Infant psych Flashcards
1
Q
Why we study infant?
A
Earlier detection of and better responses to abnormal development
Social policy
Better parent
Understand human nature
2
Q
Inoculation theory
A
giving somebody what they need to succeed in early on is important because early experience matters
2
Q
Romanian Orphans
A
The orphans didn’t experience any touch or social experience, no affection, no play
Outcome: social immaturity, stunted physical growth, severe motor deficits, intellectual delays
How much these orphans recovered is highly depend on age of adoption
- if the deprivation is less than 6 month, they can become normal
- if the deprivation is between 6-12 month, they have some long lasting deficit
- Amount of good experience was not important
2
Q
Naturalistic observation
A
Pros: see participants acting normally to “real-world”events
may observe important things you weren’t looking for; gain new insight
Cons: sought after behaviour may never happen
Experimenter effects always possible
huge amount of possible data
2
Q
Structured observation
A
Bring children to laboratory, control the environment to attempt to draw out behaviour of interest. Simulate the natural environment in the lab
Pros: behaviour more likely to happen, extra stuff less likely
Cons: a bit unnatural, less ‘real-world’
2
Q
Correlational design
A
Measure two variables, determine relationship
Pros: see strength of the relationship between two variables
Cons: direction of causation problem
third variable problem
3
Q
Experimental design
A
Experimenter manipulates at least IV and DV
Random assignment to condition
Between-subjects or within-subjects
4
Q
Cross-sectional
A
compare different groups of children at different ages
5
Q
Longitudinal
A
study the same children over time at different ages, date is collected at intervals of days, months, or years
6
Q
Microgenetic
A
same participants studied repeatedly over small amount of time as they master a task (i.e. crawling, word learning)
7
Q
Deferred imitation
A
delayed imitation- to test memory of infants. In order to imitate others, infants must know/comprehend the other’s actions or intentions.
8
Q
Hemodynamic response
A
measure of oxygenated blood flow in active vs. passive brain areas
- to measure where there’s more oxygen
- Give oxygen and see where it goes
Pros: Good spatial information, non-invasive
Cons: Timing of activity is pretty bad
9
Q
EEG
A
Pros: aside from the cap, non-invasive
measuring actual brain activity
Temporal resolution is very good
Cons: Spacial resolution is poor especially with infants
10
Q
NIRS (near-infra-red spectroscopy)
A
put the light and fast reflection shows that where the oxygen is less concentrated. If the reflection is slower, the a lot of oxygen is there.
11
Q
Epigenesis
A
the emergence of new structures and functions during the development
- look at the chicken egg
Fetuses of different species look more like each other than like what they become
12
Q
Cephalocaudal
A
head first development of fetus
13
Q
Proximo-distal
A
Innards first develop- skin develop later than organs
14
Q
Four major developmental processes
A
- cell division - results in the proliferation of cell
- cell migration - is the movement of cells from their cells from their point of origin to somewhere else in the embryo
- cell differentiation - transforms the embryo’s unspecialized stem cells into roughly 350 different types of cells
- the selective death of certain cells or apoptosis (i.e. hand)
15
Q
3 periods of prenatal development
A
- Germinal period: the morula & Blastocyst (conception-2week)
begins with conception and lasts until the zygote becomes implanted in the uterine wall. Rapid cell division takes place. - Embryonic period: (3rd week- 8th week)
following implantation, major development occurs in all the organs and systems of the body - Fetal period : (9th week-birth)
continued development of physical structures and rapid growth of the body. Increasing levels of behaviour, sensory experience and learning
16
Q
Amniotic Sac/Placenta
A
Amniotic sac filled with amniotic fluid - protects baby, lets it move unhampered by gravity
Placenta is a network of blood vessels that allows for exchanging fluids between fetus and mom
17
Q
Teratogens
A
any environmental agent that can potentially cause harm during prenatal development
- shows a dose-response relation : the more you take, the worse
18
Q
Autostimulation theory
A
brain activity during REM sleep facilitates visual development in fetuses and newborns
19
Q
Alleles
A
different variants of the same gene that we inherit from each of our parents
20
Q
Homozygous vs. Heterozygous
A
if heterozygous, dominant allele is expressed over recessive (i.e. have brown eyes over blues)
21
Norm of reaction
all the phenotypes that could theoretically occur from a given genotype across all possible environments
22
Epigenetics
Environmental factors cause genes to express themselves differently (code for more or less of a protein )
These changes can be heritable
Survive cell division within your lifetime
23
Heritability
```
the variability in a trait in the population that is attributable to genes
Heritability coefficients measured
- having arms (0- no variability)
- having short hair (0- no genes)
- IQ (50-50)
```
24
The cortex of brain
```
Frontal lobe: Planning/Executive function
Primary motor cortex: motor
Parietal lobe: Spatial
Temporal lobe: Emotion/Memory
Occipital lobe: Vision
```
25
Neuron
Cell body: contains the basic biological material that keeps the Neurons functioning
Dendrites: Receives input from other cells and conducts electrical signals to connections with other neurones
Axons: conducts electrical signals to connections with other neurons
Synapses: the connection space between neurons
26
Experience-Expectant plasticity
the brain can sometimes reorganize if normal experience is lacking or brain injury occurs
-deaf individuals have language areas tuned to visual information
hearing area is expecting sound input but there's no stimuli, so the brain area is devoted to visual information
27
Experience -dependent plasticity
Connections formed as function of individual experiences
- rats growing in impoverished, normal, or complex environment
If there's a constant experience/stimuli, the part develops more but if you don't use it, it dies.
