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PSYC 304 > Lecture 1: Intro & Visual Development > Flashcards

Lecture 1: Intro & Visual Development Flashcards

1
Q

reasons to learn about child development

A
  • Raising children
  • Choosing social policies
  • Understanding human nature
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2
Q

raising children

A

Child development research helps answer questions about how to raise children

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3
Q

choosing social policies

A

Child development research can help inform social policies that affect children

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4
Q

understanding human nature and individuals

A
  • Child development research is vital to understanding how nature and nurture shape human psychology
  • Can also help explain individual differences between people
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5
Q

child

A

every human being below the age of 18 years

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6
Q

what does it mean to be a child?

A
  • dependent on adult caregivers
  • fundamentally about learning
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7
Q

humans’ childhood length

A
  • Longer childhood compared to other species (Humans have the longest childhoods among primates)
  • Long childhood makes them very vulnerable; thus, caring for them is very time-consuming
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8
Q

learning during childhood

A
  • Long childhood is adaptive for maximizing learning
  • A focus on learning is only possible if they are taken care of by adults
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9
Q

Large-brain, narrow hips trade-off

A
  • Our brains are large for our size and more complicated/neuron-dense than any other animal
  • Larger brains necessitate larger heads
  • At the same time, the evolution of our ability to stand upright favoured narrower hips
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10
Q

how was the large-brain, narrow hips trade-off resovled?

A
  • To solve this, babies evolved to be born earlier
  • The brain continues to develop once born, allowing for more learning
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11
Q

what aspects of childhood demonstrate that children are adapted to focus on learning?

A
  • Highly curious
  • Highly suggestible, not critical thinkers
  • Readily imitate others
  • Overestimate own abilities
  • Brains are malleable
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12
Q

child development

A

The process of learning perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social capacities that allows an individual to grow from the dependence of infancy to the independence of adulthood

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13
Q

why do we focus on infancy when studying child development?

A
  • Very rapid changes in the first 2 years of an infant’s life
  • Changes in one area enable changes in other areas
  • Methods for studying infants are different than methods for studying older children who can communicate more clearly with adults
  • Sheds light on the nature/nurture debate
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14
Q

what do babies see?

A

From birth, babies visually scan the environment and pause to look at stuff

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15
Q

methods in infant research

A
  • Preferential looking paradigm
  • Habituation paradigm
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16
Q

what does the preferential looking paradigm take advantage of?

A

infants’ preference to look at “interesting” things

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17
Q

preferential looking paradigm method

A

Present the baby with 2 stimuli beside each other at the same time

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18
Q

interpreting the results of the preferential looking paradigm

A

If the baby looks longer at one stimulus than the other, it means that:
1) They can distinguish between the two & 2)
Have a preference for one over the other

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19
Q

what does the preferential looking paradigm assess?

A

infants’ preference for stimuli

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20
Q

what stimuli do infants prefer to look at?

A
  • More complex
  • More saturated in colour
  • Familiar
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21
Q

two types of familiarity

A

lab-induced & natural

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22
Q

natural familiarity

A

stimuli infants experience often in their lives

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23
Q

lab-induced familiarity

A

familiarize infants with a stimulus by exposing them to it for some time

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24
Q

what does the habituation paradigm take advantage of?

A

babies’ natural preference for novelty

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25
Q

what does the habituation paradigm assess?

A

infants’ ability to discriminate between stimuli

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26
Q

three phases of the habituation paradigm

A
  1. habituation phase
  2. test
  3. dishabituation phase
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27
Q

habituation phase

A
  • repeatedly present an infant with a stimulus until they habituate to it (reduced or stopped response to a stimulus)
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28
Q

test phase

A

present the habituated, old stimulus with a new stimulus

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29
Q

dishabituation

A

if the baby shows greater interest in the new stimulus, they can tell the difference between the two

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30
Q

interpreting the results of the habituation paradigm

A

If the baby looks at stimuli equally, they can’t tell the difference between them

