chapter 5

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimuli from our environment

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

process of organization and interpreting sensory information
- studied in babies through preferential-looking technique

Question 3

visual activity

Answer 3

the sharpness and clarity of vision

Question 4

contrast sensitivity

Answer 4

ability to detect differences in light/dark areas in a visual pattern

Question 5

rods

Answer 5

enable us to see basic shapes and forms
- allows us to see in low levels off light

Question 6

cons

Answer 6

allows us to see in color
- sensitive to detail
- require more light than rods

Question 7

color perception

Answer 7

appears at 2 months
- preference for unique hues over color combinations

Question 8

talking faces - visual scanning

Answer 8

particularly important sources of information for infants
- 4 months: primary fixation on uses of talking faces before productive speech
- after babbling: primary fixation on speaker’s mouth

fixation earlier for bilingual infants

Question 9

smooth pursuit eye movements

Answer 9

visual behavior in which the viewer’s gaze shifts at the same rate and angle as a moving object

Question 10

face perception - perceptual narrowing

Answer 10

newborn
- general bias for face like shows interest in human/monkey right side up faces

6 months
- discriminate between human/monkey faces (generalist)

9 months
- only human face discrimination (specialist)

Question 11

perceptual constancy

Answer 11

perception of objects being constant size, shape, color, etc., in spite of physical differences in the retinal image of the object

Question 12

object segregation

Answer 12

identification of separate objects in a visual array

Question 13

optical expansion

Answer 13

when the visual image of an object increases in size as the object comes toward us, oscillating more and more in the background

Question 14

binocular disparity

Answer 14

differences between the retinal image of an object in each eye that results in two slightly different signals being sent to the brain

Question 15

stereopsis

Answer 15

process by which the visual cortex combines the differing neural signals caused by binocular disparity

Question 16

monocular depth (pictorial cues)

Answer 16

perceptual cues of depth that can be perceived by one eye alone

Question 17

auditory localizatiion

Answer 17

perception of the location in space of a sound source

Question 18

melodic perception

Answer 18

infants can make perceptual discrimination that adults cannot

Question 19

McGurk Effect

Answer 19

auditory - visual illusion that illustrates how perceivers merge information for speech sounds across the senses

example:
- hear “ba”
- see someone articulate “ga”
- we may perceive the sound as “da”

Question 20

reflex

Answer 20

innate, fixed tightly organized patterns of action that occur ini responses to particular stimulation

Question 21

examples of reflexes

Answer 21

rooting
sucking/swallowing
tonic neck
moro (startle)
grasping
stepping

Question 22

rooting

Answer 22

turning of the head and opening of the mouth in the direction of the touch

Question 23

sucking / swallowing

Answer 23

oral response when the roof of the mouth is stimulated

Question 24

tonic neck

Answer 24

when the head turns or is positioned to one side, the arms on that side of the body extends, while the arm and knee on the other side flex

Question 25

moro (startled)

Answer 25

throwing back thee head and extending the arms, then rapidly drawing them in, in repose to a loud sound or sudden movement

Question 26

grasping

Answer 26

closing the fingers around an object that its pressed to the palm

Question 27

stepping

Answer 27

stepping or dancing with the feet when being held upright with feet touching a solid surface

Question 28

affordances

Answer 28

possibilities for action offered, or afforded, by objects/situations

Question 29

scale-error

Answer 29

the attempt by a young child to perform an action on a mini object that is impossible due to relative sizes

Question 30

pre-reaching movements

Answer 30

clumsy swiping movement by young infants toward the general vicinity of objects they see

Question 31

self-locomotion

Answer 31

ability to move oneself around the environment

Question 32

learning and memory (ways)

Answer 32

habituation
statistical learning
classical conditioning
instrumental (operant) conditioning
observational learning
rational learning
active learning

Question 33

habituation

Answer 33

simplest form of learning
- involves a decrease in response to repeated or continued stimulation

Question 34

statistical learning

Answer 34

environment contains a high level or regularity and redundancy
- infants are highly sensitive to regularity

Question 35

classical conditioning

Answer 35

pavlov
a form of learning that consists of associating an initially neutral stimulus with a stimulus that always evokes a particular reflective response
- unconditioned stimulus
- unconditioned response
- conditioned stimulus
- conditioned response

Question 36

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 36

a stimulus that evokes a reflexive response

Question 37

unconditioned response

Answer 37

a reflexive response that is elicited by unconditioned stimulus

Question 38

conditioned stimulus

Answer 38

the neutral stimulus that is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Question 39

conditioned response

Answer 39

the originally reflexive response that comes too be elicited bu the conditioned stimulus

Question 40

instrumental conditioning

Answer 40

aka - operant conditioning
specific consequences are associated with a voluntary behavior
- rewards = increase behavior
- punishment = decrease behavior

• operants
• positive reinforcement

Question 41

operants

Answer 41

behaviors emitted by the animal to receive the reward

Question 42

positive reinforcement

Answer 42

reward that follows a behavior and increased the likelihood of that behavior repeating

Question 43

observational learning

Answer 43

imitation - form of observational learning

• babies will do this
• at 6 months, imitation of more complex actions

Question 44

rational learning

Answer 44

ability to use prior experiences to predict what will occur in the future

Question 45

violation of expectation

Answer 45

use infant “surprise” at unexpected outcomes to draw inferences about their expectations

Question 46

active learning

Answer 46

learning by acting on the world rather than passively observing objects and events
- surpriser can drive active learning