Your specific experience change the brain connection
28
Assimilation
fit new information into existing structure
29
Accommodation
change structures in response to new experience
Change the rule when they encounter new information that doesn't fit in the existing structure
30
Piaget
* stage theorist - qualitative change
* Domain -general: apply to all aspects of the world
* Invariant order: no skipped stages
* Active learner
31
Information processing theories
Mind as a computer
Emphasis on structure (the brain, neuronal connections) and processes (use of rules and strategies) involved in thinking
There's not much motivation in the process
Child is perceived as limited-capacity processor
Child as an active problem solver
32
Basic process of memory
Association- recognition- recall- generalization
Encoding: figuring out what to attend to so other processes can proceed
Processing speed: increases with age- myelination & connectivity - faster and resist distraction
33
Planning
Begins by 1 year old with means-ends actions
- planning to get what they want is difficult for babies because they are mentally distracted by the objects
- inhibiting desires to solve a problem immediately in favour of finding best strategy is very hard
34
Core-Knowledge Theories
- The mind is a product of natural selection
- look at the evolution, what kind of factor, skills is important in human life and important skills should be left in our current structure.
- Infant should have innate ability/ skills that are domain specific
Children as active learner
35
Sociocultural theories
Vygotsky is the most notable theorist
| Learning happens in an interpersonal context
36
Intersubjectivity
The mutual understanding that people share during communication
- imitation
- babies notice when others are responding to them
37
Joint attention
you and someone else focus on a common referent- emerges around 9 months
- learners need to know what the teacher's attention/intention in order to learn
38
Scaffolding
moms repeat and elaborate on what babies say, present information at higher level than they could do on own, eventually infants get it themselves
- i.e. infants just looking at the toys, and mom comes and tell infants " this is a plane toy, you like plane toy" etc and show them how to use it
39
Dynamic-systems theories
focus on how change occurs over time in complex systems
- to understand how babies understand objects, we need to understand seeing, reaching, grasping etc
- not all nature or nurture, everything works together
Child as active learner
- emphasis on motivation and the role of action
- practicing new skills
- child is interested in the social world
40
Sensation
the processing of the external world through receptors in the sense organs
- pattern of light hitting the retina
41
Perceptions
organizing and interpreting the sensory information
| - the experience of seeing
42
Empiricist vs. Nativist
Empiricists: infants perceive very poorly; experience vital for sense development
Nativist: perceptual development progresses through maturation, not experience
43
Visual Acuity
the ability to see contrasts/details in the world
Infants prefer high contrast
At which point babies cannot distinguish between grey and stripes? - by measuring the looking time and see if the babies can discriminate one another.
44
Astigmatism
乱視。seeing stimuli at different orientations with different acuity
45
Visual accommodation
the ability to focus on objects at different distance
46
Categorical perception
perceiving clusters of likeness that do not necessarily transfer to physical likeness
- Adults perceive colour categorically, not by absolute wavelength changes
Colour vision rapidly develop, and become really good at by 2 months
47
Size constancy
an object perceived as the same size despite changes in its distance from us (& hence changes to its retinal image size)
48
Object segregation
the perception of separate objects in the visual array
- a gap between objects is clear evidence there are more than 1 objects
- Colour/textural cues might help too
- motion of objects
49
Common motion
elements that move together likely part of the same object
- if there are different motion between the two objects, we can figure out that these two objects are separated and different objects
50
Perceptual narrowing
the more experience, and your perception become narrower- your brain remove unnecessary skills
Young infants have more ability to distinguish than older babies.
