PSYCH211 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Psychological Science, Konrad Lorenz, Visual Acuity
14 Feb 2017
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Thomas, m. s. , & johnson, m. h. (2008). New advances in understanding sensitive periods in brain development. Recent studies on cats, dogs, and monkeys, as well as investigations of bird song and human language development, have all confirmed that critical periods are major phenomena in brain and behavioral development, confirming konrad lorenz"s theory. Currently, the term sensitive periods is being used widely these widespread developmental phenomena. The timing of sensitive periods: recent research indicates that there are multiple sensitive periods in the sensory systems that have been studied. Example: there are different sensitive periods for different facets of speech processing. A major feature of sensitive periods is that plasticity appears to be significantly reduced at the end of the period due to: 1. Endogenous (internally caused) changes in the neurochemistry of the brain could increase the rate of synaptic pruning, terminating plasticity. Example: glutamatergic and gaba receptors in the human visual cortex.
