area 3 child psychology Flashcards
what is perception?
The organisation and interpretation of sensory information
its a combination of information received by a sense receptor and the brain interpretation of what that means
what is the nativist view on perception?
humans are born with at least some genetically pre disposed perceptual abilities, even if they are not all immediately evident and only appear later
what is the constructivist view on perception?
that our perceptual abilities develop through learning as we make sense of the sensations we experience, so we are born with little or no perceptual abilities.
what is the interactionist view on perception?
we are born with a strong pre disposition to develop certain perceptual abilities that are important for survival ( visual system capable of perceiving depth/distance), but these develop in response to experiences we have of a complex sensory environment (cues to depth such as shadows and textures)
what is 3 dimensional perception?
ability to perceive depth or distance promotes survival because it prevents us from falling over and helps us avoid drops.
how do we develop 3 dimensional perception?
our brains can interpret depth cues, which are features of our environment that give us info about how far away objects are and where they are in relation to each other.
we perceive objects as constant (unchanging) even though we see them from various angles and distances
what are some examples of constancies?
colour
shape
size
what are some examples of depth cues?
linear perspective
height in plane
superimposition
texture gradient
what did bower test?
the ability of babies between 8 – 17 days old to precieve depth/distance in a situation important for their survival – recognising objects that appear to be heading towards them.
what did bower find
babies raised their arms and heads in response to the closer object showing that babies could distinguish between the two objects even though the objects created the same sized retinal image, suggesting some degree of depth perception present only days after birth
how did bower study it?
showed babies two cubed shaped objects, one larger than the other. Each baby watched as the larger object moved to within 20cm of them and the smaller object to within 8cm.meant that the images the objects projected onto the babies retinas would be the same size as each other
what did hudson do?
showed several drawings two dimensional drawings to South African children and adults who had formal primary education (schooled) and those who had not (unschooled)
what did hudson find?
schooled participants said that the hunter was attempting to spear the antelope
unschooled could not recognise depth cues in the picture implying that depth perception is (at least partly) learned through experience of the visual environment – unschooled had less experience of these kinds of images.
what did fantz study?
showed new born babies a selection of images, including a black and white representation of a human face. In a development of the procedure he scrambled the images.
what did fantz find?
young babies showed no preference for the correct image over a scrambled one but they did at 3 months
1 week- patterned surfacesz
2 months- 3d compared to 2d
what does research show about babies development of facial perception?
At one month – babies look intently at the ‘edges’ or contours of the face but not at the centre
2/3 months – they look at the centre of the face, probably controlled by neural circuits in the developing Cerebral Cortex. – This is when babies begin to perceive human faces as a whole rather than as a collection of parts.
what is Preferential Looking?
assumes that babies generally look at things they find interesting and measures the amount of time spent looking at two stimuli.
how is preference established in the preferential looking method?
If they spend longer looking at one that the other (preference) this indicates they can distinguish between the two.
what is habituation?
Babies spend longer looking at something that they haven’t seen before but once they are used to it (become habituated) they will look elsewhere.
how is habituation measured?
present a stimulus to the baby and records how long the baby looks at it. When the baby looks away, the stimulus is taken away for a short time before being presented again. repeated several times over the course of which the baby looks at the stimulus for less and less. They become used to the stimulus (no longer interests them) – this is habituation
what is dishabituation?
The researcher then presents a completely new stimulus. If the baby once again looks for a longer time, we can say they are dishabituated i.e they have shown that they can see there is a difference between the two stimuli.
how is a Electroencephalogram (EEG) gathered when using babies?
a baby’s EEG can be recorded placing a geodesic sensor net over their head. – A collection of sensors measure electrical activity all over the brain held together with a swimming cap as fMRI cant be used
what did farzin do?
used a G Net with 128 sensors to measure steady state visual potentials in babies (spikes in brain activity caused by visual stimuli) in this case faces. found activity centred on the temporal lobe on the right hemisphere.
what is dark rearing?
Rearing infant animals in the dark is common technique for investigating the development of perception and addressing the crucial question of whether nature or nurture is a key influence as Dark reared are deprived of perceptual stimulation
