Motor Development

Question 1

What are reflexes?

Answer 1

Innate, adaptive and involuntary actions that occur in response to a particular stimulation

Question 2

What is the grasping reflex?

Answer 2

If palm is brushed, infants will close their hands

Question 3

What is the rooting reflex?

Answer 3

If cheeks are brushed, infants will turn their heads and open their mouth

Question 4

What is the stepping reflex?

Answer 4

If feet are held over the surface, infants will start to step

Question 5

What is the tonic neck reflex?

Answer 5

When the head is turned to the side, the arms and legs of that side will extend and the limbs of the opposite side will contract (function unknown)

Question 6

When do most reflex disappear?

Answer 6

By 2 months

Question 7

If reflexes are absent or prolonged, it can be a sign of:

Answer 7

Neurological problems

Question 8

When do children lift their head?

Answer 8

0-1m

Question 9

When do children roll over?

Answer 9

2-5m

Question 10

When do children sit?

Answer 10

5-8m

Question 11

When do children stand with support?

Answer 11

5-10m

Question 12

When do children pulls themselves up?

Answer 12

6-10m

Question 13

When do children walk with support?

Answer 13

7-13m

Question 14

When do children walk alone?

Answer 14

11-14m

Question 15

Why is crawling NOT a development milestone?

Answer 15

Because crawling looks very different from kids to kids and some babies skip crawling altogether (weak upper body, lack of opportunity, etc)

Question 16

When do children start to crawl?

Answer 16

7-8m

Question 17

What study was done concerning differences in cultural practices and different motor development (sitting study)?

Answer 17

Study where infants from different countries compared their sitting time. Italian infants sat for the shortest amount of time (>1m) vs. Kenyan infants (30m)

Question 18

Why did Italian infant sit for much less time than Kenyan?

Answer 18

Because of where infants usually sit. Infants that are sat on a lap or baby furniture will sit still for much less time than if they are sat on adult furniture or the floor. Places with little postural support = better at sitting

Question 19

What is another factor that influences motor milestones relating to culture?

Answer 19

Motor milestones are affected by the amount of opportunities and how encouraged motor development is. Ex: Chinese babies are not encouraged to spend time on the floor vs. sub-Saharan babies have motor exercise and achieve motor milestones much sooner

Question 20

How is diaper wearing related to motor milestone?

Answer 20

Infants who wear diapers often have less mature walking than naked infants

Question 21

What are 6 mechanisms behind motor development?

Answer 21

1. Brain maturation
2. Increase physical strength
3. Physical abilities (posture, control, etc)
4. Perceptual skills
5. Change in body proportions
6. Motivation

Question 22

What is the role of motivation in motor development?

Answer 22

In a study on low-motivation vs. high-motivation babies, high energy infants achieved milestones sooner

Question 23

What is the implication of individual differences in motor dev.?

Answer 23

Motor development at 5m predicts intelligence (at 4 and 10m) and academic achievements (at 14m)

Question 24

Does motor dev. Influence cognitive dev.?

Answer 24

Yes

Question 25

Why is motor dev. critical for learning?

Answer 25

It enables active learning (trial-and-error learning and reaching) and facilitates skill dev. in other domain.

Question 26

What is reaching? At what age does it happen?

Answer 26

Ability to sit independently and reach for objects, around 7m

Question 27

What is the link between reaching and 3D object perception?

Answer 27

Study: infants habituated to 2 side of rotating objects. Test phase showed them either hollow or complete 3D objects. Infants with more developed reaching skills looked at hollow shapes longer = reaching skills foster 3D object perception

Question 28

What is the link between reaching and social development?

Answer 28

12m infants and adults looking at experimenter placing object in the bucket showed proactive gaze towards the bucket, indicates they understand other’s intentions vs. 4m infants who hadn’t developed the skill yet. So reaching fosters ability to predict actions based on being able to perform them yourself.

Question 29

What is the link between reaching and language development?

Answer 29

Skilled object reaching = greater interactions with caregivers = vocabulary growth

Question 30

What is the role of weight change in motor milestone?

Answer 30

Loss of stepping reflex at 2m cause by weight gain. Study used infants with stepping reflex, once baby weight were put on them = loss of stepping vs. older babies put in water tank = gained reflex again.

Question 31

What is self-locomotion?

Answer 31

By 8m, most infants have self-location (usually crawling). As they start to walk = expansion of visual world (not just floor but also environment now)

Question 32

What is the link between self-locomotion and integration of perception?

Answer 32

As infants learn to crawl, they also learn to integrate perception with action. Beginners crawlers placed in front of steep or shallow will attempt to crawl both slopes, whereas experienced crawlers will not.

Question 33

Is the integration of perceptions and actions generalized to all skills?

Answer 33

No, when infants learn to walk, they make the same mistakes of trying to walk down the steep slopes, even when they stopped making that mistake as crawlers.

Question 34

What are scale errors?

Answer 34

Attempt to perform an action on miniature (toy) objects that is impossible due to huge size differences (present until 2y)

Question 35

What is the link between self-locomotion and language development?

Answer 35

Walking = carrying object = increased interactions with caregivers = vocabulary growth