Perceptual Development

Question 1

What is perception

Define depth perception
Define visual perception

Answer 1

perception - mind makes sense of information from our senses

DEPTH - visual ability to perceive the world in 3D + able to gauge how far away an object is

VISUAL - how we process info that comes via our eyes

Question 2

BACKGROUND
Sample of Fantz
Reliability

Answer 2

30 infants 1-5 weeks in USA

Standardised procedure
= infants placed in front of two stimuli whilst a researcher times how long child spent looking at it
= replicable

Question 3

BACKGROUND
Findings of Fantz

Answer 3

New-borns were more interested in patterns that resembled human faces

Infants have innate biological ability to perceive and recognise faces

Question 4

BACKGROUND
Campos
- sample

Answer 4

Infants before crawling age - 6 weeks
Older infants who could crawl - 7 months

Question 5

BACKGROUND
- Campos findings

Answer 5

6 week old babies on a visual cliff had decreased heart rate on deep side

7 months had increased hear rates when lowered in deep side - whimpered so scared

The older infants were more aware of depth and were scared of the visual cliff due to experience

Question 6

BACKGROUND
- Bower findings

Answer 6

found babies only days after birth would raise arms and heads in response to closer object

shows they can distinguish between objects close and far from birth (nature)

Question 7

Ethical issues when studying perception in infants

Answer 7

Protection from harm

Difficult to get consent from parents

Methods can be intrusive + invasion of privacy

Practically difficult - can’t communicate what they are perceiving

Fantz overcame this with preferential looking technique - research was carried out on 2 week old

Question 8

KEY RESEARCH - Gibson and Walk
Aim
Samples

Answer 8

To see whether depth perception is innate in humans and other species

EXP 1 - 36 infants 6-14 months, USA , only males
EXP 2 - variety of animal species eg. cats,rats,sheep

Question 9

KEY RESEARCH- Gibson and Walk
Procedure

Answer 9

EXP 1 - each child placed on centre board of visual cliff, his mother called him from the cliff side and then after called from shallow side

EXP 2 - chicks, lamb less than 24 hrs old were placed on visual cliff
Floor on deep side was lowered down to observe animals response

They tested animals perception of motion parallax by using larger pattern on lower side of cliff to create constant density of pattern

motion parallax = objects moving at constant speed will appear to move greater amount if they are closer than at a greater distance

Question 10

KEY RESEARCH - Gibson and Walk
Findings
- human infants
- animals

Answer 10

human infants
- 9/36 didn’t move off centre board, 3/27 crawled over deep side
- some cried when mother moved to steep side as couldn’t get to her

animals
- behaved in a similar way to children
- 24% turtles crawled over as swim in sea and it could’ve looked like sea

Question 11

KEY RESEARCH - Gibson and Walk
Conclusions

Answer 11

Depth perception is innate

babies & animals developed depth perception by time they start moving

Motion parallax is an innate depth cue
However, ability to perceive size of objects becomes better as animals get older > nurture

Question 12

KEY RESEARCH - Gibson and Walk
Validity

Answer 12

INTERNAL VALIDITY
- lab conditions allowed them to control extraneous variables ^ internal validity
> two sides of visual cliff identical except visually

lacks internal validity as babies aged 6-24months already able to crawl > can’t establish if its innate
> Campos found depth perception is learnt
> Although animal findings show its innate, its hard to apply findings

LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
> lab conditions
> infants won’t normally perceive depth on a glass shelf with sides
> weakness as can’t be applied to real life as glass shelves with patterns are not what they jump off, eg. sofas + stairs

Question 13

KEY RESEARCH - Gibson and Walk
Reliability

Answer 13

STANDARDISED PROCEDURE
- ensured each baby or young animal started on the centre board of the visual cliff
- mothers were positioned at the start in the same place

EXTRANOUS VARIABLES
- tone of voice or facial expression of mother could’ve effected results

Question 14

KEY RESEARCH
- ethnocentrism + sampling bias

Answer 14

Humans are very different to animals as we can’t move around for some time after birth + animals are -chicks/lambs
> Blakemore + cooper

Only looked at children in one culture but tried to apply the findings to all humans

People from different cultures have difficult experiences of enviro so its possible depth perception doesn’t develop in the same way in every culture

Question 15

Strategies to develop perception in young children

Answer 15

1) Buy age-appropriate educational toys to develop form constancy

2) Sensory Integrative therapy to help aid sensory processing issues

Question 16

Explain developing form constancy

Answer 16

Could give toys eg. shape sorters.

Can help a child develop size constancy skills eg. ability to understand the distance of an object through size of it

Can develop childs understanding of 3D objects so improve perception of size objects

Study found getting 8-yr-old children to play with blocks for 5 30min play sessions improved ability to mentally rotate objects
> improve shape constancy

Question 17

Explain Sensory Integrative Therapy

Answer 17

Helps kids with sensory processing issues by exposing them to sensory stimulation in a structured, repetitive way

Brain will adapt and allow kids to process and react to sensations efficiently

Help children with autism/ADHD lower their reactivity to sensory information in their enviro

This in turn improves ability to participate in many activities at school/outside school

Activites
- messy play
- listening activities
- specialist equipment eg. therapy balls

> touch objects with different textures eg. sandpaper + chewing gum, play area with different equipment