Perception and Cognition - Week 9 Flashcards
Why do infants have limited movement?
Their motor development is impaired by poor muscle strength and under-developed motor coordination
When do infants begin to get better at locomotion?
Locomotion begins to emerge by the mid-point of the first year of life.
How does locomotion affect memory?
The ability to move unaided brings new improvements in memory.
How does crawling specifically aid in the development of memory?
It aids memory flexibility. This is likely because the ability to crawl widens the infants access to their environment, which brings with it new experiences and changing contexts, which would therefore affect cognitive development.
How did Herbert et al investigate the effect of crawling on memory?
- Tested a sample of 9 month olds (all the same age)
- The two conditions were whether they had started to crawl or not
- He then allowed the infants to play with a novel toy with an action associated with it. He then tested if the infants could remember the action 24 hours later, both with the same toy and a different toy
- Both conditions could remember the action 24 hours later, but only the crawling condition could remember the action with a new doll (in a new context)
- This shows further development of flexible memory
When do infants begin to crawl?
It is usually around 8 months, but this very frequently varies, often occurring between 5 months and 11 months
Why does learning to walk have advantages and disadvantages?
It requires different mechanisms, patterns of limb control and balance control.
A beginner walker will also be less effective at getting from A to B than an experienced crawler.
However, walking provides better access to distant objects, interactions with others and visual input
What is one statistic that shows the risks of learning to walk?
Walking tends to lead to 32 falls per hour, while crawling leads to 17 falls per hour.
What are two statistics that show the advantages of learning to walk?
Walking covers 3 times the distance of crawling (297 mph vs 100 mph)
Walkers tend to spend more tiem moving around than crawlers (33% vs 20%)
What is object permanence?
the ability to understand that even if an object can no longer be seen, it is still there.
What did Piaget suggest about object permanence? How did he come to this conclusion?
After 9 months- Through action observation tasks.
How were Piaget’s theories about object permanence challenged?
Baillargeon found that 6-8 month olds had object permanence via violation of expectation tasks. He then later found this in 4 month old infants
How were Baillargeon’s studies into object permanence carried out?
When a toy truck reappeared after driving behind a block, he investigated (via habituation/violation of expectation tasks) whether or not they were surprised by the truck reappearing.
Why was there a discrepancy between Baillargeon’s findings on object permanence and Piaget’s findings on object permanence?
As Piaget studied the actions of infants, while Baillargeon studied knowledge of infants through cognition measures. The difference in findings therefore reflects how children have knowledge of the mechanisms/physics of the world from early infancy, but can only begin to act on these after later cognitive development.
To what extent do infants understand numbers?
Infants have some precise understanding of small numbers and approximate understanding of large numbers
