PSYCH211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Synaptic Pruning, Neuroplasticity, Frontal Lobe
Document Summary
Changes in height and weight: rapid but uneven growth in first 2 years. Birth weight doubles by 6 months and triples by a year: growth slows until spurt in puberty. Changes in body proportions: cephalocaudal trend, proximodistal trend. Brain growth spurt: prenatal month 7 to age 2, brain weight increases dramatically. Neurons are basic units of the brain: most are formed by the end of the second trimester, glia develop and produce myelin. Synaptogenesis (connections) proceeds rapidly: brain plasticity - the brain is shaped by experience. Myelinization occurs at different rates: process of coating neurons with myelin sheath. Sensory pathways to brain myelinated at birth: proceeds rapidly over first years of life. Frontal cortex not fully myelinated until adolescence or early adulthood. Viewpoints on sequencing of motor development: maturational viewpoint. Unfolding of a genetically programmed series of events. New skills are active reorganizations of existing skills. Reorganization occurs as new, more effective ways of exploring are sought.
