Lecture 3 - Motor Development

Question 1

What type of stimuli do Infants prefer?

Answer 1

Familiar, Complex, Saturated in Colour.

Question 2

Natural vs Lab-Induced Familiarity

Answer 2

Natural= Encountered Often
Lab-Induced= Shown Often, Begins as Novel Stimuli

Question 3

What is the connection between time shown a stimulus and preference in Lab-Induced Familiariy?

Answer 3

If shown a new stimulus for a short period of time, infant shows the familiarity effect. If shown the stimulus for a long period of time, the novelty effect.

Question 4

Intermodal Perception

Answer 4

Perceiving something through two sense simultaneously.
Present Early on.
Often times Vision is one of the two.

Question 5

Vision + Touch Experiment/Results

Answer 5

Touch and Vision Innate, since infants look longer at the pacifier they unknowingly sucked on.

Question 6

Vision + Hearing Experiment/Results

Answer 6

Children hear “Peakaboo” as they see Peakaboo or see drums, look longer at Peakaboo.
Demonstrates integration of both sense of info, which is important for language development since we need to understand that speech sounds are linked to moving mouths.

Question 7

Reflexes in Three Words

Answer 7

Adaptive, Innate, Involuntary

Question 8

Reflexes Over Time

Answer 8

Absence/Extended Persistence can indicate neurological problems (extension does not applying to withdrawal from pain, coughing, sneezing or blinking).
Most Reflexes disappear after two months.

Question 9

Two Defining Features of Motor Milestones

Answer 9

Usually Occur in a set sequence
Individual Variation is Common.

Question 10

Crawling

Answer 10

Begins around 7-8 Months old, Not a major milestone, since many infants skip right to walking.

Question 11

Why is crawling not considered a major motor milestone?

Answer 11

Since it is often skipped by healthy babies, due to lack of opportunity, hypersensitivity to floor texture and upper body/core weakness.

Question 12

Provide Examples of How Culture leads to differences on motor development

Answer 12

1. Culture and Sitting, 5 Months olds across the world show variation in independent sitting depending on where they are sat, with earlier independent sitting when sat in adult furniture or on the floor.
2. Encouragement of Motor skills such as crawling is less or more depending on country, for example in urban China the floor is considered unsanitary thus children are discouraged from crawling around on it.
3. Diapers affect normal walking patterns compared to walking naked, which infants having more mature walking patterns without diapers.

Question 13

Compare Early Vs Modern Theories of Motor Development

Answer 13

Early= Reliant on Cortical Maturation
Modern= Variety of factors including Brain Maturation, Increases in Physical Strength and Motivation.

Question 14

Explain the Role of Weight (Changes) In Motor Development

Answer 14

Ei; Walking= Infants born with a stepping reflex that disappears at 2 months and reappears between 7-12 months.
Theorised that the reflex disappears due to weight gain and the inability to support the body on the legs.
Experiment proved this as attaching weights to newborns feet removed reflex and submerging 5 month olds in water reinvigorated it.

Question 15

Explain the Role of Motivation in Motor Development

Answer 15

Infants are intrinsically motivated to learn, seen through persistence, learning to advance despite not needing to and seeming happy when learning new things.

Question 16

Explain the Motivation Difference between individual infants

Answer 16

Despite being intrinsically motivated, not all infants possess the same level of motivation, with high motivation infants being quicker to learn and attain motor Milestones.

Question 17

What are 2 Reasons that Motor Development is Important?

Answer 17

1. it enables active learning and the ability to expand knowledge through trial and error as opposed to observation.
2. Facilitates Development of other skills such as vision and socialisation.

Question 18

3D Object Completion

Answer 18

The Ability to Mentally Represent the other sides of a 3D shape despite them not being visible in the angle that is presented.

Question 19

What is relevant about the 7th month of an infants’ life and 3D Object perception?

Answer 19

Around 7 months, an infant is able to sit independently and reach, allowing them to manipulate 3D objects (which is the best way to learn about something).

Question 20

3D Recognition and Sitting Experiment

Answer 20

Infants who were more advanced in sitting and reaching stared longer at the incomplete shape display suggesting that Motor Skills (sitting and reaching) play a role in 3D Object Perception.
Age is not a relevant factor

Question 21

Explain the Link between Motor Development and Depth Perception Using the Slope Experiment

Answer 21

Both Beginner crawlers and walkers made the same mistake of attempting to go down the steep slope, suggesting that infants must learn through experience how to integrate perceptual information for each new motor skill.

Question 22

Scale Errors

Answer 22

Attempts to perform actions on miniature objects that are impossible due to size difference between child and object, due to failure to integrate visual information with action planning, issue fades a 2 years old.

Question 23

Explain the Link between Motor Developments and Predicting Intentions

Answer 23

Adults will shift their gaze over to the goal of an action they are observing, will infants do the same?
Using a group of 6 and 12 month olds, eye tracking suggests that 12 month olds shift their gaze as adults would, but 6 month olds, who have not yet learned to pick up, carry and drop objects will not. Thus, our ability to predict intentions of other’s actions relies on us being able to complete said action.