Development,

Neuroscience, & Behavior

Developmental
Psychology
--the study of the Khalil @ 3 months

patterns of growth and

change that occur throughout
life.

Shaun @ 5 months
 Nature and Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

 Developmental psychology seeks to answer two big questions about

heredity and environment:
• How much weight does each wield?
• How do they interact?
 How can we distinguish between the environmental causes of behavior (the
influence of parents, siblings, family, friends, schooling, nutrition, and all the other
experiences to which a child is exposed) and hereditary causes (those based on an
individual’s genetic makeup that influence growth and development throughout life)?
 Nature and Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue
Identical twins (those who are genetically identical)
•Twin studies
-- Identical twins have the same genotype, and
fraternal twins have an average of 50% of their
genes in common.
•Adoption studies
-- Similarities with the biological family support
nature, while similarities with the adoptive family
support nurture.
** Researchers not only study people with similar genetic backgrounds who are raised in
different environments, they also consider people raised in similar environments who
have totally dissimilar genetic backgrounds.
 Twins Separated At Birth Reunited To Find They’d Led The Same Life
 Lets take a look at the story of the separated twin brothers named Jim.
 Are their similarities hereditary or luck?

Identical twins, Jim Lewis and

Jim Springer, were separated
four weeks after their birth and
adopted by different families.
When they finally met 39 years
later in 1979, they were
astonished by how surprisingly Lewis and Springer lived only 45 miles apart in Ohio. They
similar their lives had been. both married twice to women with the same names, named
both their dogs “Toy,” and even gave their sons the same
name.

https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2018/04/jim-twins.html
 Jim Lewis & Jim Springer
Apart from having the same first name, both the twins have
unbelievable similarities in their lives. They were six feet tall and
weighed exactly 180 pounds. They both had a light blue Chevrolet
which they drove to Pas Grille Beach in Florida for a family vacation. They held
a part-time sheriff post, were habitual fingernail biters, smoked
Salem cigarettes, and had migraines. Both their first wives were
named “Linda” and their second wives “Betty.” They also enjoyed leaving
notes throughout the house for their wives. One of them named his son “James Allan”
and the other named his son “James Alan.”

According to the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, there were also several differences.
While one wore his hair combed straight, hanging down over his forehead like the Beatles, the
other swept it back and had sideburns. One expressed himself much better through speech
while the other found it easier to do in writing. Though both of them married twice, one of
them married a third time to a woman named Sandy.
Nature and Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

 Behavioral geneticists - study the effects of heredity on

behavior.
 Evolutionary psychology - identify behavior patterns that
result from our genetic inheritance
 Interactionist - a position developmental psychologist take on
the nature–nurture issue by suggesting that a combination of
hereditary and environmental factors influences development
 Problems with Twin Studies
Expectancy biases has proven to be a big
challenge for these studies.

Investigators of identical twins expect to find

some hereditary influences so they often pay more
attention to the similarities than differences.
Determining the
Relative
Influence of
Nature and
Nurture

Siblings Share Genes, But Rarely Personalities

 Identical Twins
 Identical twins do show remarkable similarities, but only in characteristics you
would expect: intelligence, temperament, gestures, posture and pace of speech.
 The Role of
Environment

- increase in age = greater difference in personality

- twins often treated alike
Scott Kelly (left) spent a year in space while his identical twin Mark (right) stayed on Earth as a control subject. Researchers are looking at the effects of space travel on the
human body, as part of the NASA Twins Study. Credit: NASA (https://www.space.com/35527-nasa-astronaut-twins-study-early-results.html)
 Developmental Research Techniques

 Cross-sectional research A research method that compares people of

different ages at the same point in time.
 Longitudinal research A research method that investigates behavior as
participants get older.
 Cross-sequential A research method that combines both a longitudinal
design and a cross-sectional design. It aims to correct for some of the
problems inherent in the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
Developmental Psychologists tries to answer this question.
• How do behaviors and thoughts change over our ENTIRE lives?
• Birth (when does it begin?) to death

Longitudinal Study

•The researcher
would gather the
participants and test
them at various
intervals of their lives

• Time consuming,
can take years or
decades for results.
 Gradual vs. Abrupt Change

Think about how children become adults.

• Is there a predictable pattern they follow regarding thought

and language and social development?

• Do children go through gradual changes or are they

abrupt changes?
Continuity View

The continuity view says that change is gradual.

