In Tinbergen's four questions, which two are classified as proximate questions?
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Causation (Causatie) and Development (Ontwikkeling).
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In Tinbergen's four questions, which two are classified as proximate questions?
Causation (Causatie) and Development (Ontwikkeling).
In Tinbergen's four questions, which two are classified as ultimate questions?
Phylogeny (Evolutie) and Function (Functie/Adaptatie).
Under Tinbergen's proximate level, what does the "causation" question specifically address?
What mechanism causes the behavior in the "here and now"? (e.g., input/output).
In Tinbergen's framework, what does the "development" (proximate) question focus on?
How the behavior develops within a single individual over time.
In Tinbergen's framework, what does the "phylogeny" (ultimate) question examine?
The evolutionary history and precursors of a behavior across generations.
What is the focus of the "function" question in Tinbergen's ultimate analysis?
How the behavior contributes to an individual's reproduction and survival (its adaptive purpose).
Applying Tinbergen's questions to prenatal effects on offspring, what is an example of a "causation" explanation?
Hormones from the mother entering the baby's bloodstream and affecting their HPA axis.
In the context of prenatal hormone exposure, what is a possible "functional" (ultimate) explanation?
To strengthen the mother-child bond and prepare the baby for a dangerous world.
How would "phylogeny" be used to study prenatal stress effects in humans?
Comparing the mechanism with related species (e.g., chimpanzees) to see if it exists there too.
What are four common misconceptions in the social sciences regarding evolved traits?
Evolved traits do NOT have to be present at birth, universal, unchanging during development, or unlearned.
Who predicted that evolutionary theory would eventually serve as the foundation for the field of psychology?
Charles Darwin.
What refers to the idea that development is not random but structured by evolutionarily shaped mechanisms?
Species-specific development patterns (Species-typische ontogenie).
Is learning considered the opposite of evolution? Why or why not?
No. The ability to learn is itself an evolved capacity.
What is the relationship between evolution and development in terms of "nested processes"?
Evolution produces the mechanisms; development uses them.
What is the process that acts as the bridge between genotype and phenotype?
A developmental mechanism.
According to the text, where are evolutionary mechanisms primarily present before they begin constructing in interaction with the environment?
The Zygote (fertilized egg cell).
What is the distinction between language and the ability to learn language in terms of evolution?
The ability to learn language is evolved, but language itself is not "innate" in the sense of being spoken at birth.
What does the "developmental history" of a mechanism refer to?
The unfolding of a mechanism during embryonic and postnatal development under the influence of genes and environment.
Can the same developmental mechanism produce individual differences? Explain how.
Yes, through genetic variation, prenatal environment, and early experiences.
Besides universal traits, what other two outcomes can evolution produce?
Individual differences and cultural variation.
What is the reciprocal relationship between culture and evolved mechanisms?
Culture is made possible by evolved traits (e.g., social learning, norms) and also influences how these mechanisms develop.
In which infant reflex do the leg muscles contract to prevent over-stretching when the kneecap is tapped with a hammer?
Patellar reflex
Which infant reflex involves the baby turning their head and searching to find a nipple for feeding?
Rooting reflex
Which infant reflex allows a baby to hold onto objects or their caregiver when something touches their palm?
Grasp reflex
What is the name of the reflex where an infant makes walking motions when held upright with their feet touching a surface?
Stepping reflex
Which infant reflex involves the baby spreading their arms and legs in response to a sudden loss of support, potentially to grasp a caregiver during a fall?
Moro reflex
What reflex occurs in infants younger than 6 months when held underwater, characterized by holding their breath and a slowed heart rate?
The dive reflex (duikreflex)
According to the motor milestones chart, what is typically the first major motor skill an infant achieves while on their stomach?
Lifting the head (90°) while on the stomach
Which motor milestone usually follows the ability to raise the chest with arms while on the stomach?
Rolling over
What motor milestone typically occurs after an infant has learned to roll over but before they begin crawling?
Sitting on one's own
Which milestone describes an infant moving while supporting themselves on objects, occurring after pulling themselves to a stand?
Walking along furniture
What motor milestone is typically achieved just before an infant begins walking on their own?
Standing unsupported
Under the model based on universal human nature, what four processes lead to individual differences?
Epigenetics, Life history, Reactive heritability, and Niche specialization.
What is the definition of "developmental plasticity" in the context of individual differences?
An individual's ability to adapt to their environment during their development based on experience.
If someone chooses to excel in a specific sport because they are already good at it, which individual difference model does this illustrate?
Niche specialization.
What is "reactive heritability"? Give an example.
An individual adjusts their behavior based on their inherited physical or phenotypic traits (e.g., strength leading to dominance).
What type of individual differences are characterized by "Environmental heterogeneity in fitness optima" and "Frequency-dependent balancing selection"?
Adaptively significant differences. (High direct heritability in personality traits).
What mechanisms are associated with models of individual differences based on "universal human nature"? (Low direct heritability of personality traits).
