Lecture 5

EXAM INFORMATION

  • Exam Date: Thursday

  • Zoom Review: Session available for those who did not attend (access via Bruin Learn)

  • Mock Exam Questions: Read questions posted by peers; focus on application of knowledge in answers.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Compare several outcomes and theories

    • Know fundamental differences between concepts

    • Understand developmental themes

PRACTICE QUESTION

  • Scenario: Freddie, a 2-year-old, shows interest in trash trucks, leading to various activities related to trucks.

  • Developmental Theme Evidence: Possible answers include:

    • The active child

    • Mechanisms of change

    • Continuity vs. Discontinuity

    • The sociocultural context

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY CONTEXT

  • Course: Psych 130

  • Lecture Focus: Infant Development

  • Instructor: Dr. Bridget Callaghan

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM LECTURE

  • WEIRD Samples: Describe implications

  • Research Methods: Examples of methods for assessing preverbal infant preferences and abilities

  • Infant Sensory Development: Understand progression (vision, audition, taste, olfaction)

  • Motor Development Milestones: Identify and discuss learning impacts

  • Learning Mechanisms: Examples of classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, and observational learning in infants

WEIRD SAMPLES DEFINITION

  • Definition: Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic

  • Research Focus: Historical emphasis on WEIRD samples in psychology

  • Critical Evaluation: Encourage the use of more diverse samples

  • Cultural Insights: Investigate how cultural differences influence developmental processes

CONTENTS OF LECTURE

  • Infant Sensory Development

    • Vision

    • Audition

    • Taste

    • Smell

    • Touch

  • Intermodal Development

  • Motor Development

  • Cultural Differences

  • Learning and Memory

  • Habituation

  • Statistical Learning

  • Conditioning

  • Observational Learning

  • Rational Learning

SENSORY DEVELOPMENT

PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY

  • Sensation: Basic information processing from sensory organs to the brain

  • Perception: Organizing and interpreting sensory information about the world

INFANT MOTIVATED BEHAVIOR

  • Infant Actions: Approach, touch, and movement reflecting motivations and knowledge

  • Preferential-Looking Technique:

    • Definition: Infants show preference for looking at certain stimuli

    • Inferences from Look Patterns: If they focus more on one stimulus, this indicates discrimination ability and preference

  • Habituation:

    • Definition: Reduction in response to a familiar object; allows focus on new stimuli

INFANT SENSORY DEVELOPMENT - VISION

  • Vision Preferences: Infants show preference for high-contrast patterns.

  • Visual Acuity:

    • Early life vision is blurry; by 8 months, vision approaches adult clarity

  • Cone Cells: In infants, these are spaced further apart than in adults, impacting color perception and detail visibility.

COLOR PERCEPTION

  • Development Timing: Color perception begins at 2 months.

  • Colors Preference: Infants prefer unique colors over mixed hues.

INFANT VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Movement Observation: Infants favor moving stimuli by 4 months; babbling babies focus more on mouths.

  • Perceptual Constancy: Evident even in newborns; infants perceive consistent size/shape despite retinal changes.

  • Object Segregation: Ability to perceive objects as separate by detecting boundaries.

INFANT FACE PERCEPTION

  • Maternal Preference: Infants show inherent preference for maternal faces shortly after birth.

  • Experience Influences: Preference for faces of different genders develops with experience; generalization by 6 months and perceptual narrowing at ~9 months.

VIOLATION OF EXPECTANCY

  • Definition: Learning process where infants respond longer to surprising events.

  • Experimentation Technique: Presenting impossible events makes infants show longer looking times.

INFANT SENSORY DEVELOPMENT - AUDITION

AUDITORY CAPABILITY

  • Development: Auditory system is more mature than visual at birth, continues to develop.

  • Enhancements: Over the first year, auditory pathways mature, improving response to sound learning.

MUSIC PERCEPTION

  • Preferences: Infants respond well to infant-directed singing and prefer it over adult-directed speech.

  • Rhythmic Movement: By 5 months, infants can coordinate movements with music.

INFANT SENSORY DEVELOPMENT - TASTE AND SMELL

  • Prenatal Taste Sensitivity: Newborns favor sweet flavors, especially the smell of breast milk.

  • Maternal Recognition: Infants can distinguish scent of their mothers from others.

INFANT SENSORY DEVELOPMENT - TOUCH

  • Exploration Phases: Oral exploration in the first months shifts to object interest around 4 months.

  • Mental Mapping: Infants start developing mental maps related to personal body awareness.

INTERMODAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Definition: The ability of infants to integrate information from various sensory inputs.

  • Example: Infants show longer looking times at familiar pacifiers even without visual cues.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

REFLEXES

  • Definition: Organized action patterns with adaptive significance (e.g., rooting, sucking/swallowing).

MILESTONES IN MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

  • Independent Sitting: Occurs at varying ages globally - 5 months in Italy (0%), 92% in Cameroon, 17% in the USA (Karasik et al., 2015).

CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

  • Stimulation Practices: Different cultures have varying approaches to stimulating motor skills; e.g., exercise in West Africa, restrictions in urban China, use of containment devices in the USA.

NEURAL MECHANISMS IN MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

  • Theoretical Shifts: Modern views combine neurological maturation with physical development, motivation, and environmental interaction to explain motor growth.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANCE

  • Exploration Motivation: Infants are driven to move, significantly expanding their environment and interactions.

  • Quantitative Aspect: Walking infants average 2300 steps per hour.

REACHING MOVEMENTS

  • Development: Progress from clumsy swiping at objects (pre-reaching) to successful reaching by about 4 months, aided by visual experiences.

LEARNING & MEMORY

HABITUATION

  • Adaptive Benefit: This allows infants to focus on novel stimuli rather than familiar ones, which assists in learning.

STATISTICAL LEARNING

  • Concept: Picking up on regularities in the environment; can occur across multiple domains such as speech and music.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

  • Example: Infants learn to anticipate regular outcomes, such as sucking in response to a bottle.

  • Terminology: flush:

    • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Nipple present.

    • Unconditioned Response: Sucking reflex.

    • Conditioned Stimulus: Neutral bottle leading to learned behavior.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

  • Reinforcement Example: Infants learn to move their legs to make a mobile jiggle, demonstrating memory and learning as early as 2 months.

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

  • Definition: Learning by observing the behavior of others.

  • Imitation Example: An 18-month-old learns to perform intended actions even when the model fails, but does not imitate machinery.

RATIONAL LEARNING

  • Definition: Using past experiences to inform future predictions.

  • Active Learning: Engaging with the environment boosts learning, often driven by surprise.

  • Example of Outcome Surprise: Infants react with surprise when unexpected results occur (e.g., finding mostly white when expecting red).

SUMMARY

  • Key Insights: Infant development is highly variable across cultures; fast development doesn't equate to better outcomes.

  • Research Methods: Non-verbal measures (e.g., gaze time) reveal preferences and abilities in preverbal infants.

  • Milestones Impact: As infants reach milestones, they gain opportunities for further learning advancements.

  • Learning Through Interaction: Infants learn through both visual observation and physical engagement with their environment.