-- Children become more skillful in thinking,
talking or acting much the same way as they get
taller.
We know that skilled behaviors often happen in
this way as with the trial and error method of
learning to walk or eat with a spoon (observable
skills…what about mental processes?)
 Discontinuity View

The discontinuity view sees development as

more abrupt-a succession of changes that
produce different behaviors in different age-
specific life periods called stages.
This is evident in beginning readers who
suddenly discover the connection between letters
and sounds.
 Discontinuity View

• We often hear people taking about children going through “stages” in life
(i.e. “terrible twos.”)
• These are called developmental stages-periods of life initiated by distinct
transitions in physical or psychological functioning.
• Psychologists of the discontinuity view believe that people go through the
same stages, in the same order, but not necessarily at the same rate.
However, if a person misses a stage, it can have lasting consequences.
• Failure to successfully complete a stage would leave a person confused
along with possessing a tendency to act inappropriately for their age.
Prenatal Development:
Conception to Birth

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye80Sm4O7sc
 Conception to Birth

 Conception
—when a male’s sperm
cell penetrates a female’s
egg cell.
THE BASICS OF GENETICS

 Chromosomes Rod-shaped structures that contain all basic hereditary information.

Genes The parts of the

chromosomes through
which genetic information
is transmitted.

Every individual’s characteristics are determined by the individual’s specific genetic information.
(a) At the moment of conception
(b) Humans receive 23 pairs of chromosomes, half from the mother and half from the father.
(c) These chromosomes are made up of coils of DNA.
(d) Each chromosome contains thousands of genes that “program” the future development of the body.
 THE EARLIEST DEVELOPMENT

 Zygote The new cell formed by the union of an

egg and sperm.
 Embryo A developed zygote that has a heart, a
brain, and other organs.
 Fetus A developing individual from 8 weeks
after conception until birth.
 Age of viability The point at which a fetus can
survive if born prematurely (about 22 weeks).
 THE EARLIEST
DEVELOPMENT

 Sensitive (or critical) periods, which can occur

before or after birth, are important because they indicate
the time that organisms are particularly susceptible to
damage that may affect them for the rest of their lives.
 There is a specific time when a biological event is more
‘sensitive’ to environmental stimuli (e.g. language
acquisition at age 3-7).
 Learning still takes place after the sensitive period closes
but the learning is less efficient.
 Sensitive periods start and end gradually.
 GENETIC INFLUENCES ON THE
FETUS

 Phenylketonuria (PKU) . A child born is born with an inability to

produce an enzyme that is required for normal development. This
deficiency results in an accumulation of poisons that eventually cause
profound intellectual disability.
 Sickle-cell anemia is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there
aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your
body. Normally, the flexible, round red blood cells move easily through
blood vessels. In sickle cell anemia, the red blood are shaped like
sickles or crescent moons. Children with the disease may have episodes
of pain, yellowish eyes, stunted growth, and vision problems
 GENETIC INFLUENCES ON THE
FETUS
 Tay-Sachs disease is a rare inherited disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells (neurons) in
the brain and spinal cord.
 The most common form of Tay-Sachs disease becomes apparent in infancy.
 Onset: 3 to 6 months of age
 Developmental delays:
 Child’s development is slow
 Muscles used for movement is weaken.
 Lose of motor skills such as turning over, sitting, and crawling.
 Developed an exaggerated startle reaction to loud noises.
 Experiences seizures, vision and hearing loss, intellectual disability, and paralysis.
 Cherry red spot eyes
GENETIC INFLUENCES ON THE
FETUS

 Down syndrome . Down syndrome, one of the

causes of intellectual disability, occurs when
the zygote receives an extra chromosome at
the moment of conception (trisomy 21).
 Down syndrome is often related to the
mother’s age; mothers over 35 and younger
than 18 stand a higher risk than other women
of having a child with the syndrome
PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL
INFLUENCES

 Mother ’ s nutrition . Seriously undernourished mothers cannot provide adequate nutrition to a

growing fetus, and they are likely to give birth to underweight babies. Poorly nourished babies
are also more susceptible to disease, and a lack of nourishment may have an adverse impact on
their mental development
 Mother ’ s illness . If pregnant women contract rubella (German measles), syphilis, diabetes, or
high blood pressure, each disease may produce permanent, lifelong effects on the fetus.
 Mother ’ s emotional state . Mothers who are anxious and tense during the last months of their
pregnancies are more apt to have irritable infants who sleep and eat poorly.
 PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL
INFLUENCES

 Mother ’ s use of drugs . Mothers who take illegal, physically addictive

drugs such as cocaine run the risk of giving birth to babies who are
similarly addicted. Their newborns suffer painful withdrawal symptoms
and sometimes show permanent physical and mental impairment. Even
legal drugs taken by a pregnant woman (who may not know that she
has become pregnant) can have a tragic effect.
 Alcohol . 1 out of every 750 infants is born with fetal alcohol syndrome
( FAS ), a condition resulting in below-average intelligence, growth
delays, and facial deformities.
 Nicotine use . Smoking while pregnant can lead to miscarriage and
infant death.
Infancy and Childhood
Neuroscience & Behavior
 Why Study Biology?

