305 lec 3 - prenatal and infant development

Behavioural Measures

Includes methods like Looking Time, Eye Tracking, Motor Measures, and Motion Capture used to assess cognitive and perceptual abilities.

Neurological Measures

Techniques such as EEG, fNIRS, and fMRI used to study brain activity and functions in developmental psychology.

Standard Experimental Procedure

Consists of Familiarisation/Baseline Phase, Experimental Manipulation Phase, and Test Phase; designed to maintain control across studies.

Experimental Approach for Preterm Infants - Positives

Utilizes comparable techniques for mapping trajectories and eliminates confounding variables by testing in consistent environments.

Experimental Approach for Preterm Infants - Negatives

Preterm infants face increased risks of developmental delays and impairments, raising questions about whether this is due to atypical development from preterm birth or inadequate sensory input at birth. The limited understanding of fetal sensory engagement impacts the relevance of study findings for typical development.

DeCasper & Spence Study (1986)

• Mothers read The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss twice a day for the last 1.5 months of pregnancy.

• Methodology:

  • Changes in the rate of sucking turned on or off a tape recorder of the mother reading.

  • Half the infants heard the familiar story, the other half heard a different story.

• Finding:

  • Infants adjusted their sucking rates towards producing familiar sounds, indicating recognition of the story.

  • Implications: babies will react to common sounds, including anger and violence

• The use of preterm infants and postnatal testing of prenatal exposure are key methods for exploring prenatal development. These methods maintained proximity to traditional developmental methods for comparison.

• Limitations noted in the traditional methods have been addressed with recent technological advancements.