HDF 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Abusive Head Trauma, Moro Reflex, Motor Skill
20 Oct 2016
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Hdf 200 - lecture 7 - infancy: physical development. From the head to the rest of the body. From the center of the body outward (p. 93) Develop from simple to more complex tasks. Ex. learn to move fingers learn to grasp objects. Different body parts grow at different rates. Infants are born with a superfluous amount of neurons. As neurons develop, they also reposition themselves based on their function. Ex. neurons responsible for thinking and reasoning move to the cerebral cortex. Synapse - gap between neurons that allows the cells to communicate with each other. Synaptic pruning - process of eliminating unnecessary neurons. Neural plasticity - openness to change in brain activity. Change in brain activity is vulnerable during infancy. Shaken baby syndrome causes damage on a neurological level. Transient exuberance - increase in the amount of neurons, dendrites, and synapses produced during infancy. Neurotransmitters - chemicals that influence the growth of the nerves and the release of neurons.
