Infancy

Reflexes

unlearned, involuntary responses to stimuli

Survival and primitive reflexes

survival reflexes

breathing, eye blink, pupillary, rooting, sucking, swallowing

Primitive

Babinski, grasping, moro, swimming, stepping

Babinski reflex

when sole of baby’s foot is stroked, toes fan out

Moro reflex

when sudden movement or loud noise, babies will extend arms legs, arch back, pull arms and legs back in, cry

Rooting reflex

when corner of baby’s mouth is touched, newborn will turn head and open mouth

Stepping reflex

babies will make stepping motions with feet when held upright with feet touching a solid surface

cephalocaudal development

head to tail, control of head before torso, arms, legs

proximodistal development

near to far, control of torso before arms and arms before fingers

Assessing infant perception

habituation, preferential looking, operant conditioning, evoked potentials

Infant vision

lack acuity at birth, can see 20-25 cm, prefer patterns with light/dark transitions and contour, dynamic displays, perception improves by 2-3 months

Depth perception in infants

Gibson and Walk 1960 study: infants can perceive cliff by 2 months and start to show fear around 6-7 months

Hearing in infants

hearing is better than vision, can localise and be startled, can discriminate

sensorimotor substages

reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary schemas, tertiary circular reactions, beginning of thought

reflexes

reflexive reaction to stimuli (0-1 months)

primary circular reactions

repetitive reactions relating to bodies, blowing bubbles, sucking thumb, (1-4 months)

secondary circular reactions

receptive reactions relating to environment, shaking rattle (4-8 months)

coordination of secondary schemas

coordinating actions to achieve goals, grasping, pulling (8-12 months)

Tertiary circular reactions

experimentation, repeating actions in variations, stroking, patting, pinching cat (12-18 months)

beginning of thought

symbolic thought, mental representation, imitation, recall (18-24 months)

Object permanence

4-8 months out of sight, out of mind, 8-12 A not B error, 12-18 troubles with invisible displacement, 18 months is mastered

infant emotions

earliest: crying

joy, laughter, wariness 3-4 months

fear 5-8 months

infant self concept

2-3 months, realise can cause things to happen, 6 months realise they are separate beings, 18 months recognise selves as distinct individuals