DEP-3103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Memory Span, Critical Period, Universal Grammar
Document Summary
Continuous change is quantitative (increase / decrease in ability over time) e. g. , memory span, attention span. Discontinuous change is qualitative (different abilities occur at different stages in development) e. g. , egocentrism / theory of mind (volcano angles experiment) Maturation the process of the predetermined unfolding of genetic information e. g. , genes for high aggression, low self-regulation, low agreeableness (do circumstances mold people into bullies?) Genes influence environment (high aggressive gene causes parents to act differently than they do with siblings) Epigenetics the study of how environmental factors can change how genes are read and expressed. E. g. , poor care in infancy can cause stress gene (produce less levels of cortisol = being less responsive to stressful situations) *these epigenetic changes may be inherited (if changes occur to sex cells) Critical period if certain events do / do not transpire during period, then phenomena will never take place. Sensitive period period of maximum sensitivity (plasticity)
