Chapter 5 - Motor, Sensory, And Percepual Development Flashcards
Dynamic Systems Theory
Seeks to explain how motor behaviours are assembled for perceiving and acting
To develop motor skills, infants must perceive something in the environment that motivates them to act and then use their perceptions to fine-tune their movements
Esther Thelen
Reflexes
Built-in reactions to stimuli
Govern the newborn’s movements, which are automatic and beyond the newborn’s control
Genetically carried survival mechanisms
Rooting Reflex
Occurs when the infant’s cheek is stroked or the side of the mouth is touched. The infant turns its head toward the side that was touched in an apparent effort to find something to suck
Sucking Reflex
Occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouth
Enables the infant to get nourishment before it has associated a nipple with food
Moro Reflex
A neonatal response that occurs in reaction to a sudden, intense noise or movement. When startled, the newborn arches its back, throws its head back, and flings out its arms and legs. Then the newborn rapidly closes its arms and legs to the center of the body
Grasping Reflex
A neonatal reflex that occurs when something touches the infant’s palms. The infant responds by grasping tightly.
Gross Motor Skills
Motor skills that involve large-muscle activities
Moving one’s arm and walking
Fine Motor Skills
Motor skills that involve more finely tuned movements, such as finger dexterity
Sensation
Reaction that occurs when information contacts sensory receptors (eyes, ears tongue, nostrils, skin)
Perception
The interpretation of sensation
Air waves that contact ears might be interpreted as noise or as musical sounds
Ecological View
The view that people directly perceive information in the world around them. Perception brings people in contact with the environment so that they can interact with and adapt to it
Gibsons
Nativist approach
Affordances
Opportunities for interaction offered by objects that are necessary to perform activities
Pot may afford you something to cook with, may afford a toddler something to bang
Visual Preference Method
A method developed to determine whether infants can distinguish one stimulus from another by measuring the length of time they attend to different stimuli
Fantz
Habituation
Decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations of the stimulus
Dishabituation
The recovery of a habituated response after a change in stimulation
