6 motor development

Question 1

What is the brain for?

Answer 1

To produce adaptable and complex movement - the only way of interacting with and influencing the world around you
If you need proof just look at the sea squirt :)

Question 2

What are reflexes?

Answer 2

fixed action patterns. displayed by newborns but some reflexes disappear with age.

Question 3

Name some reflexes present in newborns: (6)

Answer 3

• rooting
• stepping
• sucking/feeding
• grasping
• babinski
• moro

Question 4

What can long lasting/persistant reflexes be used to diagnose?

Answer 4

neurological diseases

Question 5

What are the feeding reflexes?

Answer 5

• sucking - babies suck on things that are put in their mouths - disappears at around 4 months and replaced by voluntary sucking
• rooting - babies turn their heads when their cheek is brushed - to help breastfed babies find food source

Question 6

what is the grasping reflex?

Answer 6

• when something placed into babies hand or foot they grasp it - very strong grip
• can be used in C sections deliver baby
• thought to come from baby monkeys clinging onto hairy mother monkeys
• disappears around 4 months and replaced by voluntary grasping

Question 7

What is the babinski reflex?

Answer 7

when the sole of the foot is stroked the babies toes curl up and spread out
disappears around 8-12 months

Question 8

What is the moro reflex

Answer 8

when babies fall or are startled they look like scared kitty -starfish limbs
persistance might show neurological disorder
disappears around 6 months

Question 9

Where does early simple movement arise from?

Answer 9

brain stem

Question 10

Where does most movement arise from?

Answer 10

cortex

Question 11

What is the first area of the cortex to develop?

Answer 11

The primary motor cortex

• responsible for voluntary movement
• begins with raising head, then arms, then trunk, then legs (top down)

Question 12

What is movement a sign of?

Answer 12

• First thought to be a display of neurological development/maturity
• now thought to be part of a dynamic system where perceptual skills, strength, posture, control, balance and motivation all come into play too

Question 13

Thelen et al.

Answer 13

• stepping reflex thought to disappear at 2 months but they put babies in water and when their feet touched the ground it came back
• attached weights to legs of less than 2 month olds and the reflex disappeared
• underlying reflex is still there but legs are too heavy

Question 14

_____ mothers (which country mothers do what with their babies)

Answer 14

Mali
Do exercises with their babies to aid motor development
their babies do actually develop faster

Question 15

Ages of babies motor development:

Answer 15

• 2 months - use arms to lift head and upper body/rolls over
• 3 months - supports some weight with legs (like a table)
• 4.5 months sits with no support
• 5 months stands with support
• 7 months walks around using furniture
• 9.5 months stands alone easily
• 11 months walks alone

Question 16

Reaching in infants

Answer 16

For the first few months infants are limited to pre reaching movements (clumsy swipes in the direction of an object).
They begin successfully reaching for objects at around 3/4 months

Question 17

What age do infants start successfully reaching for objects?

Answer 17

3/4 months

Question 18

Manual dexterity in infants:

Answer 18

• moves from scissor to pincer grip
• starts properly developing at 7 months when they can sit for themselves
• at 9 months they are pick up different objects in different ways depending what they plan to do with them
• by one year show sophisticated manual dexterity

Question 19

What age do infants start self locomoting?

Answer 19

8 months when they begin to crawl

Question 20

What can effect the rate at which infants start crawling?

Answer 20

• whether they are lain on backs or fronts
• possibly coz when on their fronts they want to turn over to see what mum is doing
• Fater motor development if lain on front
• However increases the incidence of SIDS/cot death by double

Question 21

What age to babies lain in their backs catch up with those on their tummies in motor development?

Answer 21

18 months

Question 22

What does other type of development does motor development allow for?

Answer 22

Perceptual development. babies start to explore objects and their affordances, primarily through their own actions.

Question 23

What age do infants start walking independently?

Answer 23

13/14 months

-they don’t transfer their crawling knowledge to walking knowledge (e.g. slopes)

Question 24

When does infants weariness of height appear?

Answer 24

-although they can perceive it via monocular depth cues they don’t understand the consequences of it until they start to move

Question 25

visual cliff

Answer 25

• children of ages 6-8 months wouldn’t cross
• children 1.5 month olds had no far of the visual cliff although they could perceive it
• early crawlers avoid heights early
• use social referencing to determine whether to cross/attempt slopes

Question 26

Infants use crawling to…

Answer 26

understand their own self movement

Question 27

Why do infants make scale errors?

Answer 27

(placed in a room with large toys then with same toys but smaller and try to play with them in the same ways..e,g. toy cars)

• centration
• failure to inhibit automatically afforded action
• dissociation between dorsal and ventral visual processing stream

Question 28

Who apart from infants show scale errors?

Answer 28

Patients with utilisation syndrome or alien hand syndrome