Chapter 4: Infancy : Early Learning, Motor Skills, and Perceptual Capacties

Question 1

reflex

Answer 1

An inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation

Question 2

states of arousal

Answer 2

Different degrees of sleep and wakefulness.

Question 3

rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep

Answer 3

An “irregular” sleep state in which electrical brain-wave activity is similar to that of the waking state; eyes dart beneath the lids; heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing are uneven; and slight body movements occur. Distinguished from non-rapid-eye- movement (NREM) sleep.

Question 4

non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep

Answer 4

A “regular” sleep state in which
the body is almost motionless and heart rate, breathing, and brain-wave activity are slow and even. Distinguished from rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep.

Question 5

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

Answer 5

The unexpected death, usually during the night, of an infant under 1 year of age that remains unexplained after thorough investigation.

Question 6

neonatal behavioral assessment scale (NBAS)

Answer 6

A test developed to assess a newborn infant’s behavioral status by evaluating the baby’s reflexes, muscle tone, state changes, and responsiveness to physical and social stimuli.

Question 7

dynamic systems theory of motor development

Answer 7

A theory that views new motor skills as reorganizations of previously mastered skills, which lead to more effective ways of exploring and controlling the environment. Each new skill is a joint product of central nervous system development, the body’s movement possibilities, the child’s goals, and environmental sup- ports for the skill.

Question 8

prereaching

Answer 8

The poorly coordinated, primitive reaching movements of newborn babies.

Question 9

unlar grasp

Answer 9

The clumsy grasp of the young infant, in which the fingers close against the palm.

Question 10

pincer grasp

Answer 10

The well-coordinated grasp that emerges at the end of the first year, involving thumb and index finger opposition.

Question 11

affordances

Answer 11

The action possibilities that a situation offers an organism with certain motor capabilities. Discovery of affordances plays a vital role in perceptual differentiation.

Question 12

amodal sensory properties

Answer 12

Information that is not specific to a single modality but that overlaps two or more sensory systems, such as rate, rhythm, duration, intensity, temporal synchrony (for vision and hearing), and texture and shape (for vision and touch)

Question 13

classical conditioning

Answer 13

A form of learning that involves associating a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response. Once the nervous system makes the connection between the two stimuli, the new stimulus will produce the behavior by itself.

Question 14

conditioned response (CR)

Answer 14

In classical conditioning, a new response produced by a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is similar to the unconditioned, or reflexive, response (UCR).

Question 15

conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 15

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that,

through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), leads to a new, conditioned response (CR).

Question 16

contrast sensitivity

Answer 16

A general principle accounting for early pattern preferences, which states that if babies can detect a difference in contrast between two or more patterns, they will prefer the one with more contrast.

Question 17

differentiation theory

Answer 17

The view that perceptual development involves the detection of increasingly fine-grained, invariant features of the environment.

Question 18

extinction

Answer 18

In classical conditioning, decline of the conditioned response (CR) as a result of presenting the conditioned stimulus (CS) enough times, without being paired with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

Question 19

habituation

Answer 19

A gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation.

Question 20

imitation

Answer 20

Learning by copying the behavior of another person. Also known as modeling or observational learning.

Question 21

intermodal perception

Answer 21

Perception that combines simultaneous input from more than one modality, or sensory system, resulting in an integrated whole.

Question 22

invariant features

Answer 22

Features that remain stable in a constantly changing

perceptual world.

Question 23

mirror neurons

Answer 23

Specialized cells in many areas of the cerebral cortex in primates that underlie the ability to imitate by firing identically when a primate hears or sees an action and when it carries out that action on its own.

Question 24

operant conditioning

Answer 24

A form of learning in which a spontaneous behavior is followed by a stimulus that changes the probability that the behavior will occur again.

Question 25

perceptual narrowing effect

Answer 25

Perceptual sensitivity that becomes increasingly attuned with age to information most often encountered.

Question 26

punishment

Answer 26

In operant conditioning, removal of a desirable stimulus or presentation of an unpleasant stimulus, either of which decreases the occurrence of a response

Question 27

recovery

Answer 27

Following habituation, an increase in responsiveness to a new stimulus.

Question 28

reinforcer

Answer 28

In operant conditioning, a stimulus that increases the occurrence of a response.

Question 29

shape constancy

Answer 29

Perception of an object’s shape as stable, despite changes in the shape projected on the retina.

Question 30

size constancy

Answer 30

Perception of an object’s size as stable, despite changes in the size of its retinal image

Question 31

states of arousal

Answer 31

Different degrees of sleep and wakefulness.

Question 32

statistical learning capacity

Answer 32

The capacity to analyze the speech stream for repeatedly occurring sound sequences, through which infants acquire a stock of speech structures for which they will later learn meanings.

Question 33

unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 33

In classical conditioning, a reflexive response response that is produced by an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

Question 34

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 34

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that consistently produces a reflexive, or uncontrolled response.

Question 35

visual acuity

Answer 35

Fineness of visual discrimination.

Question 36

visual cliff

Answer 36

An apparatus used to study depth perception in infants, consisting of a Plexiglas-covered table with a central platform, from which babies are encouraged to crawl. Checkerboard patterns placed at different distances beneath the glass create the appearance of a shallow and a deep side.