Deck 4: The Emergence of Action

Question 1

All of the following are consistent with the maturational account EXCEPT:

A) experience has little effect on when motor skills emerge
B) training in particular motor tasks can teach motor skills
C) certain motor skills seem to generally emerge at the same time
D) motor development is contingent on the brain's development

Answer 1

training in particular motor tasks can teach motor skills

Question 2

The notion that perception, context, and an action-oriented goal drive motor development comes from:

A) mirror neurons
B) visual flow fields
C) maturational account theory
D) dynamic systems theory

Answer 2

dynamic systems theory

Question 3

Generally, motor deprivation leads to:

A) no consequences whatsoever
B) few consequences even if severe
C) few consequences unless severe
D) many consequences even if not severe

Answer 3

few consequences unless severe

Question 4

Automatic responses to particular forms of stimulation are:

A) motor skills
B) affordances
C) reflexes
D) imprints

Question 5

As described by Moro and others, when a baby experiences a lack of support, she will:

A) look in the direction of the loss of support
B) close her palms tightly around any nearby objects
C) kick her legs outward and then retract them to normal
D) flare her arms out and then close back around her center

Question 6

Thelen's important contribution to our understanding of motor development was that an infant's reflexes:

A) don't necessarily disappear, because they're affected by the weight of their limbs
B) don't necessarily disappear, because they're not affected by the weight of their limbs
C) do disappear, and then reappear as more integrated movement later
D) do disappear, and do not return in a comparable form

Question 7

Newborns make frequent, failed attempts to grasp objects.These attempts are called:

A) ulnar reflexes
B) palmar reflexes
C) grasp reflexes
D) prereaching

Question 8

An impressive amount of perceptual-motor development occurs within the first year of life.Infants can learn that objects may be out of their immediate reach when they are only ________ months old.

A) 10
B) 8
C) 6
D) 4

Question 9

When held, baby Jamal moves his head toward the side of his face that is stroked.Jamal is exhibiting the:

A) Moro reflex
B) stepping reflex
C) patellar reflex
D) rooting reflex

Question 10

Physicians routinely examine reflexes in infants because they can:

A) be used to estimate the infant's future athletic abilities
B) be used to estimate the infant's future adult motor skills
C) reliably inform physicians about attachment problems
D) reliably inform physicians about nervous system problems

Question 11

Work by von Hofsten has suggested eye-hand/eye-limb development may occur much earlier than expected.For example, he found infants as young as ________ could track and anticipate the movement of objects with their hands.

A) 1 month
B) 2-3 months
C) 4-5 months
D) 8-9 months

Question 12

Researchers were surprised to find that obesity directly and negatively impacts infants':

A) motor development
B) body mass index
C) reflexes
D) sleep patterns

Question 13

Which reflex is shown when a baby is placed in a tank of water, given support by the researcher, and then "walks" under water?

A) Moro reflex
B) patellar reflex
C) stepping reflex
D) walking reflex

Question 14

Compared to many other species, human newborns are born:

A) more physically developed but more helpless
B) less physically developed but less helpless
C) more physically developed and less helpless
D) less physically developed and more helpless

Question 15

Your young daughter seems to be 1 month late in reaching the milestone of walking independently.Friends ask you if you're worried that her motor development overall is stifled.With what you know about infant motor development, you would respond that there is a:

A) range for age-appropriate motor skills, and one skill is not necessarily linked to others
B) range for age-appropriate motor skills, but that all the skills are linked to others
C) cutoff for age-appropriate motor skills, and you're very concerned she's passed it
D) cutoff for age-appropriate motor skills, but you're not very concerned she's passed it

Question 16

If a father places his index finger in the palm of his son's hand, the newborn will:

A) attempt to move his hand away
B) grasp the finger tightly
C) flare his fingers outward
D) turn his head in that direction

Question 17

Body proportions change a great deal from the fetal period to adulthood, leading to a wide range of changing action possibilities.For example, the human head of a newborn is approximately ________ as big as an adult's relative to their bodies.

A) twice
B) three times
C) four times
D) five times

Question 18

The study of Hopi Indians in the 1940s added to the maturational account because the infants strapped to a cradleboard:

A) could not walk until well into their second year of life
B) could walk, but it took many months longer
C) could walk, and had almost no delays
D) could not walk, and had significant delays

Question 19

Your cousin's daughter is able to stand on her own at 10 months of age.This would generally be considered:

A) late for her age
B) early for her age
C) within the range of expected development
D) so late as to be a risk factor for other problems

Question 20

The patellar reflex is when tapping the:

A) kneecap causes the lower leg to kick
B) face causes the head to turn
C) side causes the baby to grasp to the sides
D) palm causes the hand to close

Question 21

Imitation can be seen in infants as young as:

A) 2-3 weeks
B) 2-3 months
C) 4-6 weeks
D) 4-6 months

Question 22

Visual flow fields are:

