Critical & Sensitive PeriodsWhen timing matters for development, and how much.PsychologyEvidence from deprivation and from typical development.DomainWindowEvidenceBinocular visionFirst few yearsAmblyopia if uncorrectedFirst languageRoughly to pubertyDeprivation casesSecond-language accentDeclines from childhoodAge-of-arrival studiesAttachmentFirst few yearsRomanian adoptee studiesImprinting (birds)Hours after hatchingLorenzThe Romanian adoptee studies show substantial recovery with earlyplacement, and persisting effects with later placement.Critical & Sensitive Periodslearnposters.com
Critical & Sensitive Periods — printable life science wall chart from LearnPosters. Free vector PDF, US Letter and A4.

What’s on the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster

A 5-row table: Domain · Window · Evidence.

Evidence from deprivation and from typical development.

The Romanian adoptee studies show substantial recovery with early placement, and persisting effects with later placement.

Questions about the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster

What’s on the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster?
A 5-row table: Domain · Window · Evidence. Evidence from deprivation and from typical development. Binocular vision — First few years — Amblyopia if uncorrected; First language — Roughly to puberty — Deprivation cases; Second-language accent — Declines from childhood — Age-of-arrival studies; Attachment — First few years — Romanian adoptee studies; Imprinting (birds) — Hours after hatching — Lorenz. The Romanian adoptee studies show substantial recovery with early placement, and persisting effects with later placement.
Who is the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster for?
Critical & Sensitive Periods belongs to the Psychology section rather than to a school year, because life science is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning developmental can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
When should you use the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster?
Critical means the window closes. Sensitive means it narrows. Most human cases are sensitive. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Critical & Sensitive Periods belongs on the wall where that life science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
What other posters go with Critical & Sensitive Periods?
Adolescence, Cognitive Ageing and Attachment sit alongside Critical & Sensitive Periods in the Psychology section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.AdolescenceCognitive AgeingAttachment
Is the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster free to download and print?
Yes. Critical & Sensitive Periods downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Psychology section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
What size does the Critical & Sensitive Periods poster print at?
Critical & Sensitive Periods is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Critical & Sensitive Periods loses nothing.Printing guide

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