Infancy Flashcards
brain and nervous system
- develop very quickly during the first 2 years
- mid-brain
- cortex
- rapid myelinization
midbrain function
- regulates vital function
- almost fully developed at birth
cortex function
- less developed at birth
- involves perception, body movement, thinking, language
reflexes
- help newborns survive
- some reflexes disappear in infancy or childhood, while others persist through life
- rooting, babinski, moro
reflexes: rooting
- touch the side of the cheek
- will turn towards the touch
- will open mouth to suck
reflexes: babinski
- sole of foot is touched
- infants toes fan out
- shows neural connections throughout the body
reflexes: moro
sudden loss of support makes infants arch their backs and throw out their arms and legs
behavioural sleep states
- patterns stabilize with age
- cultural beliefs play a role in responses to child’s sleep patterns
neonates - sleep 80% of time
8 weeks - babies begin to sleep through the night
6 months - babies sleep 13 hours per day
- clear nighttime and daytime patterns = established
cries
- basic cry
- angry cry
- pain cry
- colic
basic cry
- signals hunger
- rhythmical pattern
angry cry
louder and more intense than basic cry
pain cry
very abrupt onset
colic
- unknown cause
- intense daily bouts of crying
- totals 3+ hours per day for several months
attention to crying
prompt attention to crying in the first 3 months leads to less crying later
sensory skills
newborns and young infants have more capacity than physicians/psychologists thought
visual acuity
- how well one can see at a distance
- v.a of newborn = 40x worse than normal adult
- v.a of 6m = 6x worse than normal adult
- develops rapidly in the first year thanks to synaptogenesis and myelinization
- infants can see near objects clearly
tracking
- process of following a moving object
- initially inefficient but improves rapidly
- important for preference technique
colour vision
- red, green, blue present by 1m
- ability to sense colour is almost identical to adults
depth perception
- 4m = binocular cues beginning
- associated with movement and navigation
/ regression around 5-6m
/ improvement around 11-12m
/ regression 12m - as mobility changes, vision adapts
auditory acuity
- newborns hear nearly as well as adults
- high pitch noises need to be loud to be heard
- infants can locate the direction of sound at birth
smell and taste
- nearly unlimited variations
- newborns react differently to each basic taste
touch and motion
- best developed of all sense
- responsive to gentle social touching
- important for early brain developement
perceptual development
- preference technique
- habituation/dishabituation
- operant conditioning
perceptual development: preference technique
- longer time looking at something
- reveals what captures the baby’s attention
perceptual development: habituation/dishabituation
- after diminished response to stimulus, renewed interest in a slightly different stimulus indicates that the infant has noticed a change
perceptual development: operant conditioning
- when learned response is established, experimenter can vary the stimulus in some systematic way
- sees whether baby still responds
- in older infants, we see motivation, socialization
cognitive changes in infancy
- changes in cognitive abilities are highly consistent across environments
- 2 year old has not achieved cognitive maturity, but has taken many steps
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage
- first stage of development
- 18-24 months
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage
- first stage of development
- 18-24 months = beginning of mental representation
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage: circular stages
primary:
- begin to repeat pleasurable actions
secondary:
- intentionally repeat actions to trigger a response
tertiary:
- trial + error experimentation
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage: object permanence
- understanding that objects continue to exist even if they cannot be seen
object permanence: 2 months
rudimentary expectations shown by surprise when an object disappears
object permanence: 6-8 months
looking for partially hidden object
object permanence: 8-12 months
- reaching for a toy that is hidden
- A not B error
- may be possessed looking at place where object once was
imitation (2 months)
can imitate actions they see themselves make
imitation (8-12 months)
can imitate other people’s facial expressions
imitation (12 months)
- imitation of any action that wasn’t in child’s repertoire begins
- deferred imitation begins
deferred imitation
child’s imitation of some action at a later time
challenges to Piaget’s theory
- underestimated cognitive capacity of infants
- may have wrongly equated child’s lack of physical ability with lack of cognitive understanding
- object permanence occurs much earlier
- imitation sequence of skills occur earlier than proposed
learning
- permanent change in behaviour that results from experience
- babies show evidence of learning from their first moments and organize their interactions through their environment
conditioning and modeling
- research supports presence of classical and operant conditioning
- conditioning of fear and extinction of fear
theoretical perspectives on language
- behaviourist
- nativist
- interactionist
behavioural perspective on language
- infants learn language through parental reinforcement of wordlike sounds
nativist perspective on language
- innate language processor = language acquisition device
- contains the basic grammatical structure of all human interaction
- guides comprehension and production of language
interactionist perspective on language
- infants are biologically prepared to attend to language
