Infancy Physical Development Part 2

A series of question and answer flashcards covering key concepts in infancy physical development.

What is motor development?

Motor development refers to the growth of movement abilities that enable infants to explore and interact with the world, including both gross and fine motor skills.

What are gross motor skills?

Gross motor skills involve large movements like sitting, crawling, and walking.

What are fine motor skills?

Fine motor skills involve small movements, including those made with hands, fingers, and eyes, such as grasping or manipulating objects.

How does motor development help babies understand the world?

Movement provides sensory feedback, helps learn cause and effect, and enables physical exploration, coordination, and linking perception to action.

What does head development look like from birth to 3 months?

Head control progresses from minimal at birth to holding head up steadily by 2-3 months.

What is the typical progression of arm and hand development?

Grasping reflex at birth, prereaching around 3 months, and intentional reaching by 4–6 months.

What is the difference between prereaching and reaching?

Prereaching is involuntary and inaccurate; reaching is voluntary, goal-directed, and visually coordinated.

What did Thelen’s research find about motor skills?

Motor skill progression depends heavily on experience and practice rather than just age or maturation.

What is the difference between ulnar grasp and pincer grasp?

Ulnar grasp uses the whole hand and is less controlled, while pincer grasp uses the thumb and forefinger for fine precision.

Who may experience delays in developing fine motor skills?

Premature babies or those with neurological disorders may show delayed fine motor control.

What is the general progression of locomotion milestones?

Roll over by ~6 months, sit without support by ~7 months, creeping and crawling by ~8-9 months, and walking by ~12-15 months.

What are developmental norms?

Developmental norms are average ages when most children reach specific milestones, allowing development tracking.

What did Karen Adolph’s research show about movement experience?

Infants must relearn movement strategies with each new motor skill as experience doesn't automatically transfer.

What is behavioral flexibility according to Adolph’s work?

Behavioral flexibility is the ability to adapt movement to new contexts or challenges.

What is habituation?

Habituation is a decrease in response to a repeated or familiar stimulus, allowing infants to focus on new information.

What methods were used in the 'monkeys and baby faces' study?

Researchers used looking-time experiments to measure infants' ability to distinguish between human and monkey faces.

What were the results of the monkey face study?

6-month-olds could discriminate both; 9-month-olds and adults could only discriminate human faces, illustrating perceptual narrowing.

How does perceptual narrowing work?

Perceptual narrowing strengthens neural pathways for familiar stimuli while pruning those not used, based on experience.

What does Kuhl's research on phoneme discrimination show?

Young infants can distinguish sound contrasts from any language but become attuned only to their native language sounds by 10–12 months.

Can perceptual narrowing be prevented?

Yes, but only through social interaction during the critical period, not through passive exposure.

What did Kuhl’s experiments with different formats show?

Live interactions help babies retain the ability to distinguish phonemes; passive exposure does not.

Why does social exposure matter for preventing perceptual narrowing?

Live interactions activate more neural systems related to social-cognitive areas, enhancing learning and retention.