A) similar visual patterns of information we come to expect when moving at different speeds
B) different visual patterns of information we come to expect when moving at different speeds
C) similar motoric patterns we come to expect when moving at different speeds
D) different motoric patterns we come to expect when moving at different speeds

Question 23

Take the stance of an empiricist.How would you say eye-limb coordination emerges? An infant:

A) begins with some underlying skills and refines these skills with experience
B) begins with no skills and learns eye-limb coordination from experience
C) begins with a bias toward learning eye-limb coordination
D) begins with no skills, and they emerge later arising from cortical development

Question 24

If you place a toddler in a moving room (a room that seems to move toward them even though the toddler stands still) he will be knocked over because:

A) his balance is disrupted from the visual flow
B) he becomes confused and the room bumps him
C) his visual flow is disrupted and the room bumps him
D) he attempts to walk toward the wall

Question 25

By approximately 12 months, an infant's perceptual-motor development has advanced such that she can do all of the following EXCEPT:

A) coordinate her reaching to touch an object she sees
B) move her arms toward an object
C) reach behind herself when she spots an object behind her
D) quickly stand and walk over to an object located across the room

Question 26

Infants can demonstrate a genetic influence for handedness by ________ months.

A) 6
B) 12
C) 18
D) 24

Question 27

Perceptual-motor development in infants can be considered impressive because:

A) infants' least developed sense at birth is vision, and so they can't see well
B) infants rely on adults to meet their needs and must transition to their own efforts
C) infants' bodies and potential for movement are constantly changing
D) infants have a great deal of practice with motor movement with adult help

Question 28

Based on the Power Toddlers program example in the text and your understanding of perceptual-motor development, you know that programs that promise large changes in physical ability and prowess in 1-3-year-olds:

A) may actually increase a child's physical abilities
B) may actually decrease a child's physical abilities
C) likely offer large, transient gains at best
D) likely offer modest, transient gains at best

Question 29

When your friend tosses you a cold bottle of water, you catch it.This is a demonstration of:

A) affordances
B) perceptual-motor development
C) visual flow fields
D) reflexes

Question 30

Infants develop an impressive level of perceptual-motor skill early.For example, they are able to reach for an object they can hear but cannot see by ________ months of age.

A) 3
B) 6
C) 9
D) 12

Question 31

Possibilities for action based on the properties of objects or surfaces are:

A) reflexes
B) perceptual-motor skills
C) visual flow fields
D) affordances

Question 32

For optimal perceptual-motor development to occur, Held and Hein found that a kitten's experiences with perception and action should be:

A) active
B) passive
C) stimulated by vertical lines
D) passive, then active

Question 33

With practice, you know that by ________ months you can play a fun game with infants where they track and reach for their favorite toys.

A) 20
B) 16
C) 12
D) 8

Question 34

Infants are generally able to roll over and sit up on their own in the first ________ months.

A) 3-7
B) 5-9
C) 7-11
D) 9-13

Question 35

The important research demonstrating that imitation could occur in newborns was initially conducted by:

A) Piaget
B) Held & Hein
C) Meltzoff & Moore
D) Pardo & Fowler

Question 36

After you've been running on a treadmill for 30 minutes, you complete your workout and get off of it.Suddenly, you feel like you're walking forward quickly.This effect, in part, is caused by having disrupted your:

A) mirror neurons
B) passive input
C) visual flow fields
D) affordances

Question 37

When you provide an infant with an enriched environment that includes things like a floor with varying textures and inclines, you are providing:

A) conditioned stimuli
B) visual flow
C) imprints
D) affordances

Question 38

Developmental improvements in reaching are linked to two changes in neural circuits for:

A) classical conditioning and changes in the available stimuli to associate
B) action and changes in the brain associated with operant conditioning
C) action and changes in the brain from learning new actions
D) perception and changes in the brain from learning new perceptual experiences

Question 39

Motor development begins:

A) perinatally
B) prenatally
C) after birth
D) after 3 months

Question 40

Perceptual-motor skills are best refined by:

A) performing a skill, perceiving the result, and adapting your efforts
B) performing a skill, and then adapting your efforts
C) observing a skill being performed, perceiving the result, and then performing it yourself
D) observing a skill being performed, and then performing it yourself

Question 41

If you are watching a student beside you take notes in class, it is possible that:

A) your mirror neurons are firing for note-taking as well
B) your mirror neurons would be inhibited from firing
C) you are being classically conditioned to avoid note-taking
D) you are being operantly conditioned to avoid note-taking

Question 42

Since we respond to some stimuli more strongly than to others, essentially forming an association more easily, it is largely believed that we are:

A) conditioned to form certain associations
B) blocked to form certain associations
C) prepared to form certain associations
D) imprinted to form certain associations

Question 43

When a rat learns to fear a light and then subsequently hears a noise with the light, you know from blocking that the rat will:

A) fear the noise
B) fear the light
C) fear either the noise or the light
D) become confused

Question 44

If you were to apply an animal learning model of imprinting to infant facial recognition, based on the research you would choose a(n):