51
Binocular cues
involves having two eyes
Binocular disparity: retinal image of each eye slightly different
- closer objects have more disparity
Using binocular cues to see depth called "Stereopsis"
52
Pictorial cues
in 2D images
- interposition: overlapping shapes in front
- convergence in the distance
- texture gradients: repeating patterns get smaller when farther away
53
Motion parallax
Relative movement of near and far objects to the mot8ion of the eye
- when you move your head left, near object move faster/ more right than far objects
54
Optical expansion
Retinal image of objects expand in size as they get nearer to you; the nearer of two objects expands more quickly
- 1 month olds blink at expanding images (presumably because they see them as coming toward them)
55
Development of depth perception
Dynamic cues- 1 month
Binocular cues- 4 months
Pictorial cues- 6 months
56
Intersensory redundancy
2 things happen together doesn't necessary mean that they are related
57
Smooth pursuit
to continuously track a moving object
| - requires anticipation & prediction
58
Piaget's stages
1. Sensorimotor: infancy
* child understands the world in terms of the actions he can take on it
2. Preoperational: 2-6 y.o
* child has representations, but thought is still illogical
3. Concrete Operational: 6-12 y.o
* Thought is logical, still limited to the possible world
4. Formal operational: over about 12 y.o
* Can reason logically about abstract possibilities
59
Equillibration
the tendency and goal of an organism to fit well within its environment
60
Piaget's Assumptions
The child is an active learner
The child is constructivist: constructs rules about how the world works; development is the enrichment and change of those rule
The stage theorist : development proceeds in a series of 4 distinct stages
61
Schema
patterns of interaction between the organism and the environment; both mental structures and the behaviours they drive
- infants have sets of schemas that become more tuned to the enviornment through assimilation and accommodation
62
Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
contain 6 distinct stages
| Mostly concerned with the object permanence
63
Stage 1: Reflexes
Reflexes most primitive form of schema and are present from birth
Modified, improved upon in the first month
No object permanent at all
64
Stage 2: Primary Circular reactions (2-4 month)
Motor schema from stage 1 are applied to new objects by chance
Infants can intentionally repeat
- primary : related to their own body because it feels good
65
Stage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions (4 -9months)
Schema applied to objects outside of their own body; produce an event in the world
Secondary: not related to their own body or feeding
66
Stage 4: coordination of secondary schema (9-12 mons)
Large # of independent schema get coordinated into a few complex & flexible schema
* means-ends behaviour emerge !!
* Applying multiple schema to the same object allows for object permanence
67
A-not-B error
1. put object in Box A
2. Find object repeatedly
3. Hide object in Box B while infants can see
4. Cannot find object search in Box A
68
Stage 5: Tertiary circular reactions (12-18month)
Schema used intentionally to help babies understand their worlds: schema now subordinate to objects
* Pass A-not-B task
* Still fail at invisible displacements = when objects are moved while hidden (shell game)
69
Stage 6: The invention of New Means through Mental Combinations (18 mon +)
Schema fully flexible, fully functioning object concept (even invisible displacement)
* Symbolic thought develops - object can exist in time and space when baby don't have visual perceptions
- language, objects as symbols - mental representations totally distinct from objects in the world
70
Concept or categorical representation
the basic unit of organization and storage
71
Categorization
Responding to (perceptually) different entities from a common class as members of the same category
72
Autobiographical memory
the ability to verbally recall memories of a personally-experienced event
73
Memory mostly localized to the
medial temporal lobe
* hippocampal formation
* parahippocampal gyrus
74
Classical conditioning
Involuntary behaviour conditioning
- little Albert must have remembered experience enough to show the fear response
- generalized fear to other things
75
Operant conditioning
Voluntary behaviour conditioning
| - lever-resses, key strokes
76
Recall memory
infant must recall what actions to do with objects in the absence of cues or prompts (aside from the object)
I.e. operant conditioning require not only recognition memory but also recall memory.
