Developmental Psychology Chapter 5

proximodistal growth

-at birth, movement is not goal oriented; at 3 months, they can swipe at something they see
-grasping reflex becomes the Ulner grasp which becomes the pencil grasp

grasping reflex

an infant's clinging response to a touch on the palm of his or her hand

Ulner grasp

purposeful grasp

pencil grasp

using thumb and forefinger to grab small things

differentiation

the tendency of behavior to become more specific and distinct

-actions, responses to the environment

weight gain

doubles in 5 months, triples by the first birthday

growth

grow 4-6 inches per year

when should you introduce solid foods to babies?

4-6 months

order of foods to introduce to babies

1. iron-enriched cereal mixed with or formula
2. strained fruits
3. veggies
4. meats

how should you introduce new foods?

one at a time for several days

why should you introduce foods one at a time?

to assess GI toleration and allergies

learning to read your baby

helps form healthy eating patterns and prevent under/over eating

-will let you know when they're hungry or not full enough (operant conditioning)

how a baby says they're still hungry

crying

how a baby says they're too full

crying and turning away from the spoon

foods not to avoid feeding your baby

fats and high fat foods- needed for brain development
need high iron

foods to avoid feeding your baby

-items with added sugars and salts- preference increases with exposure
-don't add salt to boiled veggies
-no cow's milk until 1 year

when a baby is old enough to drink cow's milk, what should they drink?

whole milk

formula

-1920s and widely promoted and popular until the 1960s
-must be iron-fortified

financially, is breastmilk or formula better?

breastmilk

what percentage of US women breastfeed?

70%

advantages of breastfeeding for baby

-most complete form of nutrition
-conforms to digestion process
-contains mother's antibodies
-helps protect against diarrhea
-less likely to cause allergies

disadvantages of formula

-expensive
-must be iron-fortified
-not every formula matches every baby (trial and error)
-helps protect against respiratory infections
-helps protect against childhood lymphoma
-less likely for childhood obesity
-decreased incidence of SIDS
-denser bones
-better visual acuity
-looser stools and smell better

how long is breastfeeding recommended for?

1 year

human contact promotes

growth

advantages of breastfeeding for mom

-reduces postpartum bleeding
-decreased risk of premenopausal breast and ovarian cancer
-return to pre-pregnancy weight sooner
-shrinks uterus

most complete form of nutrition

baby needs nothing else for 6 months

conforms to digestion process

first 3-5, colostrum is produced, not breastmilk
milk comes in at around 5 days

colostrum

a specialized form of milk that delivers essential nutrients and antibodies in a form that the newborn can digest

uterine cramping

short-term cramping from uterine contractions when breastfeeding is started

wet nurse

a woman who breast-feeds someone else's infant

reasons not to breastfeed

-some women do not produce enough milk
-some premies/small babies struggle getting milk from breast
-feeling tied to feeding, exhaustion
-social stigma
-being bitten
-can be painful
-baby may not grow enough

alternative to breastfeeding that still uses breastmilk

pumping

being bitten

operant conditioning can be used to train the baby not to bite by removing the breast when bitten

can be painful

drying out, cracking

-salves

failure to thrive

-baby doesn't make the weight gains it should be
-cause can be organic or nonorganic

organic cause of failure to thrive

something is wrong with the baby

-GI distress, blockage, etc.

nonorganic cause of failure to thrive

environmental challenges

-mom is struggling with ppd or substance abuse, not a nuclear family structure

what foods do not avoid for brain development

high-fat foods

physical and cognitive development are

linked

neuron parts

cell body, dendrite axons

neurons and brain development

you're born with all the neurons you'll ever have

dendrites

carry messages to the neuron

axons

carry messages away from the neuron

neurotransmitters

released when axons reach the ends of the neuron

-communicators

myelin sheath

layer of fat covering the axon of some neurons

myelin sheath development

-some neurons don't need it
-some already have it when you're born
-some are developed

what does the myelin sheath do?

speeds up the message being sent, improving the efficiency of whatever behavior that message is about

-the parts of a baby's brain responsible for crying, sleeping, and bathroom are already well myelinated

increased myelination

increase in movement

-standing -> toddling -> walking -> running are results of the neurons of the cerebellum (responsible for voluntary movement) becoming more myelinated

decreased myelination

multiple sclerosis:

attacks the myelin of motor control and vision neurons, causing those affected to not be able to walk normally or need assistance

how many growth spurts occur in the human brain?

two

first growth spurt

-between 4th and 5th months of prenatal development
-due to a proliferation of neurons, which give more potential for communication between neurons

second growth spurt

-begins in week 25 and continues through the end of the 2nd year of life
-due to a proliferation of dendrite and axonal terminals, allowing for more complex messages and abilities

cephalocaudal development

-can track objects in visual field in the first few hours
-in a few days, can turn head as the neurons in the neck develop

proximodistal development

turns toward something, then swipes, then Palmer reflex, then Ulner grasp- due to brain growth and development

first steps

12-15 months

sensory and perceptual development

newborns can do both, but it changes and improves over time

sensation

the detection of a stimulus

-the brain of a newborn translates and transducer the outside world

neuron communication is

electrochemical

-electro: ions
-chemical: neurons

physical stimulus for sound

air waves

perception

the mental processing of the brain in reaction to a stimulus

-neurons have to communicate

visual abilities at birth

-can tell the different between new things and things already seen
-prefers to look at novel things
-don't like blotted/static things

how is babies visual preference measured?

by measuring how long they look at something

greatest increases in visual acuity occurs by

6 months

8 weeks visually

prefers curved lines, not straight due to improved perception

contrast sensitivity

-a principle that accounts for early pattern preferences of infants
-says that once an infant can perceive a contrast between visual stimuli and will prefer the one with the higher contrast

black and white checkerboard with large squares vs. one with small squares

babies will prefer the one with large squares because it is more discernible because of high contrast

faces

-babies are born with a preference for human faces or anything that resembles a human face
-prefer symmetry
-gaze longer at edges of face until 2-3 months because of high contrast with the background

depth perception

visual cliff experiment:

-1 month: no heart rate change- cannot perceive the pattern
-2 months: heart rate drop- can perceive the pattern
-6-9 months: heart rate drop- has depth perception

hearing at a few days old

can orient in the direction of sound and can coordinate information from their senses and expect sight and sound to go together

intermodal stimulation

simultaneous input from more than one sensory modality

-can take all information from the senses and coordinate it

intermodal perception

integration of that simultaneous stimulation resulting in the perception of such input as an integrated whole