Teratogen's Influence On Human Development

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Review Questions 1. What is a teratogen? What are some examples of a teratogen? What factors influence a teratogen? Teratogen is any substance or agent that interferes with the normal development of a fetus in the womb. Some examples would be prescription drugs and nonprescription drugs, pollutants, infectious diseases, maternal malnutrition. Some factors would be the dose or amount of the substance to which the fetus is exposed, the length of time that the fetus is exposed and the genetic vulnerability of the individual fetus. 2. What is plasticity? How does it apply to development? Plasticity is the limit on development. It refers to the amount of change that is possible or the capacity for change. It applies to development because a…show more content…
What is puberty? What changes occurs with puberty? Puberty is a rapid physical change experienced due to hormonal and body changes during adolescence. Some people experience growth spurts. Males tend to grow facial hair and chest hair. Females develop breasts and will experience their first menstrual cycle. The brain also experiences development. The corpus callosum thickens, which allows individuals to process information better. 4. What is the cephalocaudal pattern of development? How does it differ from the proximodistal pattern of development? The cephalocaudal pattern is in infants, they develop from their head down to their legs and feet. They first learn to hold their head up, then sit up and finally start to walk. This differs from proximodistal pattern of development because the proximodistal pattern of development is when an infant learns to use the core of their bodies first, and then the other areas. 5. What is development in the context of the life span? During ones life span, they are developing and changing all through out their lives. Their developments are broken down into different stages through out the life of…show more content…
How can the life span perspective help health science professionals learn more about health and wellness? When they put the life span into different stages, it helps them learn a lot more about the overall life span of people. They get to see how everything develops and at what rate. They also get to study what different kinds of people get affected by life and growing up. This helps them help us when we aren't sure what's going on at a specific time in our lives. 3. Development is a combination of genetics and environment. What are some environmental (or external to the human body) factors that influence development? Schooling, families, workplaces and other settings. 4. What are some of the developmental changes that children in early childhood experience? Their brain is still developing, expecially in the frontal lobe which helps control planning tasks and actions and concentration on specific tasks. Children also experience growth in their motor skills. Their confidence in their physical abilities will continue to grow and they will be able to hop, run, skip and crawl around. 5. What are some of the developmental changes that older adults experience? The brain slowly loses weight and some areas of the brain will shrink. The prefrontal cortex normally shrinks and this Is what causes memory loss. Physical decline also occurs in late adulthood. Physical signs of aging such as wrinkles and may lose weight from muscle
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