DS - Chapter 5

sensation

processing of information from the external world via receptors in the sense organs and brain

perception

process of organizing and interpreting sensory information about the objects, events, and spatial layout of the world.

perception

act of organizing our sensory experience into a representation of world.

experimental approach (what do babies perceive)

1. manipulate stimulus

2. measure behavior

differences in behavior

differences in perception of the stimulus

preferential looking

Fantz 1962, used ___ ___ to study infant perception; infants viewed stripes of varying thickness.

visual acuity

perception of fine detail - improves with development

complex

young infants prefer ___ visual stimuli

newborn visual acuity

limited focus, 8-12 inches from their face

contrast sensitivity

preference for high-contrast patterns

how

infants change ___ they look with development.

improvement

a simulation of visual acuity and color perception in infancy shows ___ from 1 month to 8 months

depth perception

requires integration of multiple visual cues

optical expansion

when the visual image of an object increases in size as the object comes towards us, occluding more and more in the background

binocular disparity

difference between the retinal image of an object in each eye that results in two slightly different signals being sent to the brain.

monocular depth (or pictorial cues)

perceptual cues of depth (such as relative size and interposition) that can be perceived by one eye alone

abruptly

use of binocular disparity emerges ___ around 4 months of age

slowly

use of monocular cues emerges ___ around 6 months

represesent

young infants continue to ___ object that has vanished from sight.

visual configurations

infants have a bias toward ___ ___ with more elements in upper half than lower half.

contrast polarity

infants are also sensitive to ___ ___.

perceptual narrowing

infants’ ability to distinguish among a wide range of stimuli (faces, speech sounds), becomes more specialized through experience; can result in both improvements and declines in performance

newborn

general bias for face like stimuli shows interest in human and money right-side-up faces

6-month-olds

discriminate between human and monkey faces (generalist)

9-month-olds

only human face discrimination (specialist)

hearing

most advanced of the newborn senses

infants prefer :

speech, music, mom’s voice, native language, related languages

Decasper & Fifer

Mothers were recorded reading To think that I saw it on Mulberry Street; measured infants sucking on pacifier to hear recordings; infants were faster to produce a high amplitude suck to hear their own mother read the story!

intermodal perception

involves combining information from two or more sensory systems

5 months

by ___ ___ of age, infants associate facial expressions with emotions in voices

Project Prakesh

____ ____ provides treatment for congenitally blind children in developing countries who often do not receive treatment despite having curable conditions.

experience

necessary for visual-tactile ross-modal matching

preferences

infants have perceptual ___ early in life

tuned

infants’ perceptual processing becomes ___ to the environment with experience.

5-6 weeks

fetus begins to move at ___

motor behaviors

____ ____ observed in utero include thumb-sucking, kicking, and swallowing.

6 weeks

arches and curls

7 weeks

“startle movements”

8 weeks

arms and legs

9 weeks

hand to face

10 weeks

fingers

27 weeks

“breathe”

28 weeks

sucking and swallowing

33 weeks

coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing

rooting

turning of the head and opening of the mouth in the direction of a touch.

sucking and swallowing

oral response when the roof of the mouth is stimulated

tonic neck

when the head turns or is positioned to one side, the arms on that side of the body extends, while the arm and knee on the other side flex

moro (startle)

throwing back the head and extending the arms, then rapidly drawing them in, in response to a loud, sound, or sudden movement

grasping

closing the fingers around an object that is pressed to the palm

stepping

stepping or dancing with the feet when being held upright with feet touching a solid surface.

crawling

not a necessary precursor to walking

motor development

changes in habitual sleep position affect children’s ___ ___

supine

____ sleepers are slower to sit, creep, crawl, and pull to stand, but walk at the same ages as prone sleepers

motor behavior

changes perceptual experience and perceptual abilities

habituation

decrease in response to a repeated or continued stimulus

statistical learning

picking up information from the environment and detecting patterns.

statistical learning abilities

have been measured across numerous domains, including music, action, and speech.

Goldilocks effects

When regularity and predictability of objects, events, and other stimuli are violated, infants take notice.

classical conditioning

associating a stimulus with stimulus that evokes a particular reflexive response

instrumental (operant) conditioning

learning the relation between one’s own behavior and the consequences that result from it.

positive reinforcement

reward that reliably follows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.

imitation

a form of observational learning

imitate

18-month-olds can ___ intentions rather than actions

rational learning

learning processes that are guided by rational or logical principles