- language development is a sub-process of cognitive development
influence
- experience in early years influence language most
- being read to often is very critical
- children whose parents talk to them often develop richer vocabulary sentences
language development: 2-3 months
- make cooing sounds when alone
- responds with smiles and cooing when talked to
language development: 4-5 months
- begins to make some consonant sounds with cooing
language development: 6 months
- babbles
- utters phonemes of all language
language development: 8-9 months
- focuses on phonemes, rhythm and intonation of language spoken in the household
- receptive vocabulary of 20 to 30 words
language development: 12 months
- expressive language emerges
- says single words
language development: 12-18 months
- use word-gesture combinations combined with variations in tones
- holophrases
language development: 18-20 months
- uses two word sentences
- telegraphic speech
- has expressive vocabulary of 100 to 200 words
expressive language
- ability to produce words
- 12 months - babies begin to say first words
individual differences in language
-difference in rate
- difference in style (expressive vs referential)
Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective
- oral stage = 0-2 years
- believed that fixation would manifest itself in oral behaviours such as nail-biting and swearing
- emphasizes symbiotic relationship between the mother and young infant
early relationships and attachment
- important to respond to infant’s needs through talking, comforting
- infant learns to trust the world
- attachment theory
attachment
emotional tie to a parent experienced by an infant, from which the child derives security
attachment theory
ability and need to form attachment relationships early on in life are genetic characteristics of all human beings
Konrad Lorenz: imprinting
psychological phenomenon of how animals form attachment to first being interacted with
Bowlby’s theory on attachment
- non-focused orienteering and signalling (0-2 months)
- focus on one or more figures (3-6 months)
- secure base behaviour (6-7 months)
- internal model (24 months +)
WHEN COMFORTABLE, BABIES START INTERNALIZAING B FROM OTHERS
theories on attachment
- emphasis on active role played by infant’s early social signaling system
- stress development of mutual attachments
- attachment = dyadic relationship
- long term bonds develop from synchrony
Ainsworth experiment
- mother and child play alone in the lab
- stranger joins mother and child
- mother leaves room and child is left with the stranger (or left alone)
- mother returns and tries to comfort the child
Ainsworth’s attachments
- secure
- insecure-ambivalent
- insecure-avoidant
- disorganized
secure attachment
- child is upset when mother is separated
- comforted when she comes back
insecure-ambivalent attachment
- child is upset when the mother is separated
- cannot be comforted when she comes back
insecure-avoidant attachment
- child does not care when the mother is separated
- child does not care when she comes back
disorganized attachment
- child shows inconsistent, contradictory, unpredictable behaviour over several trials
internal working model
- person’s perception of themselves as a child, their caregivers, nature of interactions, interpretations of relationships
- caregivers recreate their relationship with their children + their interpretation of what happened
mother and child relationship
(child = secure, mother is autonomous)
- mother is not dealing with unresolved concerns concerning her own experience
- is able to be sensitive to her child’s communications
mother and child relationship
(child = insecure-avoidant, mother is dismissing)
- mother is reluctant to acknowledge her own attachment needs
- is insensitive and unresponsive to her child’s needs
mother and child relationship
(child = insecure-ambivalent, mother is preoccupied)
- mother is confused about her attachment history
- inconsistent in her interactions with her child
outcomes of stable attachments
- are more effective when solving a problem
- display more advanced cognitive abilities at age 7
- display more emotion variation in conversation and socialization
- display less frustration/crying/whining
- exhibit more complex exploratory behaviour
- engage in more symbolic and pretend play
- regulate emotions better
personality
pattern of responding to people and objects in the environment
temperament
inborn predispositions that form the foundations of personality with key dimensions
temperament dimensions: activity level
tendency to move often and vigorously
temperament dimensions: approach emotionality
- tendency to move toward new experiences
- usually accompanied by positive emotion
temperament dimensions: inhibition
tendency to respond to fear or withdrawal in new situations
temperament dimensions: effortful control
ability to stay focused and to manage attention and effort
temperament dimensions: negative emotionality
tendency to respond with anger, fussing, loudness
origins of stability of temperament
- genetic factors
- goodness of fit in the environment
- long-term stability across the lifespan
self-concept
- subjective self
- emotional self
subjective self
- aware that they are a separate person
- can differentiate objects and people at 2 months
- can differentiate images of themselves and others at 5-8 months
- babies usually aware of subjective self at 8-12 months
- ability to recognize oneself develops around 18 months
emotional self
- begins when baby identifies change in emotions expressed in others’ faces
- understanding of self increases, increase in expression of emotions
- 11-12m = caregiver’s emotions guide infant’s
- 22-24m = self-conscious emotional expressions emerge