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31
Q

familiarity vs. novelty

A
  • In general, infants show a preference for familiar stimuli
  • Prolonged/repeated exposure to a stimulus will cause infants to shift their preference to a novel stimulus
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32
Q

familiarity vs. novelty in lab settings

A

Short exposure= familiarity preference
Long/repeated exposure= novelty preference

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33
Q

implications of the preferential looking & habituation paradigms

A
  • Exposure time in lab-induced preference procedures needs to be long enough for the baby to become familiar with the stimulus but short enough so that they don’t get bored (habituation)
  • Habituation paradigms need to repeat the presentation of a stimulus enough times to ensure that the infant is bored
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34
Q

visual acuity

A

Sharpness of visual demonstration

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35
Q

how is visual acuity assessed in infants?

A

the preferential-looking paradigm

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36
Q

preferential-looking paradigm for visual acuity method

A

Infants are presented with a succession of paddles with increasingly narrower stripes and narrower gaps between them until the infant can no longer distinguish between the striped paddle and the plain gray one

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37
Q

visual acuity at birth

A

At birth, infants have poor visual acuity

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38
Q

what patterns do babies prefer to look at at birth?

A

They prefer to look at patterns with high visual contrast

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39
Q

what patterns do infants struggle to discriminate between at birth?

A

They don’t discriminate between stimuli with lower contrast sensitivities

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40
Q

why do babies struggle with visual acuity at birth

A

the immaturity of cone cells in infants’ retinas

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41
Q

when does adult-like visual acuity become present?

A

8 months

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42
Q

colour perception at birth

A

infants see in grayscale

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43
Q

colour peception at 2 months

A

colour vision appears

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44
Q

what is the first colour we perceive at 2 months?

A

red

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45
Q

colour perception at 5 months

A

adult-like colour perception; can discriminate between colour categories and between hues of the same colour

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46
Q

why does adult-like colour perception emerge at 5 months?

A

Due to the maturity of cones and visual cortex

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47
Q

how do we know when colour perception develops?

A

the habituation paradigm

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48
Q

visual scanning at birth

A
  • infants can their visual environment and pause to look at something
  • But, they have trouble tracking moving stimuli because eye movements are jerky
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49
Q

visual scanning at 4 months

A

able to smoothly track moving objects if they’re moving slowly

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50
Q

visual scanning at 8 months

A

adult-like visual scanning; can smoothly follow objects

51
Q

why does visual scanning improve at 8 months?

A

due to brain maturation

52
Q

why is visual scanning important for infants?

A

The ability to visually scan is important because one of the few ways that infants have control over what they observe and learn

53
Q

face perception in newborns

A

Newborns show a preference for faces or face-like stimuli vs. non-face-like stimuli

54
Q

the fusiform face area

A

the region of the brain, located in the temporal lobe, that becomes activated during face perception

55
Q

face percepetion in infants experiment method

A

Using the preferential-looking paradigm, researchers showed babies:
- Regular faces
- Upside down faces
- Scrambled, top-heavy faces
- Scrambled, bottom-heavy faces

56
Q

faces are special hypothesis

A

If faces are special, babies should always prefer to look at upright faces

57
Q

top-heavy stimuli hypothesis

A

If there is a general bias for top-heavy stimuli, babies should prefer an upright face and scrambled top-heavy faces

58
Q

face perception in infants findings

A
  • Babies prefer an upright face over an upside-down face
  • Babies prefer top-heavy scrambled faces vs. bottom-heavy scrambled faces
  • This suggests that the preference for faces is simply the result of a general preference for stimuli that are “top-heavy” rather than “bottom-heavy”
59
Q

seeing mom’s face

A
  • Infants very quickly learn to recognize and prefer their own mother’s face
  • Just a few days after birth, babies prefer their mother’s face compared to another woman’s face
60
Q

infants as face specialists

A

They are better at distinguishing between faces that are frequently experienced in their environment

61
Q

evidence for infants as face specialists

A
  • 9-month-olds (and adults) can distinguish between 2 human faces, but struggle to distinguish between 2 monkey faces -> specialist
  • But, 6-month-olds are equally good at distinguishing between human and monkey faces -> generalist
62
Q

perceptual narrowing

A

Tuning of the perceptual mechanisms to the specific sensory inputs that infants encounter in their daily life

63
Q

effects of perceptual narrowing

A
  • Improves perception of stimuli encountered often
  • Decline in the ability to distinguish stimuli that are not present in the infant’s environment
64
Q

what perceptual domains is perceptual narrowing present for?