77
Recognition memory
where just need to remember if you've experienced it before.
I.e. visual paired comparison
78
5 components of language
* Phonology: deals with sounds
* Morphology/ semantics: deals with meaning
* Syntax: grammar
* Pragmatics: how to use language to communicate
79
Phonemes
the smallest units of sound
80
Morphemes
the smallest units of meaning
81
Broca's aphasia
difficulty producing any speech
82
Wernicke's aphasia
difficulty understanding, and producing understandable grammar
83
Prosody
the characteristic rhythm, tempo, cadence, melody, and intonational patterns with which language is spoken.
84
Speech sounds
the phonemic differences that make up a language - i.e. bat vs. pat vs. cat etc
85
Voice onset time (VOT)
the length of time between when the air passes through the lips and when the vocal chords start vibrating
- sounds are continuous variable, but we perceive speech categorically
86
Common phoneme sequences
even using all native phonemes, some phoneme combinations are common and some are uncommon is a language
9 month olds but not 6 month olds prefer common phoneme combinations to uncommon ones
87
Statistical learning
babies must extract the properties of their particular language
- domain general processes
88
Distributional probabilities
the likelihood that a second syllable, Y, follows a first syllable , X.
i.e. it's rare in English for /ing/ to precede any particular syllable, but it regularly follows a few
89
Turn-taking
in language, in peek-a-boo, in giving and taking
90
Intersubjectivity
when 2 interacting partners share a common understanding
- joint attention develops over the first year
91
Style of acquisition
a set of strategies that infants use in starting to speak
- referential or analytic style: analyze the speech stream into individual phonemic elements and words
- expressive/holistic style: pay attention to the overall sound of language, rhythm, intonation
- wait-and-see style: acquire speech late but immediately produce complex sentences
92
Holophrastic period
Usually by a year
one-word utterances
* Holophrases: whole ideas expressed in one word (i.e. "UP")
* Overextension: use the words you have for lots of things
93
Whole object bias
words are preferred as labels for whole, bounded objects
94
Is language learning innate?
Connectionists/empiricists: say no and cite statistical learning studies: babies learn words and even grammar from very little experience
95
Configural processing of face
the spacing or relations among features rather than features themselves
- as a whole
Right hemisphere (left eye input) is important for Configural processing
96
Autism Spectrum
developmental disorders marked by mild to severe deficits in language, theory of mind, empathy and general social functioning
97
Attachment
enduring affection between two individuals
98
Freud's personality structures
ID: the earliest and most primitive, all unconscious, ruled by the "pleasure principle"
Ego: emerges during first year, stands for reason and good sense, ruled by the "reality principle" tries to satisfy the id with the demands of the real world
Superego: emerges in early childhood, internalization of right and wrong.
99
Freud's psychosexual development
1. Oral stage (0-12month)
* attachment= nursing
* too much or too little nursing can lead to "oral fixation" - nail biting, smoking etc
2. Anal stage (1-3 years)
* Pleasure from the relief of full bowels and bladders
* notion of control develops
* cleanliness issues if get fixed at this stage ("anal-retentive")
3. Phallic stage (3-6 years)
* children discover their sexual organs
* girls have penis envy, boys afraid of being castrated
* Oedipal/Electra complex
100
Attachment styles
* securely attached (70%)
* insecure -avoidant
* insecure- ambivalent
* Disorganized
101
Secure attachment
Use mother as a "secure base" from which to explore
Mostly ok with strangers if mom is in the room
very upset when mom leaves
Easily comforted upon return
102
Insecure- Avoidant attachment
Explore no problem (don't get sense using mom as secure base)
Fine with strangers
Not terribly upset with mom leaving
Avoidance of mom when she returns
-parental sensitivity: constantly insensitive
103
Insecure- Ambivalent/ Resistant
Less prone to explore- seem clingy
Always uncomfortable around strangers
Extremely upset when mom leaves
Inconsolable (even by her) when she returns
Even when mom is there, it seems that babies don't use mom as a secure base
- parental sensitivity: inconsistent so babies don't know what to expect
104
Disorganized Attachment
Babies who are very inconsistent in their reactions
Linked to later aggression issues and psychopathology
Likely to have been abused
105
Parental sensitivity
consistently responsive caregiving - in timing and in kind
106
Temperament
the innate, biologically determined aspects of personality
- personality = temperament + socialization
107
Emotions
```
1. Primary/ basic emotions
surprise, interest, joy, sadness, fear, disgust
