Jan 26 - Lifespan development: childhood

Research methods

• cross sectional design: measure people of different ages at a single point in time

• Longitudinal design: repeatedly test same group of people over multiple points in time

• Sequential design: test people of different ages across multiple points in time

• Looking time (infants): record length of time eyes fixate on different stimuli → Fantz looking chamber

  • Can indicate; preference - look longer at things they prefer to look at (find meaningful), discrimination - they look longer. At something that they see as different from whatever was before, what they find puzzling or unexpected

• perceptual development

  • Visual perception; nearsighted at birth (20-40cm), rapid improvement (adult like vision at age 4), newborns are most attentive to faces and face like stimuli

  • Auditory perception; already well developed

  • Morton and Johnson → tracked face like stimulus te longest