• Biological factors are central to our sensory experiences, states of

consciousness, motivation and emotion, development throughout the
life span, and physical and psychological health.

• Furthermore, advances in behavioral neuroscience have led to the

creation of drugs and other treatments for psychological and physical
disorders. In short, we cannot understand behavior without
understanding our biological makeup.
Neuroscience and Behavior

 Neuroscientists experts in the field of

neuroscience who made the biological
underpinnings of behavior their specialty.
 Behavioral neuroscientists (or
biopsychologists) Psychologists who
specialize in considering the ways in which
the biological structures and functions of
the body affect behavior.
Neural Communication
 Neurons
 How Neurons Communicate
 How Neurotransmitters
Influence Us

The Nervous System

 The Peripheral Nervous
System
 The Central Nervous System
 Neurons: The Basic Elements of Behavior
(the fundamental building block of the nervous system)

The Structure of the Neuron

 Neural Communication

 Synapse
 junction or space between two neurons (between the tip of the
axon of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of
the receiving neuron)
 tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft

 Neurotransmitters
 chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between
neurons
 when released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel
across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving
Neural Communication
 The Spinal Cord and Reflexes

Simple Reflex
 Nervous System

Central Peripheral
Nervous Nervous
System System
(CNS) (PNS)
Reflex . An automatic,
involuntary response to
an incoming stimulus.
 Peripheral Nervous System

Somatic Nervous
System: The division
of the peripheral
nervous system that
controls the body’s
skeletal muscles.

Autonomic Nervous
System: Part of the
PNS that controls the
glands and other
 Nerves consist of neural
“cables” containing many
axons. They are part of the
peripheral nervous system
and connect muscles,
glands, and sense organs
to the central nervous
system.
 Autonomic
Nervous System
(ANS)

Sympathetic NS
“Arouses”
(fight-or-flight)

Parasympathetic NS
“Calms”
(rest and digest)
The Central Nervous System

The Brain
That the man of God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:17 ESV
 Relay center for cortex;
It is the seat of handles incoming and
reason, planning, outgoing signals
memory, &
sensory
integration. responsible for the
most sophisticated
processing

Responsible for regulating basic

biological needs: hunger, thirst,
temperature control; regulating
emotions, autonomic functions, Visual and auditory
and hormone production data processing,
maintenance of
consciousness,
“Master” gland that generation of reflexive
regulates other somatic motor
endocrine glands responses
Involved in sleep and
arousal Responsible for regulating largely
unconscious functions such as
Controls bodily balance breathing and circulation
 Somatosensory
area Parietal
Somatosensory Lobe
Motor area association
Frontal Lobe area auditory area
Primary
Broca’s Wernicke’s area Temporal
area Lobe
Auditory
association
area
Visual area

Visual Occipital
association Lobe
area

Plastic Brain (Split Brain)

-- when people suffer brain injury, uninjured portions of the brain can
sometimes take over the functions that were previously handled by the
damaged area.
-- the brain is extraordinarily adaptable
-- neurogenesis – when new neurons are created in certain parts of the brain
 THE MOTOR AREA OF THE CORTEX

-- Is largely responsible for the body’s voluntary

movement.
 THE SENSORY AREA OF THE CORTEX

-- The greater the amount of tissue in the somatosensory

area of the brain that is related to a specific body part, the
more sensitive is that body part.

-- If the size of our body parts reflected the

corresponding amount of brain tissue, we
would look like this strange creature.

-- palms of the hands or the tongue are areas

of the body which have greater touch
sensitivity and acuity.

Homunculus (latin for “little man”)

THE ASSOCIATION AREAS OF THE CORTEX

-- The association areas control

executive functions , which abilities
are relating to planning, goal setting,
judgment, and impulse control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=912VAP1Tv7k

https://vimeo.com/111627298
The Endocrine System
A chemical communication network that sends messages throughout
the body via the bloodstream.
 The Endocrine System
The
Endocrine the “master gland” because it
controls the functioning
of the rest of the endocrine system.
System is the Hormones secreted by the pituitary
gland control growth.
body’s “slow”
chemical
communicatio
n system.

Communicatio
n is carried out
by hormones
synthesized by
a set of glands.
 Hormones
Hormones are chemicals synthesized by the endocrine glands that
are secreted in the bloodstream. Hormones affect the brain and
many other tissues of the body.

For example, epinephrine (adrenaline) increases heart rate,

blood pressure, blood sugar, and feelings of excitement during
emergency situations.
What happens if the pituitary
gland malfunctions?

• Too little growth

hormone can cause
dwarfism
• Too much growth
hormone can cause
gigantism
 How would an understanding of the nervous
system be valuable in your job as a medical care
provider OR health care
provider/teacher/businessman?