HDE 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Myelin, Synaptic Pruning, Defrosting
Document Summary
Infants grow at a faster rate during their 1st year than at any other time. Weight doubles in first 5 months & triples by end of 1st year. Height is more uneven in growth than weight. At birth, brain is one - quarter the size of adult"s brain. By age 2 it will reach 70% Myelination - axons become encased in a myelin sheath. Plasticity imporjtant for the infant"s brain development. Biolgoical universals led to maturational theories that idd not consider the role of the environment in human development. Learning to sit, creep, crawl, stand, & walk, etc. Goes through rapid initial spurt in infancy, then slow - down in childhood, Cross - cultural differences in physical development. Although the sequence of motor development is relatively fixed, different skills are not acquired at the same pace. Motor development of african & african - american infants is faster than motor development of western infants.
