lecture 20 - Sensory Perception Flashcards
What are the five senses?
vision, audition, olfaction, taste and touch.
What does Darwin’s theory of natural selection suggest?
that changes to an organism’s phenotype can lead to changes in a population’s heritable traits over time.
Where did homo sapiens descend from?
from a lineage of human species living in the Pleistocene epoch. (~1.6m - 10,000 years ago)
Between aristotle and plato, who favoured the nature vs nurture side of the debate?
Plato favoured the nature side of the debate whilst Aristotle favoured the nurture side of the debate.
What epoch did the parent-infant bond evolve from?
the Pleistocene epoch where the infant was protected by the parents from predators at all times, never left alone and fed on demand
What is phylogeny?
Phylogeny concerns the evolutionary origins of a species
What is ontogeny?
Ontogeny concerns the developmental lifespan of a single organism
How do we measure infant capabilities?
In order to measure infant capabilities we have to kind of ask questions without language. It is mainly done by habituation/dishabituation and prefernces.
What did Fantz (1960’s) find about neonates gaze?
Fantz found that preferentially, neonates looked towards faces, then complex patterns followed by plain stimuli
When is auditory function present in the womb?
Auditory function is present at 19 weeks post-conception
What occurs in early postnatal auditory development?
airborne soundwaves become accessible to the newborn and the newborn can respond to higher-frequency sounds.
What reflexes is a neonate born with?
A neonate is born with a number of different reflexes such as blinking, babinski, grabbing, rooting and sucking
When and why do most reflexes disappear?
Most reflexes disappear by six months of age because behaviour becomes controlled voluntarily due to the development of the cerebral cortex
Why is it important to test reflexes in infancy?
It is important to test reflexes in infancy because absent reflexes can inform about CNS function and persistence of reflexes can indicate damage to the cerebral cortex
What are the average ages for motor control?
On average, a baby can hold its head up at 6 weeks, can lift itself by the arms from prone position by 2 months, can sit alone and crawl by 7 months and pull to stand at 8 months. Around 11-12 months is when the baby should be able to stand and walk alone.
