Physical Development in Infancy Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
study of human physical, cognitive, social, behavioural characteristic across the lifespan
Cross Sectional Design
measure and compare same of people at different ages at a given point in time
i.e. study different age groups (1, 5, 10 year olds)
Longitudinal Design
follows development of same set of individuals through time
i.e. select sample of infants and measure their development over the course of 20 years
Cohort Effects
differences between people that result from being born in different time period
i.e problem with cross sectional design
Attrition
occurs when participants drop out of a study
i.e. problems with longitudinal design
Sensitive Period
window of time during which exposure to a specific type of environmental stimulation is needed for normal development of a specific ability
Sensory Development in Infancy
- Babies start making sense of the world while in the womb
i. e. can hear voices while in womb - Have preference for mother’s voice over other women’s voices
- Newborns only have 1/40th visual acuity of adults, can only see 30cm away
- Takes 6 months to reach 20/20 vision
- Colour discrimination- 2 months
- Depth perception- 4 months
- 8 months- can perceive shapes and objects as well as adults
- taste and smell well developed at birth
Motor Development in First Year
Reflexes
Visual Cliff
Synaptogenesis
Synaptic Pruning
Reflexes
involuntary muscle relations to specific types of simulation
Visual Cliff
infants can understand depth
- would be be reluctant to crawl over to deep side
Synaptogenesis
forming of new synaptic connections
- occurs a lot during infancy and childhood
Synaptic Pruning
loss of weak nerve cell connections
- accelerates during brain development through infancy and childhood, tapers off during adolescence