Through developmental plasticity (Life history theory, Epigenetics), Reactive heritability, and Niche specialization.
Under which category of individual differences does "mutation load" fall?
Non-adaptive.
What refers to when an individual adjusts their behavioral strategy based on their phenotype?
Reactive heritability.
Which theory, alongside epigenetics, is part of "developmental plasticity" in the universal human nature model?
Life history theory.
On what timescale do processes like homeostasis, acclimation, and habituation occur? Give an example.
Seconds to days. (e.g., insulin release, sweating, shivering).
How long is the timescale for "acclimatization," and are the changes reversible? Give an example.
Days, months, or years; they are usually reversible. (e.g., melanin release, muscle size increases, red blood cell count at altitude).
How long is the timescale for "developmental acclimatization and plasticity," and are the changes reversible? Give an example.
Months and years; they are usually irreversible. (e.g., early activation of sweat glands).
What is the timescale for "transgenerational epigenetic effects," and give an example?
One or more generations. (e.g., effect of diet through generations).
On what timescale do natural and sexual selection for species-typical characteristics occur? Give an example.
Many generations (hundreds to tens of thousands of years). (e.g., bipedality, hair loss, universal emotions).
What is the fundamental difference between evolution and natural selection as defined in the context of adaptation?
Evolution is a change in population composition (e.g., gene frequency), while Natural Selection is when a gene or mechanism increases in frequency because it's more adaptive.
In the context of the Bajau people (underwater vision), what type of adaptive process is this?
It's a temporary adaptation (not genetic) developed through experience to see better underwater.
What does recent natural and sexual selection (hundreds to thousands of years) typically lead to? Give an example.
Genetic diversity between populations (e.g., skin color and body shape).
Which theory suggests that complex motor skills can develop even with limited or no experience?
Maturational account
What was observed in infants from orphanages who rarely left their cribs, contradicting a purely maturational account?
Experience is essential to reach milestones.
According to the text, what is the primary evolutionary function of the brain regarding motor control?
Adaptable movement in a changing environment.
Why does the stepping reflex appear to disappear around 8 months of age, despite the motor program still being present?
The infant's legs become too heavy with fat.
What process allows a baby to continuously update their movement patterns as their head and mouth move relative to their body and environment?
Perceptual-motor coordination
What was the result of the kitten experiment comparing active versus passive visual input on height avoidance?
Active experience (paws on the ground) leads to avoidance.
What tool do researchers use to document exactly what an infant sees and the structure of their visual input throughout development?
Head caps with cameras
During the first three months of life, what is the primary focus of an infant's selective visual input?
Faces (especially those looking over them).
What development between 12 and 18 months allows infants to learn more about the properties of 3D objects?
Active motor interaction (reaching and grabbing).
What is the pattern of object frequency and labeling in early infant visual input, according to head camera data?
A few unique objects are heard and seen very frequently.
What are "design features" in an evolutionary context? Give an example.
Features of an organism that are the result of natural selection. (e.g., bone hardness).
How does natural selection change a population's phenotype over time?
Natural selection acts on developmental mechanisms that produce phenotypes, favoring those that increase survival/reproduction.
What is the metaphor used for the zygote in the context of elephant evolution?
A "toolkit" containing everything needed to build the organism. (Natural selection favors the best "tools").
When a positive correlation between two traits exists and certain trait combinations are "missing," what are the two main evolutionary explanations?
Constraints (ontogenetically impossible) or Adaptation (eliminated by natural selection).
Why is a "flying pig" considered an example of an ontogenetic constraint?
A constraint (it is ontogenetically impossible for a heavy animal like a pig to evolve wings).
In plants, is the 137.5-degree angle (Golden Ratio) of leaves considered a constraint or an adaptive design feature?
Adaptive design feature (allowing leaves to capture maximum sunlight without overlapping).
What is the definition of evolution from the perspective of development and ecology?
Evolution is the control of development by ecology. (Leigh).
Explain how development both enables and limits evolution.
Natural selection acts on the phenotypes produced by developmental mechanisms, but development also limits which phenotypes are possible.
According to William James, how might an infant's world appear before they learn to impose structure on their perceptions?
Blooming, buzzing confusion
What is measured by testing whether an infant prefers to look at a striped pattern versus a solid gray block?
Visual acuity (scherpheid)
How does a young infant's visual acuity compare to that of an adult?
The infant's vision is much more blurry and has lower acuity.
What do infants seem to be born with that makes them prefer looking at "normal" faces over "scrambled" faces?
A gross template of a face (correct order of eyes/mouth).
Before 6 months of age, how do infants typically respond when comparing human faces and non-human primate faces?
Infants can distinguish between human and non-human primate faces equally well.
What term describes the process where infants lose the ability to distinguish between stimuli they rarely encounter (like different monkey faces) as they specialize in frequently seen stimuli (like human faces)?
Perceptual narrowing
Besides face perception, in what other domain does perceptual narrowing occur during infancy?
Phoneme/sound differences in language (e.g., Chinese sounds).
