Developmental Psychology 1 - Cognitive Development

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to cognitive development in infants as outlined in the lecture notes.

Cognitive Development

The process through which infants and children acquire the ability to think, learn, and make decisions.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a repeated stimulus, showing that the infant has become accustomed to it.

Dishabituation

An increase in response to a new stimulus after habituation has occurred, indicating recognition of a change.

Visual Acuity

The clarity or sharpness of vision, which improves significantly during infancy.

Attention Development

The process of learning to focus on specific stimuli and manage attention efficiently throughout early life.

Elicited Imitation Task

A method used to assess recall memory in infants by having them replicate a series of actions they have previously observed.

Cross-Model Perception

The ability to integrate and relate information from different sensory modalities, such as visual and auditory stimuli.

Operant Conditioning

A learning principle where behaviors are influenced by the consequences that follow them.

Visual Cliff Experiment

A series of studies assessing depth perception in infants by observing their willingness to cross a perceived drop-off.

Social Smile

A type of smile that is observed in infants and indicates pleasure, used to elicit interaction from adults.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not observed, developing around 8-12 months.

Acuity Test

An assessment used to measure visual sharpness and clarity, often employed in developmental psychology for infants.