Development

Question 1

Preferential looking technique

Answer 1

Determining infant visual attention by presenting 2 stimuli and tracking eye movement; experimenter is blinded to images

Question 2

Habituation method

Answer 2

1 stimulus presented repeatedly until infant loses interest (habituation); new stimulus presented; if rehabituation occurs, infant can discriminate between them

Question 3

Visual evoked potential

Answer 3

Electrode placed over V1 measures neural responses to visual stimulus

Question 4

Describe visual accuity development (3)

Answer 4

Poor at birth - 20/400 to 20/600 at 1 month
Rapid increase from 6-9 months
Full accuity reached at 1 year age

Question 5

Reasons for poor visual accuity at birth (2)

Answer 5

Visual cortex not fully developed

Shape and size of cones not fully developed

Question 6

Differences between newborn cone and adult cone (2)

Answer 6

Newborn - short, fat inner segment; short, thin outer segment
Adult - long, thin inner segment; long, thin outer segment; fovea more densely populated

Question 7

Spatial frequency

Answer 7

Number of cycles per degree of visual angle

Question 8

Describe infant contrast sensitivity (3)

Answer 8

Infants can perceive contrast at only low frequencies; at low frequencies many times lower than adults; can see little or nothing beyond 2-3 cycles per degree, which is adults’ most sensitive range

Question 9

Depth perception study (Fox et al.)

Answer 9

Used random dot sterograms (patterns with a region that’s shifted in one eye); infants view pattern through stereoscope, shifted region appears to be shifted in depth; can’t see shifted region without binocularly combining images; measure whether infant follows moving 3D pattern; ability to use stereopsis evident (infants used binocular disparity to view moving 3D object image); limitation: eye-tracking may not be due to stereopsis, rather cue of movement of image

Question 10

Describe development of depth perception (3)

Answer 10

Stereopsis appears at 3-4 months, crude
Gets better - at 2-3 years have fairly good binocular disparity
Adult levels reached ~12 years

Question 11

Binocular disparity study (Aslan)

Answer 11

Recorded infant eye movements between two objects at different distances; convergence and divergence observed in 1-2 month old infants, not reliable; 3-4 month fixation reliable

Question 12

Depth perception study (Held)

Answer 12

6-9-month-old infants; modified version of Fox et al. study, did not use moving image, rather preferential looking technique (controlled for cue of movement); better methodology

Question 13

Visual cliff study results (Gibson & Walk)

Explanation

Answer 13

6 months - would crawl across the deep side
8 months - would not
3 months - when placed on cliff side, observed widening of eyes and increase in heart rate
Depth perception present at 6 months but no understanding of concequences of falling

Question 14

Familiar size study results (Granrud et al.)

Explanation

Answer 14

7 months - reached for object
5 months - did not
Used familiar size to interpret bigger object as now being closer

Question 15

Pictorial cues (4)

Answer 15

Overlap, perspective, texture gradients, familiar size

Question 16

Development of face perception found from simulated study (4)

Answer 16

Infant - poor but develops rapidly in first year, can still see some features
8 weeks - easy to identify face
3-4 months - can distinguish between face emotions and cats vs dogs
6 months - acuity near adult levels

Question 17

Perceiving faces study (Morton & Johnson)

Answer 17

Stimuli presented to newborns hour after birth; infants paid more attention to moving face vs other face-like stimuli

Question 18

Why does face perception not reach full levels until adolescence?

Answer 18

Smaller FFA in 8-year-olds

Question 19

Preference for faces (Turati et al.) results

Answer 19

1-4-day-olds look longer at displays with more elements in top half
No preference for face-like images

Question 20

Perceiving object unity study (Kellman and Spelke)

Answer 20

Tested 4-month-old infants; rod behind block, two conditions - moving and not moving rod; dishabituation occured for disjointed rod in movement condition, indicating inference of continuity made through movement behind block

Question 21

Newborn hearing (Olsho et al.) study

Answer 21

Presented sounds to newborns and older infants, tracked head movements; newborns turned head to sounds location
3-month-olds - audibility curve similar shape to adults, shifted upwards
6-month-olds - audibility curve similar to adults within 10-15 dB

Question 22

Preference for mother’s voice study (DeCasper and Fifer) results

Answer 22

2-day-olds showed preference for mother’s voice over stranger’s by adjusting sucking pattern; other studies show preference for native language

Question 23

Perceiving speech study (Eimas et al.) results

Answer 23

1-month-olds exposed to phonemes of different VOTs; dishabituation occurs when VOT crosses phonetic boundary; no change for simuli on same side of phonetic boundary or for unchanging stimulus

Question 24

Development of phoneme perception (2)

Answer 24

Birth - can distinguish between phonemes of all human languages
1 year - only phonemes of native language can be distinguished

Question 25

Tactile and visual perception study (Kaye and Bower) results

Answer 25

1-day-olds modified sucking behaviour to view image of pacifier they were sucking

Question 26

Intermodal sound and vision perception study (Kuhl & Meltzoff) results

Answer 26

4-month-olds matched face to phoneme produced by paying more attention to correct face (74% of time)

Question 27

Intermodal perception of mother study on brand-newborns (Sai) results

Answer 27

Newborns showed preference for mother’s face when they had heard her talk before testing, linking her voice to her face
Newborns who had not heard their mother’s face prior to testing showed no preference for mother’s face

Question 28

Development of olfaction and taste

Answer 28

Newborns react to a number of olfactory stimuli

No responses to salty stimuli, which develops later

Question 29

Paired comparsion method

Answer 29

Stimulus is presented during familiarization period; then paired with novel stimulus (recognition period); if newborn pays more attention to novel stimulus, discrimination evident

Question 30

Paired comparison study (Pascalis et al.) results

Answer 30

All ages show recognition of novel human face; only 6-month-olds can discriminate between primate faces; 9-month-olds can not

Question 31

PLT perceiving mother’s face study

Answer 31

Preferential looking technique - 2-day-olds prefer mother’s face 63% of the time

Question 32

Perceiving object unity (Johnson et al.) study

Answer 32

Newborns did not prefer disjointed rod after habituation; 3-month-olds can be perceivers or nonperceivers