process ending in death.
D) a combination consisting only of biology and maturation.

Question 21

The process of synapse formation, or synaptogenesis, is slow and gradual during the early years of life when the brain is first becoming organized.

Question 22

Explain the concept of Epigenesis?

Question 23

Children tend to recover from the effects of concussions faster than adolescents and adults do.

Question 24

The neocortex, or cerebral cortex, is a multilayered sheet of neurons, only 8-10 millimeters thick that surrounds the rest of the brain.

Question 25

In what ways are evolutionary theory the backbone of modern biology and psychology?

Question 26

Discuss Scarr and McCartney's (1983) genotype → environment theory with respect to cognitive development.

Question 27

The first stage of neuronal development is referred to as proliferation which is the production of new neurons through the process of cell division by mitosis.

Question 28

Briefly describe the sensitive period as the concept most central to the issue of the timing of development.

Question 29

Language is a good example of a biologically primary ability, whereas reading is a good example of a biologically secondary ability.

Question 30

Partly because of the extent of myelination and partly because of a paucity of experience, young children process information more slowly than older children do.

Question 31

Most developmental neuroscientists believe that brain development involves an extended process that is greatly influenced by postnatal experience.

Question 32

Contemporary research indicates that new synaptic connections can be formed throughout life.

Question 33

According to the textbook, when the course of a young child's or you animal's life changes drastically, patterns of development as we know it will cease or be seriously hampered negatively.

Question 34

Discuss the concept of evolved probabilistic cognitive mechanisms and provide examples.

Question 35

Synaptic pruning is the concept whereby the number of synapses per neuron is greatest between 4 and 8 months of life and decreases with age.