PSYC 100 Chapter 10.1, 10.3-10.4: PSYC 100 Developmental Psychology I_ Physical and Lifespan Development

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Describe the stages of human development in the prenatal period. Prenatal development: germinal period: first two weeks after conception. The cell is made from the sperm and ova, which are gametes. Gametes are haploid cells containing only half of the genetic material required for life. Merging of the sperm and ova form a zygote which is a diploid as it contains all genetic information for development. The zygote during this period will divide to create identical copies through cleavage after which the mass (of blastomeres) is known as a morula. Conception occurs in the fallopian tube, where zygote slowly moves through to reach the uterus. Once the morula enters, the uterus filled with fluid. Here cell specialization occurs forming two layers: the inner cell mass and trophoblast. i) ii) Inner cell mass: cells that become the embryo and eventually the fetus. Trophoblast: protective layer around the inner cell mass.