PSYC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Moro Reflex, Neural Darwinism, Primitive Reflexes

• School: UConn
• Department: Psychological Sciences
• Course: PSYC 1100
• Professor: Alexandra Paxton

Document Summary

Rooting reflex (response to anything that touches baby"s cheek) Grasping reflex (response to anything that touches baby"s palms) Moro reflex (desire to latch onto something when falling down) Stepping reflex (attempting to walk when soles of baby"s feet touch a flat surface) Senses are poorly developed but sufficient enough to recognize important stimuli. Ex: baby being able to recognize mother and discriminate strangers from their own mother. Growth accelerates rapidly and then slows down (not steady) Weight, height and head circumference plateaus around adolescence. Start at birth with an enormous amount of neurons about 100 billion (10^11) neurons. No more cell division or cell migration after birth. Cells grow and develop synapses connecting them. Brain size increases by 4 times its original size. Brain is at 90% of final size at age 6. Pruning: about 50% of connections are eliminated. Motor skills require both coordination and strength.