Chapter 4: Infancy : Early Learning, Motor Skills, and Perceptual Capacties Flashcards
reflex
An inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation
states of arousal
Different degrees of sleep and wakefulness.
rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep
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.
non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep
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.
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
The unexpected death, usually during the night, of an infant under 1 year of age that remains unexplained after thorough investigation.
neonatal behavioral assessment scale (NBAS)
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.
dynamic systems theory of motor development
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.
prereaching
The poorly coordinated, primitive reaching movements of newborn babies.
unlar grasp
The clumsy grasp of the young infant, in which the fingers close against the palm.
pincer grasp
The well-coordinated grasp that emerges at the end of the first year, involving thumb and index finger opposition.
affordances
The action possibilities that a situation offers an organism with certain motor capabilities. Discovery of affordances plays a vital role in perceptual differentiation.
amodal sensory properties
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)
classical conditioning
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.
conditioned response (CR)
In classical conditioning, a new response produced by a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is similar to the unconditioned, or reflexive, response (UCR).
conditioned stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that,
through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), leads to a new, conditioned response (CR).
contrast sensitivity
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.
differentiation theory
The view that perceptual development involves the detection of increasingly fine-grained, invariant features of the environment.
extinction
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).
habituation
A gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation.
imitation
Learning by copying the behavior of another person. Also known as modeling or observational learning.
intermodal perception
Perception that combines simultaneous input from more than one modality, or sensory system, resulting in an integrated whole.
invariant features
Features that remain stable in a constantly changing
perceptual world.
mirror neurons
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.
operant conditioning
A form of learning in which a spontaneous behavior is followed by a stimulus that changes the probability that the behavior will occur again.
perceptual narrowing effect
Perceptual sensitivity that becomes increasingly attuned with age to information most often encountered.
punishment
In operant conditioning, removal of a desirable stimulus or presentation of an unpleasant stimulus, either of which decreases the occurrence of a response
recovery
Following habituation, an increase in responsiveness to a new stimulus.
reinforcer
In operant conditioning, a stimulus that increases the occurrence of a response.
shape constancy
Perception of an object’s shape as stable, despite changes in the shape projected on the retina.
size constancy
Perception of an object’s size as stable, despite changes in the size of its retinal image
states of arousal
Different degrees of sleep and wakefulness.
statistical learning capacity
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.
unconditioned response (UCR)
In classical conditioning, a reflexive response response that is produced by an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that consistently produces a reflexive, or uncontrolled response.
visual acuity
Fineness of visual discrimination.
visual cliff
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.
