Infancy Flashcards
What does William James say about Infancy?
babies have very few innate abilities, and are overwhelmed by their environment.
What does Jean Piaget say about Infancy?
Thought becomes structured as a result of experience
what do gestalt psychologists say about infancy?
Babies come into the world with a skill set that is unique to them. They are biologically programmed to learn.
What do we now know about infancy?
Babies are born biologically prepared to learn. They can develop preferences or biases, they can have physical biases.
What is a reflex?
An inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation. They occur as a function of environmental stimuli
They also serve as an adaptive purpose (survival)
What is the sucking reflex?
They will suck on whatever you put in their mouth. This helps them with nursing
What is the stepping reflex?
if you hold a newborn infant up, they will automatically make stepping motions. This gets them the feeling of walking, and helps them to build muscles.
What is the moro reflex?
If you hold a baby out, they will flail their arms and legs. This helps an infant cling to their mom
What is the palmar grasp?
if you put anything in a newborns hand, they will grasp it. This helps prepare an infant for later skills.`
What is the babinski reflex?
If you stroke the bottom of an infants foot, they will flail their toes then curl them in.
What is gross motor development?
Control over actions that help infants get around in their environment. (Crawling, standing, walking, rolling over)
What is fine motor development?
These are small scale movements. These include reaching and grasping.
What are the milestones for gross motor development?
Sits alone- 7 months
Crawls- 8 months
Stands alone- 11 months
walks alone- 12 months
What are the milestones for fine motor development?
Ulnar grasp- 3-4 months
Moving objects hand-to-hand- 4-5 months
pincer grasp- 9 months
How to determine wether an infant likes one item over another based on their experience in the womb
Sucking behaviour.
This is used to indicate wether infants can discriminate two items and/or prefer one item over another.
deCasper and Spence did a stiudy in 1986 where they had a pregnant women read passages aloud in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, and then read it to them when they were out of the womb they sucked more at the familiar passage than at the novel passage
What is the visual preference paradigm?
Used to assess wther infants can tell the difference between two stimuli. if the stimuli are perceived the same, they should look at them about the same length of time
What is attractiveness bias?
The baby will look at the more attractive face for longer.
What is habituation?
A decrease in response as a result of repeated presentation stimuli
What is dishabituation?
After habituation, a new stimulus is presented that increases the level of responding
What is the violation of expectation paradigm?
Monitor an infants reaction to an unexpected event to infer what he/she knows. if an event is impossible and the infant looks at it longer, it means they are surprised by it, and therefore understand it is impossible.
3 month olds show no understanding
4.5 month old is surprised by the impossible event
what visual aspects do newborns show deficits in?
Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, convergence, coordination, colour perception
What are infant visual preferences?
Movement: Movement is interesting to infants will spend a lot of time looking at it
Areas of high contrast: they can see the contrast between items
Sometimes infants prefer familiarity, sometimes novelty
What are some growth curves?
Weight
height
head curcumfrence
What are milestones in language development?
Birth-3 months: Pre speech, cooing
4-6 months: Babbaling
7 months to 1 year: UNderstands common words
First words around first borthday
