~Infant Perception

Question 1

Why is it hard to study babies?

Answer 1

-Infants have a limited repertoire of behaviours. We are limited to rudimentary behaviours they show in response to different stimuli, things like brain imaging, and other physiological responses.

Question 2

What is the first approach that is frequently used when studying infants?

Answer 2

Preference

Question 3

How is the Preference Method used when studying infants?

Answer 3

In the visual preference method, we present 2+ stimuli to an infant to see if they spend more time looking at one than another. This suggests they can perceive a difference between the stimuli

Question 4

Early preference studies showed that infants tended to show a preference for the circle that had features resembling a human face, was this true?

Answer 4

Follow-up studies showed that whether it was a face or not didn’t matter. The thing infants are drawn to in the early months is whether there are blocks of high contrast areas that have curved linear shapes that aren’t too complex, but give them something to engage with.

Question 5

In Fantz’ design, looking time is the ___ variable and the different visual patterns/colors are the ___

Answer 5

dependent // Independent Variable.

Question 6

What are Head-turn Preference Procedures?

Answer 6

A Preference Method of testing an infants auditory perception

Question 7

What happens during Head-turn Preference Procedures?

Answer 7

• Associate stimulus A with the left speaker and stimulus B with the right speaker. Infant hears the sound associated with the speaker they look at.
• Once the infant has learned these associations, see if they show a preference for A or B.

Question 8

Does the stimulus a baby shows a preference for in a Head-turn Preference Procedure mean they “like” it?

Answer 8

It doesn’t necessarily mean they “like” one more than the other—just what they would rather attend

Question 9

What does Preference mean?

Answer 9

Preference doesn’t mean “enjoy” or “like”, it just means they’re paying more attention to one over the other

Question 10

Babies’ listening preferences are a little bit fickle, and depend a lot upon their ___, and ___ of the situation.

Answer 10

Age // Characteristics

Question 11

Why might a baby show preference to a stimulus?

Answer 11

A baby might be paying attention because they like it, or because they find it weird or interesting.

Question 12

What is Habituation?

Answer 12

Habituation is the type of learning that happens when you learn to tune-out certain stimuli in your environment.

Question 13

What is the function of Habituation?

Answer 13

You’re learning what warrants your attention (new, startling, and surprising stimuli), but you’re learning to ignore things that are just in the background and probably not a threat to your wellbeing

Question 14

What can perform Habituation?

Answer 14

A newborn baby and a fetus can Habituate. There are single-celled organisms that have shown evidence of habituation.

Question 15

What is Dishabituation?

Answer 15

Dishabituation means you’ve stopped responding to one stimulus, but if you notice a different stimulus, you respond to that, because it’s not the thing you’ve learned to tune-out, it’s something different.

Question 16

At what age does Habituation rate increase?

Answer 16

Habituation rate increases quite a bit around 6 months

Question 17

What stimuli can newborns Habituate to?

Answer 17

Newborn infants can habituate to familiar stimuli.

Question 18

Habituation only generalizes to ___

Answer 18

highly similar stimuli

Question 19

What can we use Habituation and Dishabituation to measure?

Answer 19

We can use Habituation and Dishabituation to get a sense of when infants perceive a difference between two stimuli we present to them

Question 20

What is a High Amplitude Sucking Procedure?

Answer 20

Babies’ sucking rate is measured (and/or controls presentation of auditory stimuli)

Question 21

What age group is best for High Amplitude Sucking Procedure?

Answer 21

Good for young infants after birth.

Question 22

What is sucking behaviour associated with in the High Amplitude Sucking Procedure?

Answer 22

-Sucking behaviour does tend to be linked with their attention to stimuli. Their sucking tends to be faster when interested in something.

Question 23

Habituation studies have shown that even newborns can discriminate between ___ with different rhythms

Answer 23

Languages

Question 24

What was shown of babies’ discrimination of languages using the High Amplitude Sucking Procedure?

Answer 24

The babies noticed the difference between the English and Japanese language samples, and it was distinct enough that they were more interested in hearing the Japanese speaker. They dishabituated when the change happened.

This shows us they can perceive a difference, it tells us something about what characteristics of auditory input they’re picking up on

Question 25

What is Sensation?

Answer 25

Detection of stimuli by the sensory receptors and transmission of this information to the brain

Question 26

What is the least-developed of newborns’ sensory capabilities?

Answer 26

Vision:

• Sensitive to light (pupillary reflex)
• Rudimentary movement detection/tracking
• Limited visual acuity (approx. 20/400)
• Difficulty accommodating (adjusting shape of lens to bring object into focus)

Question 27

Babies tend to prefer a lot of ___ in the things they are looking at, and things that aren’t too ___

Answer 27

contrast // complicated

Question 28

What is Perception?

Answer 28

The process by which we categorize and interpret sensory input. What we do with the info that we’ve taken in

Question 29

At 4 months, infants are able to use ___ to give an indication that they recognize the two pieces as part of the same whole

Answer 29

kinetic cues //

Question 30

What happens if babies are habituated to the stationary rod?

Answer 30

If they are habituated to the stationary rod, they don’t really distinguish between the whole rod vs. the one broken in the middle. They don’t seem to treat them differently

Question 31

What happens if babies are habituated to the moving rod?

Answer 31

They’re a little surprised. The movement suggested it was one single pole that was covered by the block, so when they see the broken rod, they’re surprised because they assumed it was a whole rod behind there.

Question 32

At 9 months, infants respond to point-light displays in which movement patterns indicate ___

Answer 32

human form

Question 33

What is The Visual Cliff Experiment?

Answer 33

The visual cliff is a platform that creates the illusion of a dropoff. We can use an infant’s reaction to the cliff to draw conclusions about their depth perception

Question 34

In The Visual Cliff Experiment, what happens when a 2mo is held over the deep side?

Answer 34

They show decreased heart rate when held over deep side. Suggests they perceive depth. Interest (or at least detection), not fear!

Question 35

In The Visual Cliff Experiment, what does a 6.5mo do when reaching the shallow side?

Answer 35

Most will cross the shallow side, but pause at the cliff; reluctant to cross deep side. Especially if they have crawling experience

Question 36

___ influences how babies interpret depth—aware of affordances for how they can interact with the environment

Answer 36

Motor development

Question 37

Does The Visual Cliff Experiment show that babies are scared of heights?

Answer 37

No, it’s problematic to assume that the decrease in heart rate means the baby is scared of heights. Their motor development is giving them new information to interpret the visual input that they’re getting