A) two-system model based on recognizing followed by orienting
B) two-system model based on orienting followed by recognizing
C) operant conditioning paradigm where infants are reinforced
D) classical conditioning paradigm where infants are conditioned

Question 45

A Skinner box is primarily used to train animals in all of the following EXCEPT:

A) imprinting
B) shaping
C) instrumental conditioning
D) operant conditioning

Question 46

In order to study mirror neurons, researchers implanted electrodes into monkeys':

A) pons
B) medulla
C) occipital lobe
D) premotor cortex

Question 47

In classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus evokes the:

A) neutral stimulus
B) unconditioned response
C) conditioned stimulus
D) conditioned response

Question 48

When learning one response interferes with learning a second association to a stimulus, behaviorally, ________ has occurred.

A) imprinting
B) blocking
C) motor deprivation
D) prereaching

Question 49

The study of songbirds has been important to imitation researchers because it has shown that birds' songs are products of:

A) genetics
B) nature and nurture
C) nature
D) nurture

Question 50

You want to teach your dog to sit.You do this by giving him a treat every time he gets closer and closer to sitting still when you say, "Sit." You are using:

A) blocking
B) classical conditioning
C) punishment
D) shaping

Question 51

Classical conditioning begins with adding in a(n):

A) neutral stimulus
B) unconditioned stimulus
C) conditioned stimulus
D) unconditioned response

Question 52

Our understanding of mirror neurons in humans is limited compared to our understanding from primates.This is because researchers:

A) cannot get infants to replicate the same actions that they use with primates
B) cannot ethically conduct the same type of electrode research in humans
C) have found that when they place electrodes in infants' brains the structures are different
D) have found the infant brain develops too fast to assess the same way as primates

Question 53

Mirror neurons are activated:

A) when performing an action while watching yourself do that action
B) when performing an action and when observing others do that action
C) when performing an action only
D) when observing an action only

Question 54

Your strong aversion to the sound of an alarm clock similar to your own is likely the result of:

A) imprinting
B) reflex
C) operant conditioning
D) classical conditioning

Question 55

You want to have some fun playing with your friend's 3-week-old baby.You know that if you stick your tongue out at him several times, with clear pauses between each time, he will likely:

A) imitate you and stick his tongue out
B) imitate you and frown
C) watch intently
D) become overstimulated

Question 56

Imprinting is important because it offers evidence that:

A) animals have to learn what to bond with
B) animals are born "blank slates"
C) nativists may be correct
D) empiricists may be correct

Question 57

Key influences on a duckling imprinting on something include all of the following EXCEPT:

A) size
B) shape
C) species
D) movement

Question 58

The aim of Watson's famous study was to show that one way we can come to have fears is to be:

A) reinforced through a traumatic experience with an animal
B) shaped through a traumatic experience with an animal
C) classically conditioned through a traumatic experience with an animal
D) operantly conditioned through a traumatic experience with an animal

Question 59

A lesion in the intermediate medial hyperstriatum ventrale (IMHV) in a bird will:

A) erase its memory for its song
B) increase its ability to remember songs
C) erase whatever imprinting has occurred
D) increase the intensity of imprinting behaviors

Question 60

Mirror neurons are interesting because research with monkeys has shown they fire when the:

A) monkey grasps the block or sees another monkey grasp the block
B) monkey sees the block lying in front of it or sees a picture of it
C) experimenter mimics the physical motion of grasping empty space
D) experimenter enters the room to begin another experimental session

Question 61

Briefly describe the study involving kittens by Held and Hein.What were the outcomes of this study and why is it important?

Question 62

What are reflexes and why are they important to assess in infants? Be sure to include several examples of reflexes you have learned about.

Question 63

Describe operant conditioning and shaping.How would you use this technique to train a dog to sit?

Question 64

What are mirror neurons, how are they important for human development, and how unique are they?

Question 65

You've been running on a treadmill for about a half hour.Finishing your workout, you hop off the treadmill and find that the world around you seems to be moving very differently than you're used to.Describe what has happened to your perceptual-motor abilities and how.

Question 66

Describe imprinting and how you would get newly hatched ducklings to imprint on you.

Question 67

Briefly describe the development of perceptual-motor skills over time.Be sure to include the findings by Thelen.

Question 68

Describe the famous "Little Albert" study, why it was done, and what it showed.

Question 69

Choose the stance of a dynamic systems researcher.Describe your account and why you feel it is the better choice.

Question 70

What are perceptual-motor skills, and why might they be considered "impressive" given the change in developing infants?

Question 71

Describe the process of classical conditioning using the correct terminology.

Question 72

How might attention be both a punisher and a reinforcer of behavior?

Question 73

Why do researchers interested in imitation study birdsongs? What have these researchers learned from their studies?

Question 74

Choose the stance of a maturational researcher.Describe your account and why you feel it is the better choice.

Question 75

Briefly describe how research with the Hopi Native Americans was important to the study of development.