- appears by 6 months old
2. Secondary/ self-conscious emotions
requires sense of self & others
embarrassment, envy, guilt
```
108
Emotion regulation
how we influence the emotions we experience, how we experience them, and how we let others know what we're experiencing
109
Piaget's stages of morality
```
1. Pre-operational (0-3)
no explicit awareness of rules; no morality
2. The morality of constraint (3-7)
authority rules
outcomes (vs. intention) rule
3. Transitional Period (8-10)
Interactions with peers spur change toward relativism- fairness, equality, what works for the group
4. Moral Relativism (11-12)
```
110
Eisenberg's stages of morality
1. Hedonistic, self-focused (pre-school)
2. Needs-based (pre-school, many elementary)
other's needs concern them, but simple. no sympathy
3. Approval and/or stereotyped (some elementary/high school)
Prosocial to gain approval, be liked
4. Self-reflective empathic orientation (many high school)
Role-taking, concern with others' humanness, sympathy, emotional reaction to consequences of one's acts
5. Internalized values (small minority of high school)
Prosocial based on internalized values, norms, feeling of obligation to help society, beleif in rights, dignity, etc
111
Infantile amnesia
You forget things faster or you remember less time in earlier than later in life.
112
Childhood amnesia
Inability of adult to retrieve episodic memories before the age of 2-4 y.o.
113
What influence retention duration of memory?
- age
- length of initial experience ( once? Many times?)
- passive or active initial experience
114
Infants remember longer if
- Older than younger
- Whether they had a reminder or not
- Whether they are tested in the exact same situation where they perviously tested
115
Reduplicated babbling vs. variegated babbling
Babababa (6-10 month) vs. bagobagobago (11month)
116
Categorical induction
The bias may not be always shape, but depends on the category.
I.e. non- solid. It's not about the shape but about the category.
117
Pragmatic constraint
Aspects of the social context used for word learning
| I.e. eye gaze, hand pointing etc
118
Syntactic bootstrapping
The strategy of using the grammatical structure of whole sentences to figure out meaning
I.e. " a sib" vs. " some sibs" vs. " sibling "
14 months get it
119
Telegraphic speech
The term describing children's first sentences that are generally two-word utterances. Tend to leave out unnecessary little words like conjunction, prepositions, article
120
Bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA)
The learning of 2 languages from birth
121
Dominant language
The language of higher proficiency
122
Fusiform face area
Brain area that activate specifically to face stimuli
123
Social referencing
when an infant uses an adults' emotional expression to determine how to react during novel situations.
- video: when mother shows positive reaction, the infants actively explore things. But when mother shows negative reaction, infants also avoid the objects although they wanted to play with it.
124
Still-face paradigm
Infants expect face to do certain reaction- facial expression.
video: if the mother shows still face, then the babies get really upset.
125
False-belief
the ability to recognize that others have different belief
126
Internal working model
the child's mental representation of the self, of attachment figures, and of relationships in general that is constructed as a result of experiences with caregivers. The working model guides children's interactions with caregivers and other people in infancy and at older ages.
127
Physiological reaction difference of temperament
Vagal tone: how effectively heart rate is modulated
- high vagal tone: positive
EGG recording of frontal-lobe activity
- left activation: approach, positive affect
- right activation: withdrawal, fear, uncertainty
Cortisol
- higher average baseline levels associated with inhibition, maladjustment
128
Domain theory in moral judgment
Says that early on, children do distinguish between domains- have a better grasp of morality than stage theorists give credit for.
- moral domain: right & wrong fairness, justice (less flexible)
- Social-conventional domain: social customs & regulation (more flexible)
129
Moral judgment
* by 3 months of age, infants prefer helpers to hinders, and neutral to hinders
* By 6 month, they :
evaluate Behaviour in context
privilege intention
* By 16-21 months, they expect fair distributions and prefer fair distributors
130
Discrete-emotion theorist
believe that each emotion is packaged with a specific set of bodily and facial reactions and that distinct emotions are evident from very early in life.
131
Functionalist - emotion
believe that emotions reflect what individuals are trying to do in specific situations-their concern and goals at the moment, that is not a set of innate, discrete emotions but many emotions based on people's many different interactions with the social world.
