INFANCY FINAL - PREVIOUS MATERIAL

What is the primary function of infant development in early life?

To maximize energy intake for growth and development, while minimizing output — this is known as the energy budget.

Why do infants need caregivers according to the energy budget concept?

Caregivers help manage basic functions so infants can use more energy for development.

What are common research methods used with infants?

1. Eye-tracking/visual scanning
2. Reaching (for depth perception)
3. Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP)
4. Looking paradigms

What are the 3 looking paradigms?

preferential looking, habituation, familiarity/novelty

What does Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) measure?

The electrical signal in the infant's visual cortex in response to visual stimuli, used to test discrimination and acuity.

What is preferential looking and how does it work?

2 stimuli are shown simultaneously; preference is inferred by longer looking time. Used to assess vision and preference.

What is habituation in infant research?

Repeated exposure to a stimulus decreases attention

What does dishabituation to a new stimulus indicate?

An infants ability to discriminate

What did Kellman & Spelke (1983) find about object perception?

4-month-olds dishabituated to the two-object test, indicating they had perceived the earlier unitary object as familiar.

What is teratology?

The study of how teratogens (non-genetic agents) cause harm during prenatal development.

What 6 factors influence how teratogens act?

1. Genetic sensitivity
2. Temporal sensitivity (timing)
3. Effect specificity
4. Severity
5. Method of access
6. Dosage

How does DeCasper & Fifer (1980) study support prenatal learning in infants?

Newborns preferred their mother's voice over a stranger's.

How does the Cat in the Hat study support prenatal learning in infants?

Babies sucked more to hear a familiar story read during pregnancy.

What do the studies on prenatal learning in infant suggest?

Infants learn and remember prosody (rhythm and sound patterns) of speech, not just specific words.

How is visual acuity tested in infants?

VEP (more precise)
Preferential-looking (less precise)

By what age is an infants visual acuity at adult level?

1 year

What are the two types of acuity?

grating acuity and vernier acuity

What is grating acuity?

Detecting striped patterns (better in infancy)

What is vernier acuity?

Detecting small positional offsets (develops later)

What is contrast sensitivity in infants?

The ability to detect differences in brightness; improves over infancy. Smaller details require higher contrast to detect.

Why is infant visual acuity and contrast sensitivity limited at birth?

Why is infant visual acuity and contrast sensitivity limited at birth?

What are the two main principles of motor development in infants?

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal

What is cephalocaudal motor development?

Head-to-foot development

What is proximodistal motor development?

Control develops from the center of the body outward (e.g., torso before hands)

Can proximodistal and cephalocaudal motor development happen at the same time?

Yes!

What are the two types of motor skills infants develop?

Locomotion (walking) and prehension (reaching/grasping)

What is selective attention?

The ability to focus on specific stimuli while ignoring others

When does Visual pop-out occur?

When unique stimuli draw attention

According to Sireteanu & Rieth, what age showed pop-out?

10-12-month-olds showed pop-out

According to Atkinson & Braddick, what age showed pop-out?

3.5-4.5-month-olds showed pop-out

What did Bahrick, Walker, & Neisser (1981) demonstrate about selective attention?

4-month-olds were familiarized with superimposed images. When split, infants preferred the novel image

Indicates selective attention by ignoring familiar visual info

What did Adler & Orprecio (2006) find about infants' visual search strategies?

Younger infants (3-4 mo): Random eye movements, less efficient scanning

Older infants (6+ mo): Systematic, goal-directed scanning with fewer fixations

What is feature perception in infancy?

Perception involves interpreting sensory input, infants are initially drawn to unique environmental features

When do major perceptual changes first occur?

in the first year

What is known about colour perception in newborns?

Can see red, yellow, green by 1-5 days old

What colour can infants NOT see?

Blue

When do infants reach adult like colour perception?

by 3-4 months

What are the 2 cues in depth perception?

Binocular (use both eyes) and monocular (use one eye)

When do binocular cues develop?

Develop by 3-4 months (Held study)

Binocular fixation around 11-12 months

When do monocular cues develop?

Develop with experience

(Granrud & Yonas found 7-mo-olds, not 5-mo-olds, used interposition)

What did the Gibson & Walk (1960) "visual cliff" study show?

Crawling infants avoided the deep side, suggesting depth perception

What did Richards & Rader (1981) find about depth perception and crawling?

Early crawling alone didn't lead to deep-side avoidance, suggesting that depth perception develops before infants can use it in locomotion

What is feature relations perception?

Infants learn to perceive consistent feature combinations (e.g., certain body types with tails or feet)

According to Younger & Cohen, how/when does feature relations perception develop?

4-month-olds noticed individual features

7-month-olds began noticing feature relationships

10-month-olds detected pattern violations and novelty

When does cause-and-effect awareness begin in infancy?

Begins at Substage 3 (4-8 months) during secondary circular reactions, when infants learn their actions can produce interesting sensory effects

What did Leslie's (1982) study on causality find? know this study!

Even very young infants perceived direct launching as causal

Infants can perceive causality without needing motor experience

What is object permanence?

Understanding that objects exist even when not seen

When does object permanence typically emerge?

Emerges around 8 months (Substage 4)

Fully developed in Substage 5 (12-18 months)

What does the A-not-B task test?

Tests object permanence

Infant repeatedly finds object at Location A
When moved to Location B, younger infants still search at A

What does the A-not-B test reveal?

Error (not understanding permanence) is overcome at ~12 months

What did Bower's (1966-1982) study suggest about infant object permanence?

Infants as young as 20 days old looked longer at impossible events (e.g., ball disappearing behind block)

Suggests newborns might have some form of object permanence

Other views on object permanence: What is Spelke's view?

Infants expect physical solidity and continuity (core knowledge)

Other views on object permanence: What is the Perception-Action view?

Learning occurs through manual exploration

Other views on object permanence: What is the Information Processing view?

Gradual development of causal understanding

According to Oakes & Cohen, how does causal perception develop in infants?

6-7 months: Perceive simple causal events

10 months: Understand more complex events

By 10 months: Expect contact for one object to move another