Chapter 5: Sensation, perception etc. Flashcards
What is cognitive development?
Development of behaviors related to perception, attention, thinking and problem-solving
What is a mental representation?
An internal description of aspects of reality that persists when that aspect is absent
What is visual accommodation?
Control of focusing the eye
What are two ways of investigating infant perception?
- Visual preference method
- Habituation techniques
What is the visual preference method?
See if infants have preferences for stimuli. The amount of looking time is measured
What is the habituation technique? What does it say when an infant can habituate? What does an infant do if it can habituate?
Attention to a stimulus gradually declines over time and recovers when a new stimulus is presented
–> if infant habituates, it tells you it has visual memory
–> infant would look longer at new stimulus
Do infants discriminate based on forms or on single features?
Newborns perceive simple shapes as a whole, not as a collection of parts
What is the difference between size and shape constancy? How do newborns respond to these tasks?
Size: understanding that object is the same despit its position in space
Shape: perception of constant form from different angles
Newborns: look longer at different size objects than the same object at a new distance –> so newborns can perceive shape/size constancy
What is object unity?
Understanding that an object is whole or complete even though it’s partially hidden
What is the development of object unity in infants according to Kellman?
Newborns don’t perceive object unity
2 mths olds have object unity only if narrow blockade
4 mths olds have object unity
What is a subjective contour? How does it develop after birth?
When only parts of an object are presented, the remaining contours are filled in to complete the shape
Develops shortly after birth
What does Fantz research say about face perception and infants and what is some criticism on it?
Young infants can perceive facial configuration, since they look longer at the face
Critique: infants look mostly at periphery of complex stimuli, so they look longer at face because there is more towards the edges
How is discrimination between faces measured in infants?
Visual preference technique with familiar and unfamiliar faces. Looking time is measured
What is hypothesized to be the basis on which newborns discriminate e.g. face of mother from a stranger?
Probably configurational differences
Why do infants look longer at a face rated attractive by adults than a face not rated attractive? Give a possible explanation
Attractiveness arises within a few days of birth from experience of faces –> creating own average face
What is perceptual narrowing in face processing?
Baby is born with general face recognition system. With experience this becomes a specific face recognition system
What was Piaget’s view on imitation in kids? What is some counterevidence?
Imitation is impossible until infants were capable of representing self and other
Imitation develops in late infancy
Counter: newborns imitate facial/manual gestures
What develops more quickly: face or voice recognition?
Face recognition
Describe the study where the mother read sentences during prenatal development
Mother read the same sentence multiple times per day and after birth the infant showed preference for anyone saying this sentence
This tells us that young infants and fetuses can encode speech to extract differences in rhythm and intonation
What is motherese?
Infant-directed speech
What is the difference between cognition and perception?
Cognition continues when there is no perception, so cognition is based on mental representations
What is object permanence? When does a child have this according to Piaget?
Ability to understand that even if an object is no longer visible, it still exists
Piaget: development between 9-24 months
What is the A not B error? Which age group makes the most mistakes in this?
Searching error in age group 8-12 months
They look for an object where they have most often found it rather than where they last saw it
What is the violation of expectation technique? What are the results in infants and what conclusions can we derive from this?
Infants are shown 2 events, one is realistic and the other unrealistic
Infants look longer at impossible event from 2-5 months
Conclusion: infants have object knowledge from 2-5 months
What is core knowledge?
Basic information about the world that is particularly knowledge about physical properties of objects
To which discussion did the results of the violation of expectation technique lead?
If there is core knowledge about objects in a newborn
What is subitising? From what age can you do this?
Ability in young children to perceive the number of items directly without consciously counting. This only works for small numbers
From 4-7 months onwards
What is a possible explanation of the A not B error?
Infants are unable to use the knowledge of object permanence and movement to guide their actions
Why are limitations in memory no explanation of the A not B error?
Errors were also made when object was under a transparent cover
What is the link between SES of kids and performance on the A not B task?
High SES: great overall attention and therefore more success on AB task
Low SES: delay in development abilities AB task
Why can’t a lack of attention be the explanation of the A not B error?
There is a link between success on AB task and attention, but the more attentive they are doesn’t exclude mistakes. This can’t be the only explanation
What does the AB error show?
Early knowledge on objects in infants doesn’t guide action
When does the fear of depth develop?
6 weeks after they start crawling
