PSY100H1 Chapter 11: PSY100 Chapter 11.docx
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PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
During prenatal period, the body develops in a fixed sequence: roll over, to sit up, to crawl, to stand, to walk, and to talk (in that order) Hormones that circulate the womb influence the developing fetus. If the mother"s thyroid does not produce sufficient amounts of hormones, the fetus is at risk for lower iq and diminished intellectual development. Exposure to a tertogen at about four weeks of age can interfere with the proper development of basic brain structures. Newborns normally come into the world able to see, smell, hear, taste, and respond: two-hour-old infants prefer sweet tastes to all other tastes. The brain adopts a very strict use it or lose it policy, the frequently used connections are preserved; the unused ones decay and disappear. This process, synaptic pruning occurs in different areas of the brain at different times. If these skills and these kinds of knowledge were not acquired during their critical periods, they could not be acquired.
