PSYC 2450 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Synaptic Pruning, Prefrontal Cortex, Ossification

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2450
• Professor: Karl Hennig

Document Summary

Psyc 2450 physical development: explain what is meant by the cephalocaudal trend in physical development and provide an example that illustrates this trend. The cephalocaudal trend is the pattern of physical development beginning slowly at the head and moving quickly toward the tail. An example that illustrates this trend is the changes in body proportion relative to the head. The proximodistal trend is the pattern of physical development beginning slowly with the internal organs and eventually working quickly outwards toward the extremities. An example that illustrates this trend is the awkwardness of teens using their arms and legs. Skeletal ossification is the process whereby soft spots of the skeleton and skull fill with minerals and harden. This skeletal development, however, varies at birth and at age 12 between boys and girls. As a general trend, girls mature faster than boys and thus have an older skeletal age.