A critical period is a sensitive time in an organism's development when the organism may acquire a particular behavior conditional on the occurrence of certain stimuli and events. John Locke, the British philosopher, believed that human infants are born without knowledge or skills. Jean Rousseau, a French philosopher, argued that we bring into our world our evolutionary legacy. Jean Marie Itard tried to civilize and educate the Wild Boy of Aveyron. C. Developmental Research 1.
Normative investigations describe a characteristic of a specific age or stage of development.
In a longitudinal design, researchers repeatedly observe and test the same individuals over a long period. Cross-sectional designs occur when subject groups of different ages are observed and immediately compared to each other. Maturation is the process of growth that is universal among all members of a species reared in the species' typical habitat. Learning to communicate. Overregularization is a common error where children apply a rule too widely and create incorrect forms.