What is the primary developmental benefit of perceptual narrowing?
Increased efficiency for frequently encountered stimuli.
What is the definition of "phenotypic plasticity"?
The ability of an organism to adapt its phenotype (brain, info processing, behavior) in response to environmental factors and experiences.
How does a mother Daphnia (water flea) signal to its offspring to develop a helmet for protection?
Hormones from the mother diffuse through the egg shell to induce helmet growth in offspring. (Prenatal maternal effect).
What two conditions must be met for phenotypic plasticity to be considered adaptive?
How does the "information value" of a cue affect the evolution of plasticity?
The higher the reliability of the cue's information value, the more likely natural selection will favor plasticity.
What type of plasticity costs are paid by an organism regardless of whether it uses its plastic capacity? Give an example.
Constitutive costs. (e.g., fruit flies with better learning mechanisms having shorter lifespans due to lower somatic maintenance).
What are "operating costs" (operatieve kosten) in phenotypic plasticity? Give an example.
Operative costs. (e.g., energy used by an octopus to change color or by fruit flies for long-term memory traces).
What occurs when an organism uses an early-life cue to develop a phenotype that does not match its later-life environment?
Error costs or Mismatch costs.
In soapberry bugs, what environmental factor determines the extent of their "mate guarding" behavior?
The ratio of males in the environment. (Variable in some areas, stable in others).
What is an example of a cue with high information value versus one with low value in a modern environment?
Starlight for navigation (high reliability) vs. Artificial light (low reliability).
In which research method is the time an infant spends looking at two images side-by-side compared to determine if they can distinguish between them?
Preferential looking
In preferential looking, what does it mean if an infant spends significantly more time looking at one image than another?
The infant can distinguish between the two images.
Which infant research method involves repeated exposure to a stimulus until looking time decreases, then presenting a new stimulus to see if looking time increases?
Habituation-dishabituation
Which research method measures whether infants look longer at impossible events to test their understanding of the physical world?
Violation of expectation (schending verwachting)
In which method does a researcher observe which of two objects an infant actively reaches for to determine their preference?
Preferential choice
What is a critical consideration when interpreting a "null" result in a preferential looking test (where the infant looks equally at both images)?
Absence of evidence (not preferring one image) is NOT evidence that they cannot distinguish them.
What neuroscience method is mentioned as a way to observe changes in brain activity when an infant habituates to a stimulus?
EEG (Electroencephalography)
In a Violation of Expectation experiment, what two specific conditions are typically presented after the familiarization phase?
The expected outcome and the unexpected (impossible) outcome.
What theory proposes that infants possess innate, unlearned systems of knowledge about their environment that are universal and shared with other species?
Core Knowledge
Name the four (plus one) systems of core knowledge identified in infants.
Objects, Actions, Number, Space, (and Social Partners).
Which principle of the infant object system states that objects move together as integrated wholes?
Cohesion
Which principle of the infant object system states that objects move on connected, continuous paths and do not suddenly jump from one location to another?
Continuity
Which principle of the object system suggests that inanimate objects do not move unless something touches or interacts with them?
Contact
Which principle of the object system states that two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time?
Solidity
In a violation of expectation experiment testing solidity, how does an infant's looking time change when a ball appears to roll through a solid wall?
Looking time (s) increases significantly during the impossible event.
According to core knowledge theory, what characteristic describes the stability of these knowledge systems throughout an individual's development?
Constant over ontogeny
Which characteristic of core knowledge states that it operates across different situations and is not tied to one specific environment?
Context-independent
What is the core knowledge theory's stance on the relationship between active learning and innate systems?
It does NOT come from active learning.
In many species, what physical characteristic is used to predict social dominance, a concept infants begin to understand around 8 months of age?
Large size (relatieve grootte)
In the experiment with the red ball and the shapes, which entity did infants show a preference for when given a choice?
The "helper" (the entity that helps the other reach their goal).
Which perspective argues that knowledge is not innate but is constructed through gradual specialization and interactions with the environment?
Neuroconstructivism (Annett)
According to neuroconstructivism, how are mental representations of complex actions, such as avoiding heights, stored in the brain?
Distributed across brain regions (not local modules).
What principle states that the brain starts out very plastic and gradually becomes specialized based on experience?
Progressive specialization/Phenotypic plasticity
In infant development, what is the difference between imitation and emulation?
Imitation is copying exact actions; emulation is copying only the goals using one's own methods.
What principle states that infants expect agents to choose the most efficient actions to reach their goals given their environmental constraints?
Goal achievement efficiency.
What effect describes an infant's preference for stimuli that are neither too simple nor too complex, but optimal for their current learning level?
Goldilocks effect
According to the text, how do infants respond when they witness a violation of their knowledge of physical objects?
They actively test the property that was violated (e.g., dropping the car if it "flew").
What evidence supports the neuroconstructivist view over core knowledge theory regarding the transfer of motor learning between different postures?
Context-dependency of motor skills (e.g., they don't transfer the "cliff" fear from sitting to walking).