A

several perceptual domains

65
Q

what causes perceptual narrowing?

A

synaptic pruning

66
Q

synaptogenesis

A

the formation of synapses between neurons

67
Q

when does synptaogenesis occur?

A

right after birth

68
Q

result of synaptogenesis

A

hyper-connectivity in the brain

69
Q

synaptic pruning

A

the elimination of synapses to increase the efficiency of neural communication

70
Q

what principle does synaptic pruning follow?

A

the “use it or lose it” princinple

71
Q

evidence of perceptual narrowing in face perception

A
  1. Infants becoming face specialists
  2. Infants demonstrate the other-race effect
72
Q

other-race effect

A

People find it easier to distinguish between faces of individuals from their own racial group than between faces from other racial groups

73
Q

other-race effect in infants study method

A

Researchers recruited Caucasian infants and habituated them to a face from their own race or from another race. They then presented the habituated face with a new face from the same race

74
Q

other-race effect in infants study findings

A
  • 3-month-olds: can distinguish between faces of all races
  • 9-month-olds: can only distinguish between faces of their own race
75
Q

is the other-race effect due to exposure or is it innate?

A

it’s due to exposure

76
Q

what faces are babies most exposed to at birth?

A

During the first few months of life, 96% of faces that babies are exposed to are females from their own race

77
Q

other-race effect in babies equally exposed to different races

A

If the infant is equally exposed to faces of different races, they will not show this effect

78
Q

face perception in people with ASD

A

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have difficulty with face perception

79
Q

preferential looking paradigm in toddlers with ASD

A

Toddlers with ASD preferred looking at geometric shapes over pictures of people
(opposite for typically developing kids)

80
Q

____ is an early indicator that an infant might later be diagnosed with ASD

A

Infants’ preference for non-faces

81
Q

perceptual constancy

A

The perception of objects as being constant in size, shape, colour, etc. despite physical differences in the retinal image of the object

82
Q

perceptual constancy in infants study aim

A

Is perceptual constancy present from birth?

83
Q

perceptual constancy in infants study method

A

The habituation paradigm with newborns

84
Q

perceptual constancy in infants habituation process

A
  • repeatedly show an infant a small cube
  • The cube is shown at different distances on each trial
85
Q

perceptual constancy in infants test

A
  • Show infants the original, small cube and an identical larger cube
  • The larger cube is farther away so that both cubes project the same-size retinal image
86
Q

perceptual constancy in infants results

A
  • Infants looked longer at the larger but further away cube
  • This indicates that they see it as different in size from the original, smaller cube
  • This means that infants saw the repeated presentations of the original, small cube as a single object of constant size, even though the retinal image varied
87
Q

perceptual constancy in infants takeaway

A

perceptual constancy is present from birth

88
Q

object segregation

A

The ability to identify that objects are separate from each other

89
Q

what cue is important for object segregation?

A

movement

90
Q

object segregation in infants study aim

A

determine if object segregation is present from birth

91
Q

object segregation in infants study method

A

Habituation paradigm with newborns and 4-month-olds

92
Q

object segregation in infants habituation process

A

repeatedly watching a video of a rod moving side-to-side behind a box

93
Q

object segregation in infants study test

A

Infants are shown 2-rod stimuli moving side-to-side (One rod vs. a broken rod)

94
Q

object segregation findings in 4-month-olds

A
  • preferred to look at the broken rod
  • They see the broken rod as novel
  • This indicates that they understood that the rod behind the box is one object
95
Q

object segregation findings in newborns

A
  • looked the same amount of time at the broken rod and the single rod
  • This indicates that they did not understand that the rod behind the box was a single object
96
Q

object segregation study takeaway

A

Object segregation is not innate; it has to be learned with experience

97
Q

binocular disparity

A

the difference between the retinal image of an object in each eye that results in two slightly different signals being sent to the brain

98
Q

binocular disparity in the visual cortex

A

The visual cortex combines the differing neural signals caused by binocular disparity

99
Q

when is binocular disparity perceived?

