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cephalocaudal pattern
The sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top—the head—with physical growth and differentiation of features gradually working their way down from top to bottom (for example, shoulders, middle trunk, and so on)
proximodistal pattern
the sequence in which growth starts at the center of the body and moves toward the extremities.
Growth
it often is not smooth and continuous but rather is episodic, occurring in spurts.
Shaken baby syndrome
includes brain swelling and hemorrhaging, affects hundreds of babies in the United States each year (Hellgren & others, 2017)
Frontal lobes
involved in voluntary movement, thinking, personality, and intentionality or purpose
temporal lobes
have an active role in hearing, language processing, and memory.
occipital lobes
function in vision
parietal lobes
play important roles in registering spatial location, attention, and motor control.
lateralization
specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other
neuron
is a nerve cell that handles information processing
myelin sheath
which is a layer of fat cells, encases many axons
insulates axons and helps electrical signals travel faster down the axon
terminal buttons
release chemicals called neurotransmitters into synapses, which are tiny gaps between neurons’ fibers
myelination
The process of encasing axons with fat cells begins prenatally and continues after birth, even into adolescence and emerging adulthood
neuroconstructivist view
A belief that biological processes and environmental conditions influence the brain’s development; the brain has plasticity and is context dependent; and development of the brain and cognitive development are closely linked.
Sleep
Necessary for survival
Replenishes and rebuilds the brain and body
Essential to clearing out waste in neural tissues (metabolites and cerebrospinal fluid)
Critical for brain plasticity
REM Sleep
the eyes flutter beneath closed lids
non-REM Sleep
type of eye movement does not occur and sleep is more quiet
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
a condition that occurs when infants stop breathing, usually during the night, and die suddenly without any apparent reason.
dynamic systems theory
The perspective on motor development that seeks to explain how motor behaviors are assembled for perceiving and acting.
Reflexes
Built-in reactions to stimuli; they govern the newborn’s movements, which are automatic and beyond the newborn’s control
Genetically carried survival mechanisms allowing infants to respond adaptively to their environment before they have had the opportunity to learn
Rooting reflex
occurs when the infant’s cheek is stroked or the side of the mouth is touched
sucking reflex
Occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouth.
This reflex enables newborns to get nourishment before they have associated a nipple with food and also serves as a self-soothing or self-regulating mechanism
Moro reflex
occurs in response to a sudden, intense noise or movement whereas when the infant was startled, they arch its back and throws back its head, then flings out its arms and legs
Tend to disappear when the infant is 3-4 months old
Believed to be a way of grabbing for support while falling; survival value for primate ancestors
grasping reflex
occurs when something touches the infant’s palms and they respond by grasping tightly
Diminishes at the end of 3 months and the infant shows a more voluntary grasp
New perspective: not automatic or completely beyond the infant’s control
Gross Motor Skills
Involve large-muscle activities such as moving one’s arms and walking
Posture
dynamic process that is linked with sensory information in the skin, joints, and muscles telling us where we are in space, in vestibular organs in the inner ear that regulate balance and equilibrium, and in vision and hearing
First Year: Motor Development Milestones and Variations
Development in 2nd Year
Toddlers become more motorically skilled and mobile
Motor activity is vital to the child’s competent development , and few restrictions, except for safety which should be placed on their adventures
Infants given a head-start in becoming physically active versus those who did not
Swaddling (wrapping an infant tightly in a blanket): show slight delays in motor development
Fine Motor Skills
Involve finely tuned movements (e.g., grasping a toy, using a spoon, buttoning a shirt, or any activity requiring finger dexterity)
Newborns have many components of what will become finely coordinated arm, hand, and finger movements
Palmar grasp
infants grip with the whole hand
Pincer grasp
infants grasp small objects with their thumb and forefinger
Perceptual-motor coupling
necessary for the infant to coordinate grasping
Infants use different perceptual systems to coordinate grasping
Experience plays a role in reaching and grasping —> increased object exploration and attention focusing skills at 15 months of age
Sensation
occur when information interacts with sensory receptors--eyes, tongue, nostrils and skin
Vision: rays of light contact the eyes, becoming focused on the retina and are transmitted by the optic nerve to the visual centers of the brain
Hearing: waves of pulsating air collected by outer ear and transmitted through bones of the inner ear to auditory nerve
Perception
interpretation of what is sensed
Air waves in ears as noise or musical sounds
Gibson’s Ecological View
Our perceptual system can select from the rich information that the environment itself provides
We directly perceive information that exists in the world around us
Ecological view
we directly perceive information that exists in the world around us
Connects perceptual capabilities to information available in the world of the perceiver
Perception = action by cueing info
Affordance
opportunities for interaction offered by objects that fit within our capabilities to perform activities
Pot in adults (something to cook) versus in infants (something to bang)
We directly and accurately perceive these affordances by sensing info from the environment and from our own bodies
Perceptual Narrowing
infants are more likely to distinguish faces to which they have been exposed than faces that they have never seen before
Infant’s color vision improves by 8 weeks or possibly as early as 4 weeks —> can discriminate between some colors
4 months: have color preferences that mirror adults’; preferring saturated colors
Changes in vision reflect biological origins and maturation
intermodal perception
involves integrating information from two or more sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing.
Perceptual constancy
sensory stimulation is changing but perception of physical world remains constant
If undeveloped: each time an infant sees an object at a different distance or in a different orientation —> perceive it as a different object
Size Constancy
an object remains the same even though the retinal image of the object changes as you move toward or away from the object
The farther away from the object, the smaller its image is on our eyes
Babies at 3 months show size constancy but continues to develop until 10 or 11 years of age
Shape constancy
Recognition that an object remains the same shape even though its orientation to us changes
Babies as young as 3 months have shape constancy, but do not shape constancy for irregularly shaped objects such as tilted planes
Loudness
infants cannot hear soft sounds quite well after birth
On whispering: newborn requires that sounds be closer to normal conversational level to be heart at that distance
Loudness perception do not reach adult levels until 5-10 years of age
Pitch
perception of the frequency of a sound
Infants are less sensitive to low-pitched sounds and are more likely to hear high-pitched sounds
7 months: can process simultaneous pitches when hearing voices but are more likely to encode higher-pitched voice
2 years: able to distinguish sounds of different pitch
Pain matrix
complex brain activity network that underlies pain, consisting of areas located in the thalamus, somatosensory cortex, and amygdala that involves emotional response
Smell
Newborns seem to prefer the scent of vanilla and strawberries, but dislike the odor of rotten eggs and fish
Taste
Sensitivity to taste has already been present even before birth
Prenatal newborns learn to distinguish tastes through the amniotic fluid and in breast milk after birth
Nativists
nature proponents
Ability to perceive the world in a competent, organized way is inborn or innate
Empiricists
those who emphasize learning and experience
__Gibson’s ecological vie__w: key question in infant perception is what info is available in the environment and how infants learn to generate, differentiate, and discriminate the info
Piaget: much of perceptual development in infancy must await the development of a sequence of cognitive stages for infants to construct more complex perceptual tasks
Perceptual development includes the influence of nature, nurture, and a developing sensitivity to info
Perceptual-Motor Coupling
Action can guide perception, and perception can guide action
Babies have motives too!
Infants develop perceptual-motor by a genetic plan to follow a fixed and sequential progression of stages in development
Dynamic systems and ecological view in achieving an infant’s milestone in development actively
Perceptual and motor development do not occur in isolation from each other, but are intertwined/coupled