perceptual development

Question 1

1

Answer 1

Infants looking preferences are reliable, and can reveal biases in the infant visual system such as the bias to high contrast images and specific stimuli

Question 2

taking adult-like perception for granted

Answer 2

· Visual acuity
· Colour
· Depth
· Size
· Shape
· Orientation
· Segmentation
· Transparency
· Opaqueness
· Motion
· Constancy
· Sound
· Odour
· Etc

Question 3

visual activity

Answer 3

· Visual acuity is poor at birth, but by 36 months old children have 20/20 vision
· Although acuity is poor, the general pattern for CSF is very similar to adults

Question 4

is there an advantage to low initial acuity

Answer 4

· The immaturity of the infant visual system may provide the best learning ground for discrimination faces
- Teaches the weighting of configuration of faces over local processing

Question 5

colour perception

Answer 5

· Although all the cones are present, the infant retina and pathways to colour are immature at birth
· But, infants can see some colour from birth, and by 3-4 months old are trichromatic.
- adult cone mosaic (L, M, S cones)
- magnocellular (parasol) - motion, luminance, low sf
- parvocellular (midget) - colour, high, SF
- Three channels for colour vision (red-green, blue-yellow, luminance)

Question 6

colour perception 2

Answer 6

· Colour discrimination thresholds half with every doubling of age, but the ratio of input of the cones is the same across the lifespan.

Question 7

early environmental experience

Answer 7

· Environmental factors might shape colour perception

Question 8

why does it matter?

Answer 8

· Implications for:
- Early years (and beyond) education
- Arts
- Baby products
- Theory

Question 9

summary 1

Answer 9

· Infant visual preferences are reliable and informative
· Infants are not just ‘little adults’
- Their colour perception and visual acuity is very different to adults
- But counter to popular myths, they don’t see in black and white
· Experience (or lack of experience) shapes perception
- Cataracts studies
- Environmental differences

Question 10

early preference for specific stimuli

Answer 10

• mimics configuration of faces as seen by an immature visual system
• newborn preference e.g., Fantz, 1956
• head turns in utero, Reid et al, 2017
• at 4 days old, infants look longer at mums face than a strangers face but not when its just the internal features and only after multi-modal exposure

Question 11

early environmental experience

Answer 11

• 6 month olds discriminate faces of other species, 9 month olds do not.
• but training between 6 and 9 months make a difference
• perceptual narrowing - experience, or lack of experience, shapes expertise i.e., ‘use it or lose it’ / refinement
  · Colour perception
  · Phoneme discrimination

Question 12

summary 2

Answer 12

· Even when young infants have a preference for faces
- Preference for face like stimuli
- Ability to discriminate socially important faces from a stranger
· Experience (or lack of experience) shapes expertise in face discrimination
- Ability to discriminate face is not species specific until 9 months
· But exposure alone isnt enough, the type of experience matters
- Newborns need multi-modal experience with mum
- Cues like labelling aid the ability to discriminate faces