A

4 months old

100
Q

sensitive period

A

a period during which experience shapes the development of ability more than at other times

101
Q

sensitive period for binocular vision

A

from birth to age 3

102
Q

visual input and binocular vision

A
  • Depth perception from cue of binocular disparity is a natural result of brain maturation as long as the infant receives normal visual input
  • If infants do not receive normal visual input until age 3, they may fail to develop normal binocular vision and have life-long difficulties with depth perception
103
Q

monocular depth cues

A

depth cues perceived in one eye

104
Q

when are monocular depth cues perceived?

A

6-7 months

105
Q

how is monocular depth perception measured?

A

the visual cliff

106
Q

visual cliff findings

A

6 month-olds will not crawl over a visual cliff but younger children will

107
Q

what does the visual cliff demonstrate?

A

that monocular depth perception needs to be developed through experience

108
Q

visual development timeline

A
  • At birth: rudimentary visual scanning, poor acuity, preference for high-contrast, grayscale, preference for faces vs. non-faces, perceptual constancy
  • 2 months: colour vision appears
  • 4 months: Object segregation and binocular depth perception appear
  • 5 months: adult-like colour perception
  • 6 months: face generalists, monocular depth perception appears
  • 8 months: adult-like visual scanning and acuity
  • 9 months: face specialists through perceptual narrowing
109
Q

innate aspects of vision development

A

perceptual constancy and preference for top-heavy stimuli

110
Q

aspects of visual development that improve with brain maturation

A

visual acuity, colour perception, visual scanning, and binocular depth perception

111
Q

experience-dependent visual processes

A
  • Object segregation
  • Face perception (perceptual narrowing)
  • Monocular depth perception
  • sensitive period of binocular vision
112
Q

intermodal perception

A

The coordinated perception of a singular object or event through 2 or more sensory systems

113
Q

when is intermodal perception generally present?

A

very early on

114
Q

combining vision and touch study method

A

preferential-looking procedure

115
Q

combining vision and touch preferential-looking procedure

A

infants sucked on a pacifier that they couldn’t see. They looked at a picture of the pacifier they had sucked on vs. a picture of a pacifier of a different shape and texture

116
Q

combining vision and touch study results

A

newborns looked longer at the pacifier they had sucked on (the familiar one)

117
Q

combining vision and touch study takeaway

A

This shows that the ability to combine visual information with touch is present from birth

118
Q

combining vision and auditory information study method

A

preferential-looking procedure

119
Q

combining vision and auditory information preferential-looking procedure

A

4-month-olds simultaneously watched two videos side by side (one of someone playing peekaboo and one of someone playing drums). At the same time, they heard audio of a person saying “peekaboo”

120
Q

combining vision and auditory information study results

A

Infants looked more at the person playing peekaboo vs. the person playing drums

121
Q

combining vision and auditory information takeaway

A

This shows that infants can integrate visual and auditory information

122
Q

application of combining vision and auditory information

A

This is important for language development because children need to understand that speech sounds are linked with a moving mouth

123
Q

development of monocular vs. binocular depth perception

A

binocular depth perception stems from brain maturation
monocular depth perception is dependent on experience

124
Q

synaptic pruning across domains

A
  • synaptic pruning happens in the first few months for perceptual domains (ex: hearing, vision)
  • synaptic pruning happens in the first year for language
  • synaptic pruning for higher cognitive/executive functions (ex: planning) happens in early childhood

PSYC 304